YAM Resource Center
Resources
Resources for young audiences music: a practical, inspiring knowledge library for people making music experiences with children and young people.
Students as Organisers - ownership in school
Students organise cultural events in school: it's ownership, influence, cooperation, development and fun!
School and Concert - from Transmission to Dialogue
New Norwegian research project DiSko looks into how school concerts can be better integrated in the schools
What are they listening to?
Can we develop better concerts by learning more about children’s developing perception of the music which surrounds them?
Blackboard Music Project Evaluation Report
Blackboard Music Project has had great benefits for the entire Young Audiences Music field
The IAN Model
Evaluation of Artistic Quality in the Performing Arts
Rembrance of Things Past: Music, Autobiographical Memory and Emotion
Music is sometimes called the language of emotion, but it is not at all clear how music expresses, or is expressive of, the emotions
Workshop: Experiencing Drama and Theatre
Developing a space for communication with children & young people
The Importance of Neuroscience in Teaching Music
If the left hemisphere of the brain performs tasks like logic and mathematics and the right one is connected to creativity and arts, you might conclude that playing music activates the second hemisphere. Wrong. Playing music is like fireworks for the brain, as it encompasses connections on both sides of the brain: ‘‘Playing a musical instrument practically engages every part of the brain at once, especially the visual, auditory and motor cortexes.” What is more interesting, according to research, is that music literally fills the gap between the two hemispheres, called corpus callosum, responsible for the transmission of messages from one hemisphere to another; as playing music increases the activity in this area of the brain, information is easily transmitted from one side to another.
Music Preferences
What the Music Educator Should Know About Students' Musical Preferences
IAN: from theory to pratice
An example of how the IAN model can be used as a tool for quality assessment in young audiences music productions
The Physiology of Music And Movement
Can the study of the impact of music and movement on individuals provide valuable scientific information?
Speed Sessions
Producers' tool to talk about YAM productions qualified and effectively
Scott Rogers on How Children Listen
Simply having a young audience in the concert hall is no guarantee that they will actually be listening...
Mind the GAP
What is at work in the communication field between the musicians, the music and the young audience?
Do you hear what I hear?
Musical Maps and Felt Pathways of Musical Understanding
YAMawards 2019: Open and Accepting Applications
The 10th edition of the YAMawards is now open and officially accepting applications!
Meet The Winners Of YAMawards 2019!
From amongst 70+ international live music productions from over 20 different countries, 10 amazing experiences for young audiences were nominated for the 2019 YAMawards. On the 1st of October 2019 during the YAMawards Ceremony in Horsens, Denmark, 5 of them were crowned winners. We are thrilled to announce the winners of the YAMawards 2019!
Skyggespill: Cross-country Co-creation
New international YAM production Skyggespill co-produced between Kulturtanken, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Oorkaan
International Cooperation makes a Difference!
The Blackboard Music Project partners emphasize the importance of the international cooperation
In Tune with Time: School needs Art # 1
This is the first of two small posts on future and past in the relation between art and school education
Open School - Open to the World
How can schools and cultural institutions join hands for better, more joyful and sparkling learning and education?
Beats Across Borders - music makes a difference!
Professional artists join in Beats Across Borders to create musical workshops for children and young people all around the globe
Watering the Roots: School needs Art #2
Watering the Roots is the second of two posts on future and past in the relation between art and school education
Make Your Case!
Do you need hard based facts to support music in schools when approaching politicians, municipalities or other? Here's the place.
YAMsession 2014: Mistress Art & Master Learning
YAM talks: in November in Umeaa, Sweden, Tatiana Chemi, Lecturer and Researcher in arts-based education at Aalborg University, Denmark talked about integrating the arts in the school curriculum. When arts integration takes place, which are the challenges and the outputs? Can the arts speak with and to scool children? If we say yes to this marriage, how and why can / should this relationship work? Take a journey into and out of metaphors for optimal learning.
Possible Selves in Music
Pioneering new research explores the transformational power of youth musical participation in Ireland.
A Child's Brain Develops Faster with Exposure to Music Education
Exposure to music and music instruction accelerates the brain development of young children, a University of Southern California study suggests.
Wouter van Looy's Five Principles
How to organise a music event in which young people feel welcome
La Balle Rouge
A takeaway of the concert "La Balle Rouge" produced by JM France and showcased at the first edition of Festival Monte le Son organised in Brussels by JM Wallonie-Bruxelles, from April 13th and April 17th of 2016. The exchange of la Balle Rouge, the festival Monte le Son opening and JMWB Presentation Day 2016/2017 all took place as part of the Blackboard Music Project.
