Boost for musical youth with project in Wolverhampton
Talented young Wolverhampton musicians will set an example showing how to keep children interested in learning music.
It comes after a national report by the Music Commission warned that lack of opportunity and cost were causing many children to give up learning instruments.
Wolverhampton Music Hub has won funding from Elevate, a pioneering programme launched by the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music exam board and its four partners.
The Hub will work with the young musicians, hoping to inspire them to continue learning music by using a group teaching approach which will enable them to become more accomplished, faster than traditional learning techniques.
Ciaran O’Donnell, head of Wolverhampton Music Service, said: "We’ve got fantastic young musicians across the city but pressures on music in the school system are starting to impact on the number of intermediate and advancing musicians – particularly string players.
"We are exploring ways to address that challenge so young musicians who want to develop to the highest levels have routes to do it through a broader range of group experiences, that will help them to make musical progress in a really meaningful way."
The Wolverhampton project will run for six months and work with up to 24 young musicians who have achieved Grade 4 or above, giving them an extra hour’s tuition a week, chance to attend professional concerts and opportunities to perform with accompanists and the Stringcredibles Quartet of CBSO musicians.
Michael Elliott, ABRSM chief executive, said: "The Wolverhampton project is a really exciting way of addressing the local shortage of young string players and helping us to understand teaching models which can be applied nationally to keep young musicians learning music."
