Welcome! See below an overview of the three main areas in which Asta#Plays works. Scroll down to learn more about play, or click on her photo to learn more about Asta and the Asta#Plays concept.
EDUCATION
Ventures in education include provision for tiny learners, school children, and adults. As an experienced music teacher, one of my passions is empowering educators to deliver and develop curriculums with confidence and competence. Promoting creativity is at the forefront of Asta#Plays' vision for education, be it creative development through music lessons or strengthening creative approaches for teachers.
COMMUNITY
Shakespeare suggested that music could be the food of love - let's play on! Through the power of music, Asta#Plays endeavours to foster communities, to bring joy and healing - perhaps to those who didn't realise they needed it. Singing, drumming, and musical storytelling are the tools with which to cultivate love, acceptance, and togetherness in any community, whilst venues include halls, centres, care homes & libraries.
BUSINESS
The sky's the limit when it comes to your business, your ideas, your team, and your impact. Consider a truly meaningful, effective, and cohesive activity for your staff in which employees engage in a drumming, songwriting, or singing workshop. Studies have shown that synchronising musically increases cooperation, empathy, and sharing capacity, as well as securing emotional bonds. P.S. It's great fun, too!
Why Play?
"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing."
Charles Schaefer
"Play is the foundation of learning, creativity, self-expression, and constructive problem-solving."
Susan Linn
"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity."
Carl Jung
Asta#Plays believes play is the gateway to potential. Through play we explore, embark on journeys and adventures, destination sometimes not yet known. We take risks and discover all manner of worlds, places and experiences previously hidden. When playing we have fun - fully engrossed, and in full flow - fostering the imagination which drives innovation. The process, allows for self expression as well as collaboration. It is an independent yet social activity.
Consider cultural disciplines and creative pastimes - we play with sound, we play on stage, we play with words, emotions, balls, instruments, colours...Cultivating, nurturing, and channelling the innate human play instinct through musical ventures with a view to enhancing lives, ability, and relationships is the aim of Asta#Plays.
Join me on a musical venture designed for you - maybe you're a teacher lacking confidence in bringing about musical learning, perhaps as a business owner you want new inspiring ways to develop team cohesion, or you maybe you want to take part in an accessible community music making activity.
Come play with me!
REFERENCES
- Schaefer, C. E., & O’Connor, K. J. (Eds.). (1993). Handbook of play therapy (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons. Charles Schaefer was an American psychologist whom many consider to be the "Father of Play Therapy"
- . Susan Linn is an American psychologist who specialises in play, and the impact of marketing and media on children. See more at Community Playthings.
- Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types: Vol. 6. The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton University Press. Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist, who founded analytical psychology. He viewed play and creativity as vital expressions of the unconscious that enable psychological growth and self-discovery.
- William Shakespeare - The famous opening line to "Twelfth Night" ("If music be the food of love, play on...") introduces the play to which themes such as love and friendship are central. However, just like real life, confusion and trauma also present themselves. I use this quote to highlight the need for love and relationships, contrasted with the reality of lived circumstance.