Music Perception
The relationship between music perception studied in the laboratory and as it occurs in real life
Creating Balance through Dance
Can self-esteem, school performance, and positive life choices of at-risk middle school students be influenced by their participation in an in-school dance program?
Tim Webb – Five tips for creating work with young people with disabilities
Tim Webb co-founded Oily Cart 35 years ago, and has written and directed more than 80 shows for the company that creates work for two audiences: very young children (six months to six years old) and young people with complex disabilities. Webb has worked as an actor, writer and director at theatres large and small throughout the UK. His scripts have been produced at Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre, London’s Albany Empire (formally on the site of the Albany), and Manchester’s Contact, and by theatre in education companies in Greenwich, Glasgow and Leeds. He has directed productions for Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, the London Bubble Theatre Company, Glasgow’s Giant Productions, Canada’s Carousel Players and the Chicago Children’s Theatre. Here are his tips for creators of work for young people with impairments. 1. Think multisensory Whether preparing a workshop or a performance, run a multisensory check on what you plan. Are you addressing the senses of touch, smell and the kinaesthetic sense, as well as those old theatre standbys of seeing and hearing? 2. Don't paint with a broad brush Don't think of the audience as some homogenous group. They are not “an audience of children with special needs”. They are a group of complex individuals with a vast range of different attitudes, aptitudes, interests and various communication skills. 3. Observe and improvise Following on from my previous points, whether you're doing a workshop or performance, above all you need to observe your audience and be able to improvise, responding to what you see. Are you ready to do what you planned slower, faster or completely differently? And are you ready to let your audience in to become co-creators of the piece? 4. Watch the grown-ups Observe the reactions of any accompanying adults just as closely as those of the children. The adults will almost certainly know the children better than you, and you can often tell just from an accompanying adult's body language whether they think some activity is being well-received by the child – or you are heading for trouble. On the other hand, don't be in thrall to an adult companion's reaction – whether spoken or unspoken. 5. Be wary of labels In the same way, be wary of the way in which labels such as “autistic spectrum condition” and “profound and multiple learning disability” are used to define people through “the prism of pathology” – concentrating on deficits and impairments. Involvement in a workshop or performance often brings insight into otherwise unregarded facets of a child participant and reveals something of the rich, complex personalities that lie beyond the labelling. Susan Elkin, The Stage, 11th January 2016 https://www.thestage.co.uk/advice/2016/tim-webb-fi...
Are you a musician?
A research study conducted by the Young Audiences Arts for Learning
YAM Producers Forum 2014: Kraja
In November 2014 in Umeå (Sweden), two producers from two different countries, having never each other, were set to work with Kraja, a local Swedish vocal quartet. The aim was to look at their performance for young audiences with new eyes and ears and to see what they could do together.
Amaze Me
A “best of” of European opera productions for young audiences
The Range of Children
Children’s singing in school concerts - vocal ranges
Music and Emotion
Living apart together: a relationship between music psychology and music therapy
Young Audiences Music 101
Why outreach concerts for kids are different from concerts for grown-ups
Mapping of Nordic research on Culture and Creativity in School
The present report is the result of collection, analysis and writing which took place during the period of February 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. With the Network for Children and Culture/the Danish Agency for Culture as the commissioning party, during this period research material concerning culture and creativity in schools in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have been collected. The collected material have been systematised and processed in order to be presented at a Nordic conference on The Cultural Rucksack in Bergen in March, 2013, and subsequently in a web-based publication. The mapping project was originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2012, however, various difficulties in relation to providing data materials have further complicated the process so that the final result is available with some delay. The project has, for the entire period, been housed in Denmark at the Network for Children and Culture/the Danish Agency for Culture with chief consultant Benedicte Helvad as the project manager. Project researcher Lotte Broe, PhD, was involved in carrying out the data collection, analysis and writing of draft reports, and Jakob Meerwald Jensen, BA, has assisted the project by developing bibliometrical methodology for the systematisation of the mapping material. The main objective of the mapping has been to provide insight into the scope and nature of Nordic research within the delimited area of 'children's engagements in creative and aesthetic processes in school' and thus establish a solid basis for assessing the need for further knowledge development in this area. The results of the mapping work can be summarised in the following main points: The dominant research theme in all of the Nordic lands can be summarised as the school's perspectives. This means that topics such as learning, didactics, teaching, etc., fill up most of the overall research picture, indicating that classical cultural formation rationalities play a prominent role in the research’s core problematisation of children-culture-school cohesive qualities and