We are currently delivering two Youth Music Projects providing new and exciting music making opportunities for local young people.

In April 2018 we launched a 3 year project funded by Youth Music, providing music sessions for young people from Doncaster, and the opportunity to create recorded music our studios, learn about broadcast media through our radio station, and organise live music events.

In January 2019 some of these young people helped to organise a live event at CAST performance venue featuring Brownswood recording artist Skinny Pelembe and Sheffield based artist LIO.

The following video reflects on the above experiences in the words of the people involved…

The second of our Youth Music Projects commenced in June 2020, with a focus on providing music production sessions for young people from Doncaster with Special Educational needs.

The Music Inclusion project, takes students aged 14-25 through a Bronze Arts Award course in songwriting and recording, helping students to acquire a whole range of creative and soft skills. We have developed an online learning platform that takes students through the course and contains all information needed to successfully complete the Bronze Arts Award. 

During the course students will develop skills in five areas:

1. Writing: improvement of lyric writing skills and learning how to write songs.
2. Reviewing: attending a virtual music performance and writing a review of the event like a true journalist.
3. Exploring: researching the career and work of their favourite artist, getting to know more about the concept of role models.
4. Sharing: passing on acquired knowledge to a friend, a family member, or a peer.
5. Recording: once students have completed 1-4, they will have the opportunity to record their songs with a professional musician. This will either take place at one of Higher Rhythm’s recording studios or at the schools involved in the programme.

The course takes between 8 and 12 weeks (sessions lasting around 2 hours), with a taster session heading up the start of the course. To celebrate the students’ achievements, we will also organise a celebration event in June 2021.

From April 2021 we will deliver another three year project funded by Youth Music, building on the previous three-year project to support more young people from Doncaster in music technology driven music-making. More announcements about this new project will follow soon!