33 mins
20 Years of Fischy Music
FEATURE
Fischy Band at Heart & Soul
“Too young, too old, too weird, too slow,
Everybody’s saying,
Too square, too small, too posh, too tall
Everybody’s saying,
Who do you listen to, cos after all I’m telling you
You are a star just the way you are
You are a star just the way you are
Too silly, too bossy, too smelly, too fussy,
Everybody’s saying
Too weak, too sad, too good, too bad,
Everybody’s saying
Who do you listen to, cos after all
I’m telling you, You are a star….
Too thin, too fat, too this, too that
Everybody’s saying
Too dumb, too dee Tutti, Frutti
Everybody’s saying
Who do you listen to, cos after all
I’m telling you,
You are a star just the way you are
You are a star.”
JUST reading that, many of you will be singing the catchy tune in your head and the words of that song – You Are A Star – sums up the ethos of Fischy Music, celebrating 20 years as a charity this year.
An entire generation of children have grown up listening to Fischy’s songs, and taking on board their message of confidence, acceptance and love of others and yourself.
One of them is Margaret McLarty, and now she’s grown up to be one of the charity’s event leaders.
“I grew up in Glasgow where my dad was minister in the Priority Area parish of Blackhill Provanmill. I remember him using Fischy Music songs before it was even a ‘thing’.
He’d met Stephen Fischbacher at a conference, where Stephen had performed his 10 minute nativity song Angry Hotel Man.
Dad loved it and asked Stephen to record it, I guess on a cassette player. It was our church nativity that Christmas.
“I don’t think Fischy Music had even been created yet!”
Fischy Music was created by Stephen after his wife died and he found that listening to, writing and singing songs helped him and his family.
Fischy Music was born in Stephen’s local church, but as it grew as a charity it developed songs for both faith and school settings.
Stephen is still the Creative Director of Fischy Music and with Suzanne Butler, his long-time musical collaborator, and a team of musicians they have taken their music to churches, youth groups, schools and children’s events all over Britain.
“Over the years there have been different musicians and staff involved”, says Margaret. “We all bring something unique to the team. Fischy has been shaped by a lot of love and passion.”
At the moment, Stephen, Suzanne, Margaret and Christy Ringrose make up the Fischy events team, but there’s a back room, administrative team and a board of directors, managing their subscription website, event bookings and other enquiries and keeping the charity running. A group of other talented musicians are also called upon for band gigs and recording.
“I really grew up through Fischy”, says Margaret.
“Even during my teens and twenties, going to festivals like Solas and Greenbelt, Fischy were there, in the mud and getting us all to just dance, sing and be ourselves.
“As a musician I first met Stephen when Fischy came to Iona when the Children’s Assembly was held there. I was the Abbey Musician at the time and remember thinking “this is what it’s all about”. A couple of years later, when I was working as a freelance musician, Fischy were advertising for musicians, and I got the gig.
“Most of our events work is in primary schools where we lead song-based workshops and concerts. We also work in churches, with youth groups and lead training events for adults.
“There are over 80 Fischy songs now, with topics on everything from loss and grief, mental heath, bullying and self-esteem to friendship and celebration. We can do a Feeling Good assembly or focus on a more specific topic like health week. Churches will often sponsor us to work in their local school as a gift or to help build a relationship.
“I love my job. The part I look forward to most is leading our five week songwriting projects, where we work with a class or group to write, record and perform a song. It’s all their lyrics, melody and vision and there’s such a sense of pride at the end from everyone.
“There are so many ‘eureka’ moments, when a child makes a breakthrough or says something so incredibly profound.
“Or when a class, school or church totally ‘own’ a Fischy song and there’s a goosebumps moment!
“At one school recently P7’s favourite song was You are a Star, so during the last chorus we got the rest of the school to sing it to them and then just P7 to sing it to the rest of the school. I could hardly sing the next bit with the lump in my throat! They left the church singing and dancing in a huge line and I really hope there was someone walking by to see this huge burst of colourful energy leaving the church!
“A top priority for me when leading Fischy events is that everyone feels safe to be and express themselves.
“I remember writing a song with a P5 class in Fife. It was a great class, but there was one boy who really struggled to be in the group and control his emotions and reactions.
“He went on this huge journey from week one, where he sat on the computer at the back of the class, to week three when he ran to front saying, ‘here’s the next verse’, to week four when he was in incontrollable tears at the start and then by the end had recorded the whole song solo.
“In week five he greeted us with a huge hug, said how happy the singing made him and that his mum would be proud of him. During the concert he stood at the front of stage with the rest of the class singing and performing every song, including the one they’d written, with every fibre of his being.
“There are so many children in the groups we’ve worked with for whom joining in and belonging are a huge challenge, but who end up being the life and soul of the song and whose teachers love seeing them shine.
“One of my colleagues, Jed, was leading a workshop with a young girl who’d been mute since arriving at school. The teachers were in tears when she started singing along with the rest of the class to the song they’d been writing.
“Getting and watching all generations singing and dancing together at the big gigs, completely free and uninhibited is also amazing.
“We’re really excited about celebrating the 20th anniversary – we hope as many people as possible who have loved Fischy songs will come to our Big Sing Concert at the Assembly Halls in Edinburgh on October 6 and the service the next day.
“And we’re currently gathering information from respondents to our Impact Survey, so that we know what to do for the next 20 years!”
More details are available from Fischy Music on their website at www.ischy.com”
This article appears in the September 2018 Issue of Life and Work
If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive
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