challenges. The prevalence of other research themes is distributed unevenly among the participating countries, with the following main tendencies: Pedagogical perspectives are clearly present in the research collections of most of the countries, and it is significantly more frequent in the Finnish material than in the other countries' research. Children's ownership and own engagements in the creative and aesthetic pro-cesses is relatively inadequate – and in some countries not addressed at all – in the Nordic research. The research which thematises aesthetics is divided fairly evenly in terms of weight on aesthetic learning and aesthetic experience, and it can also be interpreted as a spread in relation to the underlying rationales (self-formation vs. classical formation) in the children's cultural area. Creativity and innovation/entrepreneurship occurs as a research theme only with significant frequency in the Finnish and Danish research. The total quantity of research collected is relatively low: 131 publications over a period of 13 years (2000-2012) spread over 6 nationalities. Various types of research (e.g. basic research, application-oriented research) occurs with varying frequency from country to country within the delimited field. The report contains 5 chapters, of with chapters 2 and 3 present the study's data material. Chapter 3 presents the data material that falls within the mapping delimitation in schematic form showing keywords and research themes. Furthermore, the end of the chapter includes some material, which despite on various parameters falling outside of the mapping delimitation, is deemed interesting and relevant to the current research and practice in the field. Chap-ter 4 contains the material which is collected according to each country's national strategies and organisations in and of the field together with a contribution from Professor Anne Bamford which puts into perspective the Nordic countries' handling of culture in the school. Chapter 5 contains the project's conclusions and a short perspective on the ambitions for the project as reflected in the original project application. It has been exciting and challenging to manage the many constructive contributions and whole-hearted engagements during the study period, not least from members of the Nordic reference group who willingly made their skills and knowledge available for the mapping. Not all wishes and ambitions for the project have been fulfilled, but we have come a long way, and a big thank you goes to all who have participated in the process. Download Research Document Tell us your email Address and We'll send
25 years of school concerts: LMS anniversary highlight
In 2017 Danish Levende Musik i Skolen - LMS celebrated their 25th anniversary in connection with Musik i Tide festival 2017. The official celebration took place as a major anniversary concert on September 24th in Sønderborg Concert Hall - also the official opening of the Festival. Don't miss out on the grand finale... A fantastic medley featuring avangarde electrojazz, dramatic classical string music and Mali folk music interfered with beatboxing, tango, blues, Danish folk music and classic percussion joined by no less than 160 young singers and a music school brass band. A quick scope of the width of genre that LMS embraces.
The most important work as a producer is...
Explore how Levende Musik i Skolen, Denmark approaches the YAM producer role
Tube Beat Or Not Tube Beat?
Discovering Sound through Rhythm and Movement
Connecting learning to doing
Translating academic theory into creative practice is not necessarily a straight line from A to B. Scott Rogers, Artistic Director of Concerts Norway (Rikskonsertene), explores this path and what quality performances means to young audiences.
Welcome to the wonderful world of YAM!
Check out the brand new YAM animation video! We hope you'll find it a great way to introduce the YAM program to your people and partners, and all under 1 minute!
Background information and links
Need a quote, a reference or some background information?
The Language of Opera
How can students express their feelings about issues that are important to them through music?
Emotion, engagement and meaning
Emotion, engagement and meaning in strong experiences of music performance
YAM Producers Forum 2016: "The World Comes Closer"
The YAMsession Producers Forum brings together a local young audiences production with two international producers from two different countries. The documentary shows how after a three days of hard teamwork producers and performers bring their piece to the next level, turning a classical music stage concert into a playful and interactive show for young audiences. Connection, motivation, dialogue, audience needs, fun... are just some of the topics brought into discussion to improve the production to its best for the most honest public: children. The production first performs live for the YAMsession with their existing work whereafter they are whisked away by the producers and over the course of the next 2 days they work together to make a 'new' production, to be presented again on the final day. The whole process is followed by the audience who are encouraged to give input and reflections on what transforms a good production into a great one! If you want to experience the transformation of the next production, attend YAMsession 2017, the annual international event for creative professionals working in the field of young audiences development. Register here: www.yamsession.org.
Finnish kids become school concert organisers
See how Finnish students engages in the Students as Organisers initiative.
How can the Blues be used to learn fractions?
A research project conducted by the Young Audiences Arts for Learning
Preparing children for active concert listening
How to help children make each new listening experience richer and more meaningful than the last.
The Appropriateness of Young Audience Programs for Primary Grade Children
A collection of evidence for the feasibility of introducing music programs to lower-grade school children.
