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Young Sounds UK bring Discover training to Aberdeen
We’ve been running our Discover training in England since 2008 and we’re now looking to start the programme in Scotland! Starting with free sessions in Aberdeen.
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Connector Stories: West Yorkshire
In September 2024, with the help of funding from the Department of Education through the Musical Opportunities Pilot, Young Sounds were able to expand our Connect programme to support more children from low-income backgrounds in West Yorkshire.
A year later at our fundraising event at Burtonfields Hall, our Connector, Laura Robinson, shared an inside view of Connect and the difference it’s making for young people.
Laura is a flautist and has been a woodwind teacher with Bradford Music and Arts Service for the last 16 years. Laura became a Connector in West Yorkshire in 2024. Her role is to provide musical support and guidance to young musicians and their families, particularly to those who may experience barriers to these opportunities.
Setting the scene in Yorkshire
Working as a Connector this year has been very busy and very rewarding. When young people are nominated for the programme, I organise their weekly lessons, arrange access to a free musical instrument and communicate with their parents and carers. I share information with them about musical opportunities, competitions and workshops in the area, and organise termly ‘Get Togethers’ where the young musicians can join up to share a musical experience.
As the Music Hub had then expanded to reach the wider area of West Yorkshire, 20 children from Kirklees joined as part of this cohort. With the extra places, teachers have been able to nominate a number of young people from low-income families who have shown great musical potential and who wouldn’t be playing a musical instrument without this intervention. In September 2025, 20 children from Leeds also joined the programme. This is a huge success for Music Education in West Yorkshire.
By working together with Young Sounds across this wider area, 140 young people are being supported on the programme across West Yorkshire who wouldn’t be making music without this support.
Breaking down barriers in Bradford
In West Yorkshire, there are a number of challenges which affect young people’s opportunities to progress. The Bradford District is the fifth most income deprived in the country. Bradford is extremely diverse, with those from ethnic minority backgrounds forming a third of the population and 150 languages being spoken within the district.
Language barriers can make communication with parents a challenge and many parents don’t have the information they need regarding musical opportunities. This is where my role as a Connector comes in. I regularly speak to parents and carers to ensure that they have all the information they need to help their child thrive musically. Communication with schools is also really important to also support a number of our families on the programme.
As well as weekly music lessons, the young people on the programme enjoy sharing musical experiences through the Get Togethers. The young people were even featured on BBC Newsround during one of our Get Togethers!
Supporting musical potential
One of the young people on the programme is Ammara, age 13. She began playing the saxophone in her whole class and was quickly identified as showing musical potential. Lack of funding at the school meant that these class lessons had to come to an end after one year.
Ammara was nominated for the programme and began her individual saxophone lessons a couple of weeks later. Fast forward five years and Ammara is now at secondary school and is still playing the saxophone. She attends the music centre on a weekly basis to play in the Wind Band and she uses her bursary money to pay for bus tickets to get to music centre each week. She has performed at Bradford Schools Prom and Music Centre concerts and regularly attends the Get Togethers to share musical opportunities with other like-minded young people. She says:
“I love how I get the chance to play my saxophone with different people. I also enjoy how all the staff and teachers help us and give us lots of opportunities. I love the Get Togethers as we meet different people who make music and get to learn different types of music.”
Lucah (aged 9) joined the programme in September 2025, after a year of class tuition on flute. His passion and talent were quickly identified after just a few weeks. He is now attending Wind Band and performing solos in assembly. Lucah says:
“You can make up your own songs, it’s like making an art piece but with music instead. You can play your own rhythms and melodies. It really makes me happy.”
Without Young Sounds, Ammara and Lucah wouldn’t be playing musical instruments. Their musical potential would not be able to grow into a guitarist on stage, or a composer, or a sound engineer. Or like me, a Connector who can help to improve the lives of many young musicians.
From Connected to Connector
I was very excited about being a Connector due to my own past experiences. I was a child where financial barriers meant that flute lessons, playing in ensembles and attending music centre was something that I wouldn’t have been able to do if it wasn’t for the support I received.
My Connector (even though this term wasn’t used back then) was my flute teacher Margaret Humphreys, who spotted my potential and went above and beyond to help me achieve musical success.
Margaret gave me extra tuition, helped me get auditions to the three music schools in the country, and I gained a place at Chetham’s School of Music. Margaret put me forward for competitions and performances and even helped me apply for funding through Young Sounds’ Thrive programme.
Through Thrive, I received funding which I used to purchase a piccolo, something I wouldn’t have been able to afford without this financial support. It’s amazing now how I have come full circle and that I’m now a Young Sounds Connector myself. I can now help young musicians in the same way that Margaret helped me.