More than 50 young people from around the Humber Region took part in Youth Music Week celebrations in the Humber Region.

‘Borders, Barriers and Bridges’ was the inspiration for a series of African drumming, rapping and singing workshops led by a team of community musicians from Humbersound and were trained by Music4U who were joined by DJ David Owkesia and Rap Poet, Polarbear.

The young people aged 8 -16 were from the East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire and the majority of them had no musical background. Together they worked with musicians in small groups to create music, song and rap that was part of a showcase performance for friends and family at The Octagon Centre in Hull at the end of the half term week.

Project Coordinator for the Music4U Youth Music Week, Gill Vickers said: “This was a great opportunity for young people in the region to be creative over the half term and to get to meet new people. The musicians and rap artists working on this project were superb and created a fun learning environment and the chance to perform. We are glad so many young people seized the opportunity to take part.

Community musician and Humbersound member Carol Dawson, led some of the singing workshops throughout the week. She said the project had been a huge success: “The young people had the chance to try things they would not normally do. The kids were amazed they could write their own songs, it was a bit of a revelation and they saw that with a bit of structure it was possible to be very creative.”

Donna Smith, who worked on African drumming with several groups, felt the young people had really engaged well with the theme of the project. She explained: “We brainstormed about Borders, Bridges and Barriers and then turned the words into rhythms to play on the drum, learning how to hold the drum sticks in the correct way and how to get different tones. We also had some in depth conversations about barriers as the children realised that not all barriers were physical, some of them were emotional and they were comfortable to share with the group some of the barriers that faced them at school.”

Rap artist David Owkesia and Polarbear produced some amazing raps with the young people. David commented that the children had written strong and imaginative creative writing, he added: “It was like an English lessons made fun – we really enjoyed being with the young people and there was a lot of laughter. Polarbear elaborated: “Every single group has come in with enthusiasm, clear ideas and individual voices. They took the bull by the horns and really worked hard and vocalised their thoughts. They worked together well and separately and their attention and energy was amazing. I feel lucky to have met the young people I have met.”

The local authority representatives were very impressed by what the children had achieved during the week. David Power from North East Lincolnshire Council said that this work has been a very productive and useful and it had been very valuable for the young people to see what each other has been doing as well as to show their own work. Laura Johnson from the East Riding of Yorkshire added that it had been fantastic that there had been so many different types of music on offer for the young people to try out and Ruth Drake from Hull City Council said her group had really enjoyed working with a range of different musicians and meet new people.



_{Notes to Editors:}

_{1. Music4U is the Humber Region Youth Music Action Zone. Music4U is co-ordinated by the National Centre for Early Music working in partnership with the East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire Councils. The Action Zones have been instigated and funded by Youth Music and are supported by Arts Council England, Yorkshire.
More info is available at www.humber-music4u.com}

_{2. Youth Music is a UK-wide charity that funds and facilitates music making for young people up to the age of 18, particularly those living in areas of social and economic need. By 2010, Youth Music aims to have reached 3 million children and young people in a UK-wide strategy to support youth music making.
More info is available at www.youthmusic.org.uk.}

_{3. Since the creation of the first Youth Music Action Zone in 2000, the concept has been rolled out over 24 regions across England and Wales, some of which are now in their sixth year of operation. With a remit to support music-making activities for some of the UK’s most disadvantaged young people, Youth Music Action Zones have gone on to reach over 230,000 children and young people, encouraging their talents, building their confidence and transforming the landscape of musical opportunity throughout the UK.  The music making supported is of the widest variety, from Hip Hop and DJing to Classical and Jazz.}