Connector Stories: Sunderland

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Emma Mapplebeck, our Connector in Sunderland, shares an inside view of Connect and the difference it’s making for young people:

I’m Emma, a musician based in Sunderland and I have a few different roles in the music community here. I work with the Music Hub and Young Sounds, delivering our Connect programme. I teach whole class music and small group cello and violin lessons, and on Saturdays you can find me conducting the Sunderland Youth and Community Orchestra. 

Being part of the Sunderland Music Hub and Young Sounds allows me to see young musicians grow and gain confidence. Here’s a peek inside the programme and the great ways our students have been progressing their music.

Setting the scene in Sunderland

In Sunderland, our opportunities for music, music progression and jobs in the industry are vastly smaller than in the south and widely spread across the North East. We’re 284 miles from London’s big music opportunities and iconic venues such as The Royal Albert Hall and the O2. Finance and travel are huge barriers. But it’s more than just a distance to travel, as you can imagine. It becomes an aspirational barrier too – a feeling that music is harder, or “I can’t afford that – it isn’t accessible to me.” 

A report carried out last year showed that 1 in 3 children in Sunderland are living in poverty. Faced with this, music lessons and accessing music opportunities may not be on the list of priorities for parents.

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Sunderland is starting to realise its potential: achieving music city status, which we’re very proud of, and our Arts Council England funding has increased by 97%. However, we still need a lot more investment to be on par with some of our North East neighbours. 

My music education all happened by chance. I had a grandfather who was dedicated and able to take me on a round trip of 1 hour 20 minutes in the car to have my music lesson, luckily with a fantastic teacher. But not everyone is lucky to have the support to access music opportunities. This is why Connect is so important in Sunderland. It helps to break down barriers one step at a time based on an individual’s need. 

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Supporting travel

For example, we had two young people on Connect who were attending a music group in a community setting that had to close due to lack of funding. We identified a music club five miles from their home, which was a ten-minute drive away. But these young people had no access to a car and no public transport option (literally, when you type it into Google maps, no public transport is available!).

As a Connector, I have meetings with organisations across the city to find out what support for music is available. I came across a fund designed for just this purpose. The Hub applied, and now these young people can access their free community music group.

Before Connect, Sunderland Music Hub did not provide one to one and small group instrumental tuition. Now we can interview and contract teachers based on the individual students’ needs. We can pair students with the right teacher and we have wonderful teachers who go the extra mile.  

A teacher was chatting to me at a Connect Teachers’ Forum about a student. She told me her student could really use more music. She wanted to encourage them to apply to the Centre for Advanced Training at The Glasshouse [formerly called the Sage] in Gateshead. I talked to the family who were worried about the cost and application process. My role as a Connector meant I could support the family with the application, and I’m over the moon that the student got accepted to The Glasshouse with the full bursary! This means she no longer needs Connect to provide lessons, which frees up her space for another young person to join the programme. Her dad stayed in touch and her Connect teacher went to watch her first performance. If that isn’t a musical community, I don’t know what it is! 

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A music tech Get Together session with Charanga, December 2024.

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How we identify young people with musical potential

We work with children’s services, the Early Help intervention teams, and schools, so they know Connect exists. We help them with how to spot music potential, and what to do when they spot it. As a result, we have instrument lessons happening across the city, in and out of school settings, tailored to each young person’s needs. Connect provides a vital resource and opportunity within the music framework of Sunderland.  

I met a young person, 13 year old Louis*, when he joined Connect a couple of years ago. He was in a SEND setting, and the school thought he had lots of music potential but were worried about how he’d manage. At first, he couldn’t sit at a keyboard for more than 15 minutes. But he now attends and plays for a whole 30-minute lesson and has performed in front of 200 people.   

The energy and enthusiasm Louis brings to lessons and Get Togethers would make you smile. He has engaged with our DJ and music tech workshops, our glass percussion workshop, trips to see shows and he really enjoyed the pizza Get Together! I found out he also loves to sing, and one of the biggest successes last term was that he joined our Sunderland Youth Choir. 

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African drumming workshop for Connect pupils in Sunderland, Spring 2022.

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Louis’ secondary school did not offer one to one or small group instrumental lessons and so we provided the school with a keyboard for lessons. This is the patchiness of Sunderland’s music education: one school might offer every instrument and have a great structure in place for those who can’t afford lessons – however the next school could have no provision at all for small group instrumental tuition.  

This is where we have been able to target schools with the extra spaces we have on Connect through funding from the Department of Education’s Music Opportunities Pilot. We’ve looked at schools in areas of need who have high levels of pupil premium children and where we know no instrumental tuition is being offered. Jack, a Deputy Head at one of the schools on Connect said:

“Pupils of all abilities and backgrounds now have the chance to access music tuition lessons, an opportunity which would not be possible without Connect. We now have a legacy in place, where pupils start their music learning journey at a young age and continue to develop this through primary school and into their secondary school education”.

Breaking down barriers

Another Sunderland Connect success story is 14 year old Amy,*, who plays piano. To progress through her grades, she needed to practice on a weighted piano. The only one in school is in the foyer canteen area. So, she goes into school at 7:45 am for her lesson – showing amazing dedication. Her teacher has also been fantastic, happily re-arranging her time to suit her pupils’ needs. Amy’s now passed her Grade 2 exam with merit and is working towards Grade 3. She says: 

“Music has always been such an important part of my life, and since starting piano lessons, I have developed an appreciation for all genres! Connect has helped me so much with my potential, whether that be supporting me throughout my practical grade exams or giving me new opportunities like performing at the Empire Theatre.” 

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*names have been changed