YAMAHA EDUCATION NEWS

Yamaha, Classic FM & The Prince's Foundation For Children & The Arts Get Into Classical Music With MusicQuest

Thousands of children in Britain have been coming into to contact with classical music for the first time, between October 2007 and February 2008, as The Prince of Wales' Foundation for Children and the Arts, Yamaha Music, The Philharmonia Orchestra and Classic FM Music Makers launch their new specialised project, MusicQuest.

5000 children, aged between 7-11 years old, who have had limited access to music lessons, instruments and concert hall visits, will take part. They will experiment with different musical instruments and explore the stories, melodies and disciplines behind classical music. The project's finale will be a special live performance of the Philharmonia Orchestra in a concert hall venue, for all the children and schools involved.

MusicQuest aims to dispel the myth that classical music is elitist and does little to engage young people, and promote it as exciting and accessible to children of all ages and backgrounds. The project will encourage children to listen and play classical music for pleasure and endorse the value of classical music in the day-to-day practice of teachers.

The Prince of Wales, founder and President of Arts & Kids said:
"There is no reason why classical music shouldn't be part of everyone's life. The tradition, the stories and the emotional power of classical music are available and accessible to everyone. This is the idea behind my MusicQuest, my Foundation's three-year project to give thousands of children a chance to discover why and how classical music is important both in itself and for its ability to change how we think, feel and act."

Mike Ketley, Senior Director, Yamaha, said:
"A quality music experience has the unique capacity to spark a natural latent thirst for more involvement. Young people are massive consumers of music on a passive level and many would like to extend their interest to creating their own music. The development of Yamaha's success story depends not only on innovative new product development and marketing programmes, but also our capacity to inspire the next generation of music makers with our music education partners. This viewpoint lies at the heart of MusicQuest and transcends pure business objectives and Yamaha has been delighted to have been a MusicQuest partner since it's inception."

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(posted February 2008)