Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes Program
Access Alliance, Danforth Location | Ongoing, 2025 

Tuesday Tunes is a community-based music program rooted in collective expression among newcomers. Facilitated at Access Alliance as part of their broader mental health and wellbeing initiatives, this weekly drop-in invites community members to gather, share, and heal through music. The program emphasises co-regulation, belonging, and self-expression, aligning with Access Alliance’s commitment to trauma-informed, arts-based care.

First workshop (29th July, 2025)

The session began with a guided singing bowl meditation, followed by name-sharing and a collective reflection where each participant contributes a piece of everyday wisdom. These offerings form the basis of a growing “wisdom board” that will eventually evolve into a community song.

Participants learned and sang “When I Rise”, a song inspired by Wendell Berry’s poetry and shared widely in mindfulness-based communities. 

As the program evolves over the next four weeks, Tuesday Tunes will continue nurturing musical collaboration and mental health literacy, aiming to co-create a song that reflects the voices and experiences of its community.

2nd Workshop (5th August, 2025)

For the second week of Tuesday Tunes, I focused on movement and gesture. We began with a physical warm-up and meditation, then shared our names along with a movement expressing how we felt. As everyone repeated each other’s gestures, it became a kind of collective dance, which was exactly what I was aiming for.

We revisited the song When I Rise from last week. This time, after singing it twice at different tempos, we added full-body movements, turning it into a dance. I noticed the participants enjoyed this integration of music and motion.

Next week, I’m switching things up. Drawing from the wisdom board we created in Week 1, I’ve written a new song for the community based on what they shared. I’m excited to bring my songwriting and music production skills into the process.