Youth Music wants to see every child age 2-5 being able to make music.  A key element has been to work with local Sure Sarts and Childrens Centres.   In Northumberland  20000 Voices, an organisation that promotes, supports and develops singing, has been running an intensive project in partnership with Berwick and Alnwick Childrens’ Sure Starts.  Vocalists and instrumentalists have been working with toddler groups, nurseries, childminders’ groups and many others across north Northumberland on a project which focuses on practitioner development, with musicians and early years practitioners learning from each other. Please visit www.20000voices.org for more information

This is one of Youth Music’s Early Years Cluster projects, a model which is to be rolled out across the country.  The North East project has complemented the work of the Music Manifesto Pathfinder and its Durham Families Making Music project, managed and delivered by the Sage Gateshead, which focuses on County Durham, in the south of the region.

In addition, our First Steps Open Programme gives local groups across the region opportunities to develop projects that meet their specific needs.  Recent awards have been made to Early Arts North East,  Noah’s Ark Nursery, Morpeth, and Sure Start Wear Valley East.

Early Years news
Early Years case studies

Autumn 2007 sees the launch of ‘The Singing Dales’ – the National Singing Programme project for the North East led by Escomb School and Changeling Productions,  which focuses on Teesdale and Weardale, in the rural south west of the region.  The project will engage young people who have not sung before in a range of different singing activities.  It starts with a specially commissioned piece, ‘The Lost Legion’, based on the true story of the 9th Legion of the Roman army which disappeared without trace somewhere in the North of England!   Young people will also have the opportunity to try opera, choral singing, experience a range of performance opportunities, and will be able to develop their own songs and compositions.   
For more information about the National Singing Programme, please visit www.Singup.org

In Northumberland we work closely with 20000 Voices an organisation which promotes, develops and supports singing, and is a great resource for the region.   20000 Voices has run a number of Youth Music funded projects on developing boys’ singing and has established a regular boys choir in Alnwick.

The Sage Gateshead too provides many opportunities for young people to sing, some through Co Musica, the region’s Youth Music Action Zone, and through Vocal Union, the Music Manifesto Pathfinder whole school singing project.  The Sage Gateshead is also working with us in delivering the workforce development strand of the National Singing Programme, Vocalforce.

Many young people are happily making music in year 6, but stop during year 7 – the first year of secondary school.  Anecdotal evidence from the North East suggests that this is more to do with our educational structures than the aspirations of young people themselves.  Northumberland still runs a system of First, Middle and High schools. Teachers here report that the downturn in music making occurs between years 8 and 9, the point at which young people move from the Middle to the High school.

Music Services in the region address the transition issue, particularly through the opportunities they provide for ensemble playing.  One outstanding example are the ‘Supersonic Strings’ of Durham City.  Players move seamlessly from the First to the District Orchestras when they are ready to do so, irrespective of age or year group.  The two orchestras rehearse at the same place, at the same time each week and perform together each year at the Gala Theatre, with former members, now perhaps members of the County ensembles, returning to help and support the younger players.

Links to regional music services:
Tees Valley Music Service
Country Durham and Darlington Music Service
Gateshead Music Service
North Tyneside Music Service
Newcastle Music Service
South Tyneside Music Service
Sunderland Music Service
Northumberland Music Service

Co Musica, the regional Youth Music Action Zone, also addresses transition.  Co Musica is part of the Sage Gateshead's Learning and Participation Department and is  involved in its Creative Transitions Music Manifesto Pathfinder project.  This runs in Redcar, Darlington and Newcastle, exploring ways of supporting young people and their music making through this phase of their lives.

Transition news
Transition case studies
Youth Music's Transition priorities and policy

Young people in the North East have to deal with many factors that put them at risk. In the North East, a young person is more likely to be living in a single parent family than in any other area of the county.  Educational achievement is significantly lower than the national average, and the region has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy.  Combined with comparatively high unemployment rates, lower than average earnings, and, for some, rural isolation, life is difficult for many young people in our region.

Co Musica, the Youth Music Action Zone, works with young people at risk to give them a sense of their own self worth and experience of success.  The project has have been working with  young people excluded from or at risk of exclusion from school in Gateshead, North Tyneside and Derwentside, involving them in learning  DJ techniques, Music Technology, song writing and  in starting to play and perform as members of bands.

In Hartlepool, the Community Studio has been working with the Youth Service to develop the ‘Studio School of Rock’, ensuring that young people from the particularly disadvantaged areas of the town are able to get involved, and taking individual referrals from the Youth Service and Connexions.  In Co Durham the ‘Sedgefield Steel’ steel pans project will give young people in isolated rural communities the opportunity to engage with music of another culture.  Both these projects have been funded by Youth Music through our Make it Sound funding programme.

At Risk news items
At Risk case studies
Youth Music's At Risk policy and priorities

Workforce Development underpins all our other priorities – we need to ensure that young people have the support they need, delivered by skilled professionals.

MusicLeader.net is a Youth Music initiative, a support service dedicated to the professional development of UK music leaders.  Music Leader provides on line information and resources,  and training and network opportunities  In the North East Music Leader spports practitioner networks for Early Years, Singing, Steel Pans, Music Technology and Primary School Music.   Music Leader also now offers ‘Development Needs Analysis sessions’,  an opportunity to get one to one support in identifying your training and development needs.

Continuous Professional Development, is an important aspect of all Youth Music funded projects.  And every Youth Music funded project must include a paid traineeship – a great opportunity for aspiring music leaders, young and old, to get hands on experience and training.

Workforce development news
Workforce development case studies