More children and young people are making music on their own or with friends than in school

Music is, arguably, the young person’s creative art form of choice. It is very hard to find a young person who does not have an enthusiasm for music, or who does not in some way identify themselves with a particular genre, band or artist. A recent survey conducted by Youth Music in May 2006 found the following:

Participation:

• 91% of 7 – 19 year olds confirmed that they liked listening to music. It is hard to imagine any other art form getting a similar vote. This natural enthusiasm which is firmly rooted in youth culture can be harnessed and used in an incredibly powerful way for children and young people.
• 39% of 7 – 19 year olds are engaged in some form of active music making. Previously available data relating to Music Service provision indicates that about 10% of children and young people within the state school sector are accessing music-making activities (primarily instrumental tuition) via Music Services.
• Matching this data against the data from this most recent survey would suggest that a further 29% of children and young people are making music outside of this provision.
• Youth Music says that from this research they estimate that 17% of 7-19 year olds are making music informally i.e. with no adult intervention and 22% are making music with some form of adult assistance.
• Youth Music would like to see the gap closed between the 91% who like listening to music and the 39% who are actively making music.
  

Sector Breakdown:

• 17% of children and young people are making music informally i.e. with no adult intervention. 23% are making music with some form of adult assistance, (some of this will be formal and some non-formal).

Social Grade

• Children from the most wealthy families are twice as likely to be playing an instrument than those from the poorest communities.
• The highest proportion (34%) of children and young people who would like to be able to do something musical but have never had the chance are to be found in those poorest communities. 
• There is a significant disparity in levels of engagement across social grades. 45% of those within the highest social grades are currently engaged in music making, compared with only 35% of those within the lowest social grades.
• The largest disparity is in instrumental playing between the highest and lowest social grades – (33% as opposed to 17%).
• Of those who have never done anything musical but who want to, 34% were from the lowers social grades, compared with 11% in the higher social grades.

Unmet need, perceptions and the window of opportunity

• There is something important in this data overall about children and young people’s perceptions of themselves as ‘musical’ or ‘not musical’. Of those who have never done any musical activities and said they didn’t want to 84% believed they were ‘not musical’. Are some of them saying that they don’t want to make music because they think they wouldn’t be any good at it? The key factor that makes young people believe that they are ‘musical’ is their participation in active music making. 80% of those who said that they considered themselves ‘musical’ have at some point in their lives actively made music.

Barriers to engagement

• Of those who want to do a musical activity but don’t currently, 43% cited a lack of opportunities, facilities or financial resources as the main barriers.

Youth Music Action Zones (YMAZs) are reaching the parts others have not – filling gaps, starting to have deep impact where one-off projects have only scratched the surface and where formal provision commonly offers insufficient choice (of genre and instrument) to engage young people. YMAZs provide this free of charge, so economic background is no barrier. YMAZs are tackling endemic inequalities. So far, they have provided over 230,000 children and young people with the opportunity to make music, for the majority of these, this has been their first and only opportunity. They simply would not have got the chance had it not been for Youth Music’s development of the Action Zones.

Download Youth Music Omnibus Survey 2006 (Word 551KB)
Download Youth Music Omnibus Survey 2006 (PDF 483KB)

For further press information please contact: Dvora Lewis Public Relations
T: 020 7435 9257
E: dlpr@dvoralewis.com


_{Notes to Editors:}

_{1. Since 1999 Youth Music has had an annual lottery allocation of £10m to fund music-making activities for children and young people from birth up to 18. Their mission is to provide these music-making activities for those who would not otherwise get the chance to make music.  To fulfil this mission the charity created 24 Youth Music Action Zones in 2000 in England and Wales.}

_{2. The above data is taken from a report published by Youth Music, October 2006, presenting evidence collected through an omnibus survey of children and young people, aged 7 – 19, across the UK in May 2006 carried out by Carrick James Market Research on behalf of Youth Music.  1.295 children and young people were surveyed in face-to-face interviews.  The sample was selected to be representative of the population by age, gender, social grade and geographical region,}

_{The full report is available at Advocacy and Research}