For me, some of the best teachers are like MCs,’ says Breis (pronounced breeze), a charismatic musician, MC, and hip hop literacy workshop leader. ‘An MC must gauge the vibe and energy of the audience and figure out what is needed at certain times. Sometimes as the MC you don't want to tell everyone to wave their hands in the air – the audience might be tired and just want to listen. You must be very thoughtful about the audience, and a teacher has to be very thoughtful about their class.’
Mr Breis (as he is known to his students), the founder of music education workshop company Student of Life, shares these wise words from his experiences with different school groups over the years. His company offers one-off workshops, and six-week and 12-week in-school residencies exploring expression through rhyme and rap, often with classes of students who struggle to engage with mainstream education. At the end of these projects, especially the 12-week courses, students are left with an anthology of their pieces and, in the past, they have even made a professionally recorded music video with their own lyrics. Online, you can find a music video one school created about safeguarding which ingeniously includes the bopping head of the school's chicken.
Student of Life
Education has not always been a calling for Breis – from 1995 the musician ran open mic sessions in Brixton where he would invite poets, rappers, and singers to perform. In 2001, one of his friends suggested running workshops for young people. ‘I had no idea what a workshop was and the idea of teaching young people how to create raps and poems was way over my head,’ says Breis – but after trying it once, Breis found it extremely fulfilling and has been running workshops up and down the country ever since.
In 2009, after Breis had observed lots of young people and their relationship with school, he decided to create a more concrete plan to use hip hop to make learning fun, so he founded Student of Life. To reach young people and change their perception of learning, Breis created a series of programmes – the flagship one being Hip Hop Literacy. Using this art form to support self-expression, creativity, and literacy, Breis has had a huge amount of success – particularly with students who do not engage well with mainstream education, as Breis aims to approach his sessions from a different angle. ‘The trick with young people is to make them think it is not work,’ he says. ‘Once students think it's not work or a task, they just do it.’ Despite this, students are often still apprehensive to embark on creative projects. ‘More and more I am having to find different ways around stage fright and nervousness to make it easier,’ says Breis, pointing to a range of warm-up activities that encourage critical thinking and increase speaking and listening skills.
Breis now trains other artists to run workshops too, furthering the reach of the programmes, which have now been invited into schools as far flung as Thailand and Malaysia by teachers searching for new and creative approaches to learning.
The workshops
Taking me through a usual workshop, Breis explains that they always start with a demonstration of the art form, detailing what can be done with words, tone, cadence, and performance. This tends to inspire students to have a go. Many young people are already experimenting with rap, says Breis, so sometimes the sessions turn to showing them aspects of rap that they haven't already tried. From there, Breis might lead a freestyle session in which students must make up a chorus on the spot, or which might use riddles or storytelling to spark creativity. Breis also has a framework to help students write their own lyrics and tackle different poetic devices that rappers use regularly.
A crucial element of the sessions for Breis is ensuring that students are rapping or creating works around the things that matter to them and are affecting them. This could be bullying, racism, friendships, or global warming. At the end of each session students are encouraged to share what they have created, and if there is time, Breis helps students revise their pieces and perform them for a second time with these edits.
Breis helping a student in a literacy workshop
Giving students autonomy
An example that stands out for Breis was in a school for young people who are disengaged from mainstream education. The session was with a group of teenage boys who were not interested in the workshop at all, so he chose one specific student who had not contributed to the class and encouraged him to write about something he knew. When it transpired that this content would not be suitable to share with the class, Breis saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate how coded rap can be and asked the student to swap each inappropriate word for something else, such as sweets or flowers.
‘When he realised that he was saying something that would usually get him in trouble, but he was effectively using a code word, he was laughing!’ says Breis. ‘I was showing him that poetry is a coded language, and that is part of the fun of rap.’ The student created an amazing piece of work. ‘The success is down to giving students some form of autonomy and steering them in the direction you want them to go.’
A unique art form
When asked why it is that rap can help students be creative and open up, Breis says the answer is simple: ‘Rap is interesting. Children want excitement, they want fun, they don't want boring.’ Hip hop in general is extremely participatory, ensuring a back and forth between the teacher and student naturally, increasing student engagement due to the nature of workshops and call and response exercises.
Despite this seemingly simple solution, Breis is in total admiration of teachers, saying that they have one of the hardest jobs out there. He is under no illusion that while the workshops are brilliant for engaging students in music and being creative, we have a long way to go before something like this can be offered regularly on a curriculum. ‘I understand the pressure that is interwoven into the school system,’ says Breis, citing a number of conversations he has had with teachers when delivering on-site activity days, discussing the common stresses and strains of work loads and financial limitations.
But for now, Breis hasn't stopped evolving creatively either, promising his fans a new album in the next year or so. ‘Whether you are in school or out of school, you are always going to have to learn; it is healthy to be creative. Even if you don't like school, you can find a way to enjoy learning.’ Placing emphasis on enjoying learning in your own way, Breis's work is proof that all students can find their own niche. That one student at the back of the class who may struggle to engage with a music lesson might excel in a rap battle or poetry slam – if only they are given the chance to take the mic.