AUDIENCES 15 stories about audience development
YAM in times of Corona
In times of corona YAM is putting together this list of activites for young audiences from throughout our network. Belgium A Felmishregional platform for sharing arts has been created: Podiumaanhuis Check out THELONIOUS: https://www.podiumaanhuis.be/v... Denmark Youtube channel named Musik Tak with some live sessions + workshops. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAZT1JWl-1ubHGIyomcvPoA Finland Konserttikeskus is streaming concerts for kids: (In Finnish) http://www.konserttikeskus.fi/etakonsertit Check out their Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD_e4Doiae0diWDau8fibpg/ France JM France Youtube channel of concerts: Ma (ré)création musicale Iceland Great Prerecorded Concerts for kids! https://listfyriralla.is/ Norway Loads of resources from the Cultural Ruksack on https://www.denkulturelleskolesekken.no Sweden Region Gävleborg Online concerts each Wednesday. https://www.regiongavleborg.se Halland/Musik Hallandia ”Daily tips for streaming” : https://www.musikhallandia.se/... Musik i Blekinge: Liveconcerts online every Friday 12:00: ”Scenkanalen Blekinge” Different concerts for adults and for kids. Musik i Syd: Digital channel with different concerts https://www.musikisydchannel.se Gotlandsmusiken ”Vibble sessions”
KulturCrew: Danish students as concert organizers
Want to know what KulturCrew (the Danish version of the Students as Organisers programme) is all about? Check out this video from a school in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark. KulturCrew is a programme of Levende Musik i Skolen, Dansehallerne and TeaterCentrum.
Singing and Vocal Development
Abstract Singing in one form or another is an essential feature of musical development and behaviour. In each age phase (infancy, early childhood, older childhood, adolescence), the human voice has a distinctive underlying anatomy and physiology that is capable of producing a diversity of 'singing' behaviours. At any age, development can be supported or hindered by a number of factors, such as the appropriateness of a given singing task set by an adult in relation to current singing capabilities, the expectations of peers and/or the value placed on singing within the immediate culture. Opportunities to engage in vocal play and exploration, to share in singing games with peers and 'experts', as well as to improvise and compose their own songs are essential features of musical cultures that foster singing development. By Graham Frederick Welch, University College London. Singing and Vocal Development appeared in the 2006 publication "The Child as Musician: A handbook of musical development" edited by Gary McPherson. Photo: Christian Brandt Download Research Document Tell us your email Address and We'll send
Why children's theatre matters
If you are reading this blog, it probably means that you are interested in theatre. So why are some areas of theatre valued over others, particularly theatre for young audiences?
Thinking about Thinking
Developing Metacognition in Children
YAMsession and the 2018 YAMawards
The 2018 YAMsession brought creative professionals together to help bring live music to every child
YAMsession 2015: A One-on-One with Andreas Ljones
Andreas Ljones is a Norwegian professional musician. At YAMsession 2015 he reflects back on this mountain of work, and reveals the lessons and experience he gained from it. Based on folk music from Norway, Andreas has taken traditional music to new audiences with his violin. From the age of five he studied music in a traditional way with great masters of the Gudbrandsal tradition. He went on to become the first student to finish a diploma study with the Hardanger fiddle as main musical instrument. Starting at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, Andreas has played 1500 concerts in more than 50 countries. He has a special interest in playing music for younger generations.
YAMsession 2016: Children review Concerts
Norwegian fith grade students, "Music Antennas", attended all concerts at YAMsession 2016. Want to know what they thought?
YAMspace for musicians
YAMspace offers a range of essentials for young audiences music musicians
YAMsession 2015: Navigating Croatian Music Education in Times of Transition
YAM Talks: With a special focus on former Yugoslavia and Croatia, Mladen Tarbuk, one of the most versatile artists on the Croatian music scene, explores at YAMsession 2015 the transition of eastern socialist countries into liberal democracies, discussing how this transition process continues to affect the arts education system while investigating the role of art in civil society. Stay tuned for more video resources from YAMsession 2015 coming soon!
Want to tour abroad?
YAMspace has gathered relevant information from young audiences music organisations from around Europe
"Why We Love Giving Youth A Chance To Create"
A video by Young Audiences New York Artists. Young Audiences New York wants all children to experience extraordinary art — both as creators and as audience members. We believe that no matter what kind of work today’s children will go on to do as tomorrow’s grown-ups, they will need to know how to persevere, collaborate, solve problems creatively and assess their own progress. What better way for children to learn all these important 21st Century learning and life skills—and experience joy too—than through arts in education!
A Taste for Classical Music
Strong emotions, large works, and great composers: everything is bigger and stronger in classical music. Still, schools were reluctant to ask for classical school concerts in the Danish school concert programme under Levende Musik i Skolen - LMS (Live Music in Schools). This development LMS set out to reverse with the project Smag for Klassisk (A Taste for Classical Music). The project aim is to increase enthusiasm for classical music in young audiences.
