Music Generation’s Annual Report 2023

Music Generation

Music Generation recently released their Annual Report for 2023. In 2023, Music Generation reached 8% of children and young people in Ireland, a total of 115,936 programme participants. The year was full of collaborations across counties, vibrant youth-led festivals and young musicians creating new music with professional artists.

513 Musician Educators actively delivered programmes in 2023, a further  514 visits from 204 Professional Musicians/ Ensembles across twenty-five Local Music Education Programme (LMEP) Areas.

Many programmes offered a mix of sound and music forms including: Foundational or Pre-Instrumental Recording and Production, Singer-Songwriter, Creative Music Making, Composition, Music Technology, Spoken Word, Rap, Podcasting.

We have selected some programme highlights from Music Generation’s Annual Report:

• Music Generation Leitrim ran pop-up bucket drumming and percussion workshops at primary and secondary schools throughout the county. During these workshops, children and young people learned the basics of bucket drumming and other percussion instruments, as well as singing songs.
• Music Generation Louth curated a series of guest workshops with Berlin-based digital artist Æ Mak. The series was designed to build a progression route from the technology programme TY Trax. It aimed to inspire participants to continue as creative musicians beyond the school experience.
• Music Generation Offaly participated in the official opening of the new Esker Arts Centre in Tullamore. A choir of children from two local primary schools performed with local musician Tolü Makay, with accompaniment from musicians Donal Lunny and Graham Henderson. President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina attended the event along with local dignitaries and guests from the community
• Music Generation Tipperary hosted the “Big Sing Along” performance workshop at the Source Arts Centre, Thurles. Three workshops were delivered over one day and attended by more than 600 children and young people from local primary school programmes including “Primary Beats” and “Tune Up Tipp”. These programmes focus on early years and instrumental performance music education.

The report also detailed national events where young musicians from Music Generation programmes were invited to bring their music to national and international audiences. Music Generation Laois performed at Child Summit 2023 hosted by The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Young singers from Paddock National School, performed a segment of “Bicycles, Boomerangs and Blue Macaws”, a suite based on the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child. The Lundy Model of Participation (2007) was used to facilitate and empower the voice of the child throughout the songwriting process, the programme also encompassed pupils from Cloneyhurke and Rath National Schools.

To read the full report, please visit: https://www.musicgeneration.ie/news/music-generations-annual-report-2023