Southampton Music Hub’s senior wind band, Southampton Youth Wind Band (SYWB) have been invited to perform at the prestigious Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Friday 5 July 2024.

SYWB have been selected following their performance for the regional Music for Youth Festivals. The band submitted a digital entry performing; Fanfare for The 3rd Planet & Wall of Sound.

Music for Youth mentor Andy Grappy commented on the band’s performance that SYWB play with, “Excitement in your performing” and that, “You play with enthusiasm!”, adding, “You perform with great confidence”. The band’s performance can be viewed below.

Following the regional festivals around the country, a few high caliber performers have been selected to participate in the National Festival, SYWB are thrilled to have been one of those. SYWB percussionist, Reuben, 17, said about this opportunity:

“I’m really excited to perform at such an amazing venue, I know we’ll sound amazing in Symphony Hall. I’m also really looking forward to hearing other groups from around the country.”

The band will now be rehearsing hard to give their very best performance possible. SYWB Musical Director, John Hanchett, spoke about representing Southampton:

“We are so pleased to be celebrating the fantastic work of Southampton Music Service on this national occasion. The band would simply not be able to perform to the standard we do if it wasn’t for the incredible team of teachers and support staff that deliver brilliant music education to schools and colleges across the city. Southampton should be really proud and celebrate the achievement of SYWB!”.

Zoe Hunting, Ensemble Manager, Southampton Music Services:

“The Southampton Music Services are incredibly proud of what SYWB have achieved. The result is very well deserved after all the hard work of every player and director John Hanchett and assistant director Kevin Withell. We wish them all the very best for 5 July which is going to be such an amazing experience for all.”

We wish SYWB all the best, we know you’ll be brilliant!

You can watch SYWB in concert locally when they present their Summer Celebration Concert at Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church on Saturday 6th July.

Across 2024 we are releasing An Audience With… a series of youth-led video interviews with music industry professionals. The first two interviews with musicians and performers Camilla George and Carducci Quartet are both live on our YouTube channel. More will be released throughout the year.

An Audience With… is an interactive youth led experience for schools, allowing children and young people to take the lead on planning and creating content and an opportunity to interact and interview music industry professionals and performers. This project has been made in partnership with Turner Sims.

It is a fantastic vehicle for bringing the music industry into the classroom, inspiring pupils to work within our industry and developing aspirations for the future. This project has been specifically created to support teachers and young people to understand more about the many roles and pathways into the music industry.

Camilla George is a visionary saxophonist, composer, bandleader and innovator. She answers questions about working in the music industry from Southampton Music Hub's next generation of jazz musicians. Camilla's strong cultural roots and love of fusing African and Western Music has informed her own unique style. Her music is a hypnotising blend of Afrofuturism, hip hop and jazz. 

Carducci Quartet is an award-winning string quartet, internationally acclaimed as one of the most accomplished and versatile ensembles of today. Young musicians from Elgar Strings get their questions answered by professional musicians from the world renowned Carducci String Quartet.

The Stage Door 'Rising Stars' Open Mic Night was featured on BBC South Today!

Take a look at the feature to see clips of performances and hear from young musicians, the community, The Stage Doors’ Julianne Watling-Mccarthy and Southampton Music Hub’s Nia Collins on why creating a safe space for young people to perform their music is so valuable.

‘It really makes me so happy that I can make people feel the same way I do when I’m on the stage.’

- A Young Musician

You can watch the video clip on our YouTube channel.

Photos from the Schools Christmas Concert 2023 at O2 Guildhall Southampton!

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Southampton Music Hub is offering a second round of Girls Make Music, a music production club aimed at providing young women and girls access to making music in an exciting, creative space at MAST Studios.

The club is an environment to experiment with recording, singing, playing instruments, using music creation software (Logic, Abelton, Bandlab etc.) and any other musical interests they may have! We encourage exploration and collaboration with other young female creatives and want to foster a climate of diversity and inclusion.

The club is open to all young women within the age range regardless of their musical experience, whether they are just starting out on their musical journey or whether they’re well on their way!

The age range is split into two groups to ensure a comfortable creative environment for all participants, Group 1 is 11 - 15 year olds and Group 2 is 16 - 21 year olds. Each group meets monthly, and the dates are available here.

Girls Make Music is part of our DNA programme and is being enabled by funding from Youth Music, awarded to the South West Coastal Hub Alliance.

As part of our Digital Native Artists (DNA) programme, young people taking part in songwriting and production sessions have written some questions to ask members of the team. Next up, introducing Sara!

