Come and Play!, a partnership between the Kids' Clubs Network and the charity Youth Music launched at the Ministry of Sound this week, will see more than 650,000 invested in the three-year music-making programme in 70 selected out-of-school clubs.
Anne Longfield, chief executive of the Kids' Clubs Network, said, 'This level of funding gives everyone cause for celebration. Through bringing musicians and children together the Come and Play! programme gives children and young people an opportunity to further their musical talents.
'Out-of-school clubs, working with Youth Music, will provide an exciting approach to learning which is crucial in helping those who don't feel so confident learning in a more formal school setting.'
Mary Piper, owner of the Buckets and Spades day nursery in Harwich, Essex, said she was looking forward to a ten-week pilot of the scheme at her 40-place out-of-school club. Training for staff who will run the weekly sessions each Monday from April has already begun.
Ms Piper said, 'I am very excited about it because it will be an opportunity to expose children to all aspects of music, which they don't seem to have been getting in school over the last 20 years. We will be casting our net wider from the traditional idea that learning music automatically means picking up an instrument such as a clarinet or a guitar.
'They will have the opportunity to do classical music, drums and percussion, singing and even disco music. We want to tap into the music the children are interested in and develop skills they may not know they have.'
Gavin Henderson, chairman of Youth Music, which provides music-making opportunities for children and young people particularly in areas of social need, said, 'Come and Play! will enable us to assist children not normally reached by music services or the formal music education system.' He added that it would reach out 'to develop children not just in the skills of music-making but additionally in life skills of respect, integration and teamwork'.
