Education

The Youth Group will be performing as part of The Mostly Jazz Festival on Sunday 4th July 2010 at 12pm in Moseley Park

Birmingham Jazz in partnership with Sound It Out community music group has been running workshops in schools over the past four years. These have focused on creativity, inclusion and instrumental development. Our youth ensembles have included sitar, dj decks, tabla, dhol drums, beat boxing and many other instruments alongside the more traditional saxophones, trumpets, drums, guitars and bass.

www.myspace.com/birminghamjazzyouth

We are delighted to announce the release of the Birmingham Jazz Youth Group live CD recorded this Spring. Following a fantastic weekend session of group improvisation the recording features the Family Concert at the CBSO Centre on Saturday 25th April .The CDS are priced at £10.00 and all proceeds will go to the Birmingham Jazz Education Fund.

Birmingham Jazz have a strong association with the Birmingham Conservatoire Undergraduate and Graduate courses. We also encourage the further development of Graduates by offering them opportunities to perform, supporting their projects and offering them professional development and guidance. We also help to bring world-class artists to the Conservatoire to do workshops and one-to-ones with the students.

We also offer students of the Conservatoire students a discounted entry scheme to most of our concerts. This is cited as one of reasons prospective students choose to study in Birmingham.

The Dave Holland/Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz Ensemble Award

The Dave Holland/Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz Ensemble Award was set up to recognise the many talented ensembles both within the Conservatoire and the recent graduate community. The winners of the award in the inaugural year were the John Randall quartet (pictured) and in 2009 Lluis Mather’s quartet scooped the illustrious prize.

Prestigious award to Birmingham Music Partnership from the Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Birmingham Music Hub has been awarded one of only five national DCSF Music Partnership Projects for 2009-2010 worth £200,000, for work between September 20009-Jul/Aug 2010. The project partners include: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG); Birmingham Jazz; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO); Sound It Out Community Music and Town Hall Symphony Hall. The Birmingham Music Service will support all five partners.

Children and Young People from five clusters of Birmingham schools will benefit from a range of creative ensemble music making led by professional musicians working in partnership with their teachers. All the young participants will also experience the live music performed in the City by each of the partner organisations and will give concerts of their own at some of Birmingham’s most internationally renowned venues.

The children and young people will all be between the ages of 9 and 13 and one of the project’s aims is to inspire primary school children to continue with their music making when they reach secondary school.

Keith Stubbs, Director of Learning and Participation at the CBSO said, “This is a wonderful opportunity for Birmingham schools to benefit still further from the rich network of professional music making in Birmingham. We expect to see this project inspiring young musicians for years to come”.

In 2010 Birmingham Jazz will work with St Thomas’ children’s centre on a new project of jazz musicians working with Early Years (children under 5) to explore the role of improvisation in play. Full details will be available once the project gets underway.