You are here:

Celebrate the festive season with music made by young people

Published on

Updated:

Drumworks session in a school class room
Drumworks Christmas session

Earlier this month we launched our first-ever Christmas campaign. It's been an incredibly difficult year for lots of people, so we wanted to spread some holiday cheer - and what better way than through music! 

We asked young people from the projects we invest in, to submit a video of them performing a festive song of their choice. The results showcase huge amounts of talent and creativity, from covers of Christmas classics to original songs penned in lockdown.

Recorded in person, at home and via Zoom, the videos highlight that even under the most difficult of circumstance, organisations have stepped up to ensure children and young people get to make music. 

Youth Music is supported by the National Lottery via Arts Council England. This enables us to invest in projects all over England.

Here’s who took part:

  • Music Fusion (Havant)
  • Circle of Light (Nottingham)
  • Accessible Arts and Media (York)
  • Drumworks (London)
  • LOOSE (Liverpool)
  • Freedom Road Creative Arts (Hull)
  • Voluntary Action Epping Forest (Epping)
  • Trinity Community Arts Ltd (Bristol)
  • Temple Springs (Grays)
  • The UVG (Portsmouth)

Circle of Light

Nottingham

Circle of Light sent us an amazing ‘90s inspired infomercial-style video which featured four of their artists: Dekuna, Youth Music Award-winner Eam, Elmz XIX and Gabriel Mckenna. Although they couldn’t get together in person, they managed to create two covers, a remix, and an original song.

Music Fusion

Havant

Just before Music Fusion were set to get involved in our campaign, their area got put into lockdown and they had to close their main studio. However, they were able to deliver a ‘studio in a box’ to singer and participant Paige, which enabled her to get involved in the campaign from home.  Remotely produced by Neil Elliott, Paige recorded an incredibly catchy original track titled 'On This Day'.

Voluntary Action Epping Forest

Epping

Voluntary Action's Ain't No Mountain High Enough project delivers a range of music-making activities for 16-25-year-olds who have learning and physical challenges. Their choir group chose to perform Brenda Lee's 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree'.

Project leader Marc Balkham said, "The experience has been an absolute delight and they have worked so hard to get to this level of disciplined performance. We are all so very proud of them as they are of themselves and they can't wait to see the finished film. Celebrating achievement like this is so important to those who face barriers."  

Freedom Road Creative Arts

Hull

Freedom Road got over 20 young people and staff involved to perform an extremely festive cover of Elton John’s Christmas classic 'Step into Christmas'. The organisation were already adept with this style of performance, given their project earlier in the year which involved re-creating The Housemartins’ 'Caravan of Love' via Zoom.

Reflecting on 2020, project leader Ian Bolton said, “we have become more flexible; more young people have taken leading roles and responsibilities, and aspirations have developed through that experience. This can be evidenced by Dan who filmed and produced the video after learning from FRCA worker Iain Thompson during the 'Caravan of Love' project."

LOOSE

Liverpool

LOOSE were recipients of our Emergency Fund during the height of the pandemic, using the funding for one-to-one tutoring and support. We received four videos from four of their participants: Brandon, Elise, Isaac, and Owen. Each young person is at a different stage of learning, with three of them working towards exam grades.

During the project, Brandon and Elise achieved their Grade 4 LCM Electric Guitar exams at distinction level, while Isaac achieved his Grade 1 LCM Acoustic Guitar exam at distinction level. LOOSE guitar tutor Bill Leach, said “Being able to able to work towards and submit videos of a performance for this Christmas video allowed them to work on music to a deadline. This gave them a great sense of achievement and improved their skills”.