Early Years news
Early Years case studies

Youth Music is to develop a Music Start pack for parents of 2 – 5 year olds based on the development of an Early Years resource pack and training model.  A Youth Music funded project on the Isle of Wight was the inspiration for this new scheme. Music Start was originally a Healing Arts Programme for the Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust, largely funded by Youth Music, in partnership with IOW Childcare and Early Education Unit, and Surestart Ryde.  It was aimed at babies and toddlers under 2 years old. This new investment from the DfES will enable Youth Music to develop the scheme for older pre-school children with a view to rolling it out across England

This new drive is welcomed by Youth Music who published research in 2006 which indicated that participation in music making activities assists in the development of communication and numeracy skills in pre-school aged children.

More information on the Early Years Cluster Programme

“Sing Out”  is a Youth Music Funded project based on the Isle of Wight. It will form a series of large singing groups in four participating schools on the Island. A unique feature of “Sing Out” will be the cultural diversity of the music leaders leading singing workshops on the project who are from Latin American, Indian, European and African backgrounds and the songs that will form the singing repertoire. It will give an additional dimension beyond the musical experience gained through the project, which supports the wider objectives of the extended schools policies in providing a breadth of experience. The cultural range of the music will also enable the project to inspire and engage children who might not necessarily perceive singing as being of interest to them, particularly boys.

Super singing communities
Two organisations in the Southern Region have been invited to submit an application for Super Singing Communities.  The applications from 2 very different organisations are linked by their enthusiasm for engaging large numbers of children and young people in diverse and innovative projects. Watch this space for more news.     
Singing case studies

Music Fusion, the Youth Music Action Zone in the region has begun a new community music-making project with young people in Portsmouth for 2007 called “Sound”.  Music Fusion has teamed up with local beat bobbies from Hampshire Constabulary to offer local young people in the North End area somewhere to go and hang out and make music.

Richard Wright, Project Manager for Music Fusion, explains.  “The police approached us back in the Summer with a situation on their hands involving large groups of young people hanging around on the street and in the park” he says.  “Anti-social behaviour was becoming a big problem with the police handing out large numbers of ABCs (Acceptable Behaviour Contracts) to young people who were consistently involved. The local dispersal zone which was in place meant that in reality what happened was that young people were just moved onto another street corner.”

The local police were very open to new ideas as to how to engage with the young people and the school was keen to welcome them back after school hours.  So Music Fusion and the local Police Community Support Officers worked on a plan to bring the young people in from the cold as the nights got darker and offer music-making activities for them to do on a regular Wednesday night.

For more information on Sound or any of Music Fusion’s projects see the website at www.musicfusion.org.uk

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

Youth Music funded programmes are required to employ a paid trainee and offer professional development opportunities to strengthen and develop the workforce and through Youth Music’s Musicleader.net initiative, music leaders across the UK have access to online information, advice and guidance. MusicLeader is a Youth Music initiative providing access to professional development for music leaders at every stage of their career.  There are currently 5 networks across the country. MusicLeader has not yet launched a network in the South East but the  research and development phase for MusicLeader South East is about to begin and we anticipate the network will be up and running in 2008.

Key Stage 2 Music Continuing Professional Development Programme
Southampton Music Service has been appointed as the Southern/SouthEast Regional Programme Manager for the KS2 Music Continuing Professional Development Programme.  More information about the programme is available on the website at www.ks2music.org.uk where the online application forms for practitioners and mentors are also available.

Projects and events in the Southern Region

Urban Orchestra – a collaboration between Readipop Berkshire Maestros and Reading Borough Council
November 28th 2006 saw the world premiere of “Any Given Saturday”, the first performance by Reading’s Urban Orchestra. Over 500 people attended The Hexagon for the culmination of a year-long project funded by Youth Music, Reading Borough Council and Whitley Excellence Cluster. 

The Urban Orchestra was conceived by Readipop in response to their work with young producers and MCs who often use orchestral samples in their music. Working in partnership with Berkshire Maestros, Reading Borough Council, and 3 secondary schools this project developed a creative collaboration between young urban musicians and young orchestral players. The resulting composition, “Any Given Saturday….(a typical teenage Saturday in Reading)”  has been described as an urban symphony, or more accurately an urban tone poem. 

The project enabled young people to work with professional musicians, explore and extend their own musical experiences, and collaborate to create and perform an original composition. The project and performance has been documented on a DVD which will be launched shortly, and the Urban Orchestra are now looking for opportunities to perform “Any Given Saturday” further afield. 
Cluster Using the combined knowledge and expertise from across the regions, and the support of the ABO, this has been a very interesting and positive collaboration to date. And this is hopefully just the beginning.   We look forward to hearing if this will be one of the first such projects from this exciting initiative.