To its credit, Arts Council England – South West has recently commissioned an organisation based in Cornwall to look at the input of the arts in early years settings across the region. Music and Dance Education (MaDE) will be working across the whole of the southwest to research organisations, agencies and partnerships and draw them together: look at examples of good working practice across the country, and share their findings and recommendations through conferences and seminars over the next two years. Watch this space.

South West South has two Youth Music Action Zones (YMAZs), one covering Cornwall - CYMAZ, and one centred on Plymouth - Plymouth Music Zone – PMZ. Both YMAZs offer high quality workshops in early years settings and would be pleased to hear from interested parties. In Devon, Devon Arts in Schools Initiative (DAISI) has been working over the last couple of years through the SureStart initiative in Exeter and there have been a number of other projects in the more rural regions, hosted by individual early years settings and funded through Youth Music and others. DepARTure, Dorset’s Arts in Education agency, has recently received two awards for music in early years settings, one through ACESW for training of music leaders and a partner one through Youth Music for workshops with the children.

As a follow-on from the Early Years Cluster pilot in London, Youth Music is working with the ABO to extend this programme, and early years settings in Bournemouth, working  with Dorset Music Service, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and others, have partnered with Southampton Music Service in an application to Youth Music for this programme.
More information on the Early Years Cluster Programme

Alongside the on-going programme of activities across our region, partnerships and alliances are growing. Both Cornwall and Dorset have established informal Early Years and the Arts Forums to co-ordinate and draw together LA Family Services representatives, music services, agencies, and partnerships that might work together to encourage and persuade others of the power of music-making towards the early learning goals, and to spread involvement across the counties. Through these forums, we shall also be working towards building the workforce of musical leaders specifically trained to work with children aged 0-5.

With the Government’s Birth to 5, Every Child Matters and Music Manifesto papers, and the opening of Children’s Centres across the country as a follow-up to the SureStart initiative, opportunities are high at the moment for consultation and pressure. Please contact southwestsouth@youthmusic.org.uk.

The aforementioned Music Manifesto puts singing high on its list of priorities, and of course the voice is everybody’s in-built musical tool. No expensive trips to the local instrument supplier needed, no heavy bags and baggage to carry. However getting young people over a certain age to sing – particularly boys, and particularly in a group environment proves more problematic. Kernow Voice, CYMAZ’s singing strand, has proved highly successful and a powerful example of good practice. Even here though, encouraging boys to participate is not easy. Wren Music in Devon has received a number of Youth Music awards and is another example of flourishing good practice, as is the Voiceworks project in Dorset, run by Dorset Music Service and there are other excellent projects and activities for singing and choral work across our region.

We have produced The Singbook and funded a national series of workshops for community musicians and teachers to work with the book, and more is to come. But we need to up the anti, as they say. Please contact southwestsouth@youthmusic.org.uk.
Visit the Singbook website

Youth Music is targeting the transition period between primary and secondary school as this is the key time when young people give up their music-making. Youth Music has observed that many children give up through peer pressure and because the practices and infrastructures needed to support music-making at this crucial stage is not always in place.  Music can also be used as a tool to ease the transfer from primary to much larger secondary schools.

All Music Services in the region work hard across the transition period – Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and Dorset  and there are a number of independent projects with the same goal.

At risk of ……? Exclusion, offending, drink, drugs, social and economic deprivation, cultural or geographic disadvantage – any challenging circumstance that prevents young people’s growth and progression. All recognisable predicaments across the whole region – and we believe that involvement in music-making activities can be a very positive force to counter such problems.

Here in the south west south, we have worked, and are still working with Live Music Now! in partnership with youth offending teams, ISSPs, youth offending institutions and exclusion units across the whole region. CYMAZ works with the White Gold project in the clay district, PMZ holds hugely successful activities with special needs children, and Wolf and Water  is about to start a project with excluded young people in North Devon, in partnership with local youth offending teams. And many more ….

ACESW has also established a Youth Justice forum in line with its own at risk agenda, with representation from organisations and agencies from across the region with an interest in how the arts can be active in the prevention and cure of anti-social behaviour and the paths that lead to young people’s inclusion in the justice system.

At Risk news items
At Risk case studies
Youth Music's Respect programme

Any Youth Music funded programme has to employ a paid trainee(s) and offer professional development opportunities for the music leaders to strengthen and develop the workforce. There are examples in our region where a trainee on a completed project is now leading workshops as a musicleader.

Through Youth Music’s Musicleader.net initiative, all music leaders across the UK have access to online information, advice and guidance. Music Leader South West (MLSW) is hosted by the Bristol YMAZ – Remix with a steering group of representation from Artsmatrix, Dartington Plus and Sarah Hennessey, specialist in music education at Exeter University, and an advisory panel of relevant organisations from across the region. The Director of MusicLeader South West is Jacqui Haigh.  For more information please visit www.musicleader.net