Sara (She/Her) joined Southampton Music Hub in February as our Youth Voice Engagement Worker for Southampton, as part of the South West Coastal Hub Alliance. Sara will be running an in person 10 week music production club for young women and girls. Find out more about the Girls Make Music: Production Club here.

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How did you get started in music and with writing music, and how did that get you here?

I started making music by writing rap lyrics when I was about 18, it wasn't until I was about 23 that I decided I needed to learn how to produce so I went back to college to get a diploma at DBS in Bristol and then onto get a degree in Music Production from BIMM London University. I then moved down to Southampton in February 2022 and was signed off for a year with anxiety, I slowly started volunteering and getting out there more over the year and I emailed the MAST Mayflower Studios to see if I could volunteer with them to get some experience working in the industry, and they said they had this position available and I should apply so I did and here we are! 

What genre(s) of music do you create?

It's kinda experimental trip hop sort of stuff, I take a lot of influence from Portishead and Massive Attack. I love the heavy drums they use and the eery melodies that accompany them. I'm a very positive, upbeat person most of the time but my music has a lot of darker undertones.

What instruments and tools are you using for recording?

So I mainly just program virtual instruments in logic or use samples, I don't really play any instruments and I've never got too into music theory to be honest. I also sometimes like to take a field recording of some environment or non musical sound and process and edit it in Logic into a form of music. 

Which other artists inspire you?

I accidently sort of already answered this question! But i'll expand a bit more, so trip hop, hiphop/rap and soul are my main influences but artists in any medium that are super authentic and original in their expression are really inspiring to me. I love people that aren't afraid to push boundaries or carve their own path.

What inspires you when you create music?

Everything and anything to be honest, it can be a feeling I have or a phrase that came to my head, it can be a passing strangers conversation or some experience I’ve had in my life. Literally anything.

What's the most important piece of advice you have for aspiring musicians?

Don't follow the crowd, be original, be unique, be bold and daring and don't be afraid to be the authentic truest version of yourself. Also be consistent, don't expect things to happen over night, good things take time and great things take even longer. Belive in yourself to the point of delusion and you'll succeed. 

Check out some of the tools in our ecosystem of music hub to find out more about making music your career.

As part of our Digital Native Artists (DNA) programme, young people taking part in songwriting and production sessions have written some questions to ask members of the team. Next up, introducing JT.

JT (He/Him) has been working with Southampton Music Hub since December 2021. JT works mostly in person in Southampton using his skills as a rapper, drummer, and beatboxer to support young people in learning and developing their own music.

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How did you get started in music and with writing music, and how did that get you here?

I started playing drums in Year 8 of school, then started rapping in Year 9!

What genre(s) of music do you create?

Rap, Hip Hop, Drill and more!

What instruments and tools are you using for recording?

Vocals, Logic Pro X, GarageBand, Drums and more!

Which other artists inspire you?

J Cole, Central Cee, Ard Adz, Lauryn Hill - the list goes on!

What inspires you when you create music?

The energy around me and how reflective I'm feeling, as most of my music is created around my emotions!

What's the most important piece of advice you have for aspiring musicians?

First off - just enjoy creating music! Keep trying, even if you fail! The music industry can be hard to break and requires a lot of time, energy and passion!

Check out some of the tools in our ecosystem of music hub to find out more about making music your career.

The 10 Minute Sign & Sing and Rhythm & Rhyme team are delighted to be supporting Children’s Mental health Awareness week with our content this week.  The theme for this year is ‘growing together’.  We have chosen some songs specifically as part of our weekly digital resource offer to schools which fit around this theme.

The Sign & Sing team have chosen the song Surface Pressure by Lin Manuel-Miranda from the recent Disney film Encanto focusing on the day to day pressure that students in Key Stage 2 and 3 experience regularly.  Our Rhythm and Rhyme song is What I Am by Will.i.am (and The Sesame Street Crew!) which has an excellent positive growth mindset message.

Both songs feature Makaton signs and body percussion which you can learn along with the video, just follow the links below to find these resources in our Everybody Sing Songbank.

Nia Collins, Music Hub Relationship Manager, says:

“The music hub is dedicated to supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing and this is very much at the core of everything that we do now, from planning our online content to offering support to individual pupils through musical activities, this is of vital importance.”

If you want more information about Children’s Mental Health Awareness week or find some more classroom or assembly resources to download then you can take a look by clicking the button below.