Not Just For Christmas
As we reflect on a harmonious year, we ask “What are the principles that underpin our Youth Music project? What are the values that underpin those principles? What attributes do we want our practitioners to exhibit?”
As a founder member of the Merseyside Youth Association’s music team, with over twenty years’ experience mentoring young musicians, I identify here the four key principles that guide our work:
Quality of engagement
All Noise Project interactions endeavour to be genuinely young person centred, meaning that both content and communication are from the standpoint of what young people want to achieve. This means treating young people as equals and sharing our expertise to shape their sessions, in their image, to achieve their goals.
The qualities we require of our music mentors include: trustworthiness (honouring the trust placed in the practitioner), empathy (a commitment to young people’s wellbeing), diligence (young-person focused deployment of musical skills and knowledge), personal identity (sense of self in musical relationships to others) and competence (assessing own abilities in relation to musical and pastoral need).
Our drive as a project comes from our staff, who held and hold similar desires to those we engage.
Consistency of approach
Young people need to feel that they and their endeavours are worthy. This requires staff to be consistent with young people, which means being authentic, reliable, trustworthy and realistic.
Project workers must demonstrate emotional self-awareness towards young people and be emotionally consistent within themselves. This means being in control of their own emotions, being on time, clear of mind and wholly present for the young people in front of us.
Integrity
As mentors we must be unafraid to exhibit frankness where required, to effect positive progress in both artistry and attitude – while at all times showing humility and sensitivity.
We encourage young people to reach, but we do not put stars in their eyes.
Best practice
This is our commitment to professionalism, as informed by our organisational principles and policies, and aligned with those of our funders.
This means supportive supervision and appraisals for staff, reflective practice as a team and as a sector – and an open ear policy for young people’s views and needs.
It means ensuring staff are up to date with trends in education, youth work and the arts, and attuned to the challenges young people face today.
Our principles, in summary, are the product of many years’ observation: of young people and the defining role of music in their lives. They are refined through daily dialogue with young people, parents, carers, funders and partners to provide a framework that delivers positive and lasting change in young people’s lives.
To adapt a well-known festive saying: principles are for life, not just for Christmas. We wish our colleagues, young musicians and funders a harmonious Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Philip Kearns
December 2018