Young Musicians Unite

Young Musicians Unite provided programs for 3,012 students ages 9-18 in 29 schools across miami-dade county including: Young mens prep academy, jose de diego middle, booker t. Washington high; brownsville middle; coral gables senior high; miami beach senior high, nautilus middle, feinberg fisher k-8, north beach elementary; miami edison high; north glade elementary, lake stevens elementary/middle, beacon college prep, skyway, brentwood, barbara hawkins, miami gardens elementary, north county/myrtle grove k-8, carol city middle/high school; west little river k-8, Georgia jones-ayers middle school, miami northwestern senior high, madison middle, central senior high, earlington heights elementary, and the ymu studio in allapattah activities: instrument instruction, public performances and participation in ensembles during and after school (drumline, music tech, beginning band, jazz/rock ensembles, strings, modern band, songwriting, beatmaking, recording). With an expanded presence in miami-dade county public schools, ymu was able to impact 3,012 students through engaging them with high-quality music education. In 2021-22, Young Musicians Unite (ymu) offered courses in jazz bands, rock ensembles, music production, modern band, beginning band, orchestral strings, drumline, pitch & rhythm, sound engineer, and songwriting and beat making, meeting students where they are, awakening their natural desire to learn and master the music they are most interested in. We provided 3 pillars of ymu programs and instruments at no cost to students, including: 1. In-school programs: designed to provide access to music education where it otherwise would not exist, our programs were embedded in our partner schools curricula and designed to help students of all levels, genres, and abilities succeed. We worked closely with our students and school partners to ensure that whichever school they happen to attend, as they move through the grades, each of them had access to continual music education from grades 5-12 through 87 90-minute classes (2-3 days/week) during the year. This includes: - steam: ymu uniquely uses art as a platform to entice students to engage with subjects that are often difficult for them to grasp, such as science, technology, engineering, and math (steam). Ymus 5.0 steam lesson plans, designed in partnership with mdcps, are accessible, relatable, and rewarding for students. Lessons explore a core concept through all 5 aspects of steam to ensure the content sticks across multiple styles of learning, e.g. Discovering sound waves and designing, building, testing an acoustic amplifier, and plotting data points as part of their results. Lessons take place 4x/year with students grades 6-8. - ymu classroom: launched during a pivot to online learning in march 2020. The ymu classroom provides students with the opportunity to study music no matter where they are. Students in grades 4-12 can choose between courses in music production, drumline, pitch & rhythm, modern band, or beginning band. Courses include interactive video lessons, pdf sheet music and handouts, practice assignments, and play-along companions. 2. After-school ensembles + media arts: supplementing in-school programs and housed in our professional-quality ymu studio, after-school ensembles and media arts programs enabled highly motivated students to further develop valuable musical and extra-musical skills and talents to monetize via careers in the creative industries, such as advanced performing ensembles, graphic design, booking, band management, stage crew, lighting, live sound, recording and photography, stage production, and hands-on experiential training in our professional music recording studio. Students worked alongside our performing ensembles and showcases, supporting over 80 performances in 2021-22. 3. Performances: ymu students, primarily the advanced ensembles, each participated in at least 3 live performances in 2021-22 to showcase their skills to an audience of classmates, family, friends, faculty and staff. We have also live-streamed virtual student showcases (in the form of a live web series, live to your living room), aired to our growing online following and simultaneously open to a live studio audience. Youth worked together in a collaborative setting as they learned to play their instrument, read music, and gain real-world experience through group performances. Ymus in-school programs focused on providing access to music education where it otherwise would not exist, whereas after-school performing ensembles & media arts programs are focused on providing vocational experience for our students to ensure that they are employable or eligible for college scholarships.