Yamaha Education Projects

MusicQuest

Yamaha was proud to be a partner in MusicQuest - a project operated by The Prince’s Foundation for Children & The Arts, in which thousands of children across the UK were able to experience the power of live orchestral music, and which received a music industries' award in October 2008.

MusicQuest was a three-year project (2007-2010) that sought to introduce a new generation to the power of live classical music and was a collaboration between Yamaha, the Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, Classic FM Music Makers, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Naxos. In each year of the project some 5,000 children, aged 7-11, met musicians from the Philharmonia Orchestra in a hands-on workshop before the concert. Each workshop give pupils a chance to try an instrument and learn different percussion rhythms with a professional musician – who they would later see performing on stage.

The finale concerts in five towns each year marked the end of the 5-month season in which the children, who had previously had limited access to high-level classical music performances, instruments and music lessons, were able to gain greater experience and understanding of classical and orchestral music.

MusicQuest aimed to dispel the myths that classical music is elitist and that it does little to engage young people. Instead it promoted it as exciting and accessible to children of all ages and backgrounds. The project encouraged children to listen and play classical music for pleasure and endorses the value of classical music in the day-to-day practice of teachers.

The Prince of Wales, founder and President of The Prince's Foundation for Children & the Arts, 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. The aspirations of MusicQuest are identical to our own core value at Yamaha which is to enrich people's lives through music."

Darren Henley, Managing Director, Classic FM said: "Classical music can be enjoyed by everybody, regardless of age, class or geographical location. That's why we are delighted to be working with The Prince's Foundation for Children & the Arts to bring MusicQuest to young people right across the UK."

Further information about MusicQuest is available from the Prince of Wales' Children & The Arts website.Yamaha's own review of MusicQuest can be found here.

(Photo: L-R: Bill C Martin, Yamaha's Education Liaison Manager; Mike Ketley, Senior Director; Ian Frankland, Marketing & Promotions Controller for Band &Orchestral - at one of the MusicQuest concerts.)

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(updated: August 2010)