The WOW Experience
Providing meaningful art experiences for students aged 6-18 years
Presentation of the national French YAM organisation: JM France
JM France: 1 common cause; 75 years; 32 million children; 10.000 hired artists.
How to talk to children about art
Discover a series of advices and proposals to start talking with children about a concrete experience of art
YAMawards 2018: Vote Now!
JM International is thrilled to announce the nominees of the Young Audiences Music Awards (YAMawards) 2018.
Meaningful Musical Encounters in School Music Education
The significance of strong musical experiences for students in music lessons
"You Need Trust": YAM Producers Forum 2015
The YAMsession Producers Forum brings together a local young audiences production with two international producers from two different countries. For the Producer's Forum 2015, the Porin String Quartet was challenged and supported by producers Wouter Van Looy (Zonzo Compagnie, Belgium) and Katarina Bonander (Musik Uppland, Sweden) to bring their performance to the next level. Do not miss the opportunity to enjoy the next edition of Producer's Forum 2016 during YAMsession in Larvik, you can register now ! See the video of YAM Producers Forum 2014: Kraja
Study on Audience Development
How to place audiences at the centre of cultural organisations
1-on-1 with Body, Rhythm Factory
Boom whacka yeow! Take a look into the creative madness behind Body Rhythm Factory, winners of the YAM Awards 2013! Body Rhythm Factory are a Danish percussion ensemble For more info check out bodyrhythmfactory.com
Korvat Kävelylle: A look back at Konserttikeskus' showcase, Kaarina, Finland 2016
Korvat Kävelylle took place on March 9th to 11th in the municpality of Kaarina near Turku in Finland. Get a taste from the opening reception featuring talks, local choirs and beatboxing from Belgium followed by two full days of virtuous harmonicas, bass solos, music theatre and hit songs on Kantele, conferences and much more. See and read more about Korvat Kävelylle 2016 here Korvat Kavelylle took place as part of the Blackboard Music Project.
Musical Maps as Narrative Enquiery
Using musical maps as a tool for students to enable musical understanding
Investigating Causal Effects of Arts Education Experiences
Experimental Evidence from Houston’s Arts Access Initiative
Reflective Practice: Evaluation in Arts Education
The report from the RESEO Atumn Conference 2016 is now available
Call for Showcases for YAMsession 2022
YAMsession is looking for the world’s best live music productions for young audiences to showcase at the upcoming YAMsession in Bruges (Belgium) from the 17th to the 19th of October 2022. YAMsession has become the annual international meeting point for professionals working in the field of live music for young audiences, bringing together bookers, producers and musicians since 2011. The festival-conference will showcase 6-8 outstanding internationally relevant live music productions for young audiences. Could one of these be yours? Check the conditions for showcases and apply on www.mubazar.com! Please note that applying for a YAMsession showcase is not equivalent to applying for the YAMawards, which must be made separately. Hear what Rune Thorsteinsson from Body Rhythm Factory (Denmark) had to say about performing at YAMsession: "Being part of the YAMsession was a great experience! We got a lot of concert requests on that account - more than we can actually play, so that was really positive. I can highly recommend a trip to wherever the YAMsession is taking place, it's a great event and a great show window for young audiences musicians.” If you have any questions please contact info@yamsession.org or find more information on the YAM Session are available on www.yamsession.org
Young Audiences Music Concerts: a link between Art and Education
The professional Young Audiences Music concert within school places itself in between the fields of art and education.
Music and Mood
Where Theory and Reality Meet
Trinity of Arts Education
How we introduce art to kids is really important business and should be approached from a holistic perspective
YAMsession Producers Forum 2017
Final performance and discussion on 6th September 2017 in Casa da Música (Porto). The YAMsession Producers Forum brings together a local young audiences production with two international producers from two different countries. The production first performs live for the YAMsession with their existing work whereafter they are whisked away by the producers and over the course of the next 2 days they work together to make a 'new' production, to be presented again on the final day. The whole process is followed by the audience who are encouraged to give input and reflections on what transforms a good production into a great one! The participants of YAM Producers Forum 2017 are: - Band: Aquilo que vocês quiserem, Portugal. - Producer: Lilian Genn, Musikvermittlung / Körperpräsenz, Austria. - Producer: Sune Skuldbøl Vraa, LMS (Live Music in Schools), Denmark.
Teaching Children the Language of Beauty
Abigail Housen’s theory of aesthetic development as a guide to our presentation of art for young audiences