The Music Partnership Projects are one-year programmes funded by government to deliver high quality music activity to young people, in line with the aims of the Music Manifesto.
For the year 2009-10, the five organisations involved are Wiltshire, Northamptonshire (led by Orchestras Live), Hertfordshire, Birmingham and East London (led by the Barbican).
Here's the lowdown on the five current partnerships:
Northamptonshire/Orchestras Live - Connected to Music
Partners: Orchestras Live, Northampton Music and Performing Arts Service (NMPAS), Learning Achievement & School Improvement Services (LASI), the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and Sinfonia ViVA.
Project: The aim is to create a model of music education delivery in Northamptonshire that connects young people's music learning in the classroom, particularly those in Wider Opportunities and transition years, to a wide range of music making opportunities outside the classroom supported by a team of professional musicians.
At the heart of the project is the empowerment of music teachers to inspire young people to achieve the highest possible standard and fulfil their potential. With the creative leadership of Tim Steiner, an ensemble will be formed by musicians from NMPAS, RPO, Sinfonia ViVA, Daventry schools and the local community, to deliver a variety of different musical experiences ranging from creative workshops to full-scale performances at Royal & Derngate.
Birmingham - Banded About
Partners: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Birmingham Jazz, Birmingham Music Service, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sound It Out Community Music and Town Hall Symphony Hall, including Associate Partners Ex Cathedra. Working with five clusters of Birmingham schools.
Project: The basis of the project is creative ensemble practice across the transition years between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3. Children and young people will be give opportunities to develop and perform music stimulated by the diverse musical genres and cultural backgrounds of the partner organisations. Musicians from these partner companies will work alongside the school teachers and the peripatetic teachers of the BMS to deliver this programme both in the curriculum and at specially convened workshops across each cluster.
The professional development of all these teachers and musicians is another key aim of the project. All the participants will also be signposted towards the wide range of professional performance events taking place in Birmingham throughout the year. The clusters will also come together on a regular termly basis to share their music making.
Hertfordshire - Count Us In
Partners: Hertfordshire Music Service and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra supported by Orchestras Live, working with 12 secondary schools and Year 6 pupils from feeder primary schools.
Project: Count Us In will deliver an unrivalled range of music-making and performance opportunities in the county, both in and out of school. More than 350 music workshops will be delivered by musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, working closely with local music staff and secondary Heads of Music, responding to the needs of the local area and the views of the young people involved, providing them with regular showcase opportunities throughout the year.
By the end of this year the Hertfordshire Music Service and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will establish 12 specific music projects across nine districts: Dacorum, St Albans, Stevenage, Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Potters Bar, Hertsmere, Welwyn Hatfield and Watford. Creative youth boards, drawn from participants in each project, will inform the development of the programme and help shape the projects.
East London/Barbican - Connecting Musics of the World
Partners: Barbican Centre, Guildhall School and London Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the ten East-facing London Education Authority Music Services: Hackney, Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Havering, Lewisham and Redbridge.
Project: We aim to develop collaborative models of music-making with a focus on contemporary music genres and traditions from across the globe including jazz, folk, African, American, South Asian and beyond.
There are six strands of activity: 1) Schools concerts for up to 7000 young Londoners; 2) Introductory music workshops for 1500 young people; 3) 'Side by Side' performance opportunities for 150 young people alongside professional musicians; 4) Guildhall Connect's 'World in Motion' strand, taking in musical influences from across the globe, for 400 young people; 5) Interactive schools concerts from the LSO for up to 2500 young people; 6) An LSO Youth Fusion strand which will engage 75 young people at risk of social exclusion with LSO players.
Wiltshire - Wiltshire Music Connect
Partners: Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire Council's music service and Wiltshire Youth Arts Partnership (part of the county's Youth Service), working with young people of all ages, from pre-school to adulthood.
Project: Approximately 400 workshops and 12 performances involving 4,000 children and young people will take place, aiming to inspire a lifelong passion for all types of music from classical to world music and urban among participants and audiences.
There are seven key strands of work and opportunities will range from tots performing a 'Farmyard Suite' and teenagers working with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, to young people with severe learning disabilities creating their own music and young adults using the latest music technologies, or taking part in an intensive jazz improvisation workshop.
Photograph of pupils at the Grange School, Daventry, courtesy of Jan Ford, Orchestras Live