‘Don't let that put you down’: YolanDa Brown

‘I am really passionate about the idea that music is just music – we don't need to make “children's music”’, says YolanDa Brown, saxophonist, broadcaster, philanthropist, and writer, among other things. I had just told her that my formative experience of live music as a young child was Tweenies Live! (great fun), so I was impressed when I tuned into YolanDa's Band Jam on CBeebies for ‘research’ and discovered that children these days can essentially watch free gigs from their own living rooms.

‘It just needs to be clean’, she adds (for clarity). ‘My parents are both from Jamaica, so I heard reggae, ska, mento, as well as opera, classical, rock, R&B, Motown, all of it – my dad loves music. Music was never “babied down”.’ Alongside her flourishing career as a touring musician, Brown brings her passion for music into schools around the country, asking herself if there is anything she could add to the formal music education she received growing up.

On a mission

In November 2020, Brown launched her latest mission to promote music in primary schools by releasing the first single from her new interactive album, YolanDa's Band Jam. A second single was released on 4 December, along with the news that Brown would be extending her outreach from 500 schools to 1,000, due to ‘phenomenal demand’. Following the start of the most recent lockdown, she brought the release date of her album forward to 13 January and announced that access to the bespoke online learning resources and lesson plans would be free for all children.

Speaking about her CBeebies show of the same name, Brown says, ‘We have recurring songs based on music education – it might be tempo, rhythm, dynamics – and the children really know them. They're really catchy and I love the idea that there's education in there as well – we're not too shy to say “allegro” or “tempo”.’ These songs feature on the album, which, like her 15-minute show, is aimed at both schools and families at home.

YolanDa Brown and her Band Jam band

The full package

Although our conversation took place before the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) published its stark report into the devastating impact of COVID-19 on music education in schools, Brown's initiative could not have come at a more crucial time. With the ISM's survey finding that 10 per cent of UK primary and secondary schools were not teaching music at all in September 2020, the new year will hopefully be a fresh start for some, whether in-person or online.

As well as providing fully packaged lesson plans, particularly useful for class teachers who may not be musically inclined, Brown advocates an ‘integrated’ approach. ‘If we incorporate it, we'll see that music is a great base for everything, from song writing in English, to counting beats in maths, through to science – how do instruments work? All of that should be integrated into our education system and we'll find that music does materialise. I think it will then inspire our young children to want to go and learn an instrument at the weekend, and all of that comes from having it as part of the school day.’

Youth voice

As well as working with primary aged children, Brown is also chair of Youth Music, a national charity that invests in music projects for young people up to the age of 25. ‘It's been a really great time with Youth Music recently because we've had an uplifting focus on the 18–25 age group; we've carried out some wonderful consultancy sessions, just trying to hear from them about what they want.’

Brown speaks about the powerful impact of music on this age group, and the way in which she has noticed a growing desire from young people to speak out and implement change themselves. ‘I find now that it's much more about giving them the power to collaborate, to have a voice and to speak. The voice they have is so genuine – the things they're going through are poignant and I think music really helps.’

‘We're also seeing that young people don't just want an organisation to come in and take over – they also want control. People are finding their voices and saying what they want to learn and how they want to express it, and I think that's been really refreshing for Youth Music.’

Diverse tastes

Refreshing too is Brown's steadfast sense of self, which oozes even through my laptop screen. ‘I always walk into a room knowing that I am me – I am YolanDa Brown. I don't think of myself as a Black woman walking in there. I guess that helps because people realise that I'm not thinking about it, so they shouldn't either – so, let's just make music.’

This does not, however, take away from the emphasis she places on diversity within music education, although her focus goes beyond the arguably narrow perspective many of us afford the term. ‘I think it's important that when we're talking about diversity,’ Brown says, ‘it doesn't necessarily have to be about a person's culture or ethnicity, but also about what a young person likes. Do they like singing or do they like rapping? Do they like musical instruments or just percussion? How can we enhance that? I think that is the diversity we need to focus on really.’

Keep in mind

As well as diversity, much of Brown's work is designed with children and young people's mental health in mind. This summer, she will be part of Young Voices’ Biggest Sing streamed from the O2, a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest simultaneous sing-along. Following at-home events during Children's Mental Health Week in February, it will see children in schools around the country singing Lovely Day by Bill Withers, joined by guest musicians Brown, Billy Ocean, and Ruti. All funds raised by the single will be donated to children's mental health charity Place2be.

‘Within all of this,’ says Brown, ‘the experiences we're going through, and how social media and other things are affecting children – it's important to have an outlet, and music does that. It allows people to be free, to be silly if they like, and I think it's really important that we give children that opportunity.’ She also speaks about how music impacts the lives and wellbeing of young people as they grow up, saying that writing or playing music allows those unable to leave the house due to disability, for example, to have a voice: ‘You hear young people talking about how music saved their life, and I think that's such a powerful statement.’

Online inspiration

Despite touring as a musician – Brown's ‘bread and butter’ – being brought to a standstill when last year's lockdown hit, she believes that the initially ‘unsettling’ period for young people was swiftly alleviated by resourceful schools and other organisations embracing technology. ‘I've heard wonderful testimonies of music making during lockdown, be it in a choir or a group coming together online. Now we're seeing an investment from businesses, through to organisations and schools, to ensure that young people continue to have access to music making.’

Brown's general outlook on the survival of music and the arts into 2021 and beyond is clear, but she confirms her optimism towards the end of our conversation: ‘I'm staying positive. I think if this was ten years ago, then I'd definitely be worried, but on the flip side, with children having social media, there are so many people [online] trying to reinforce the idea that music is important.’

She continues, ‘Young children are seeing people dancing online, singing online, making a TikTok video or whatever, and for all of its flaws and negatives, there is that element of seeing people enjoy music. My daughter watches a dance move on YouTube Kids and then I see her in her room trying to copy it and make it her own, which is fantastic – it's inspirational.’

For Brown, the onus is on her industry to keep producing content and making it available to young people, so that they see music as a career. Then, she adds, it's up to parents and teachers to respond to any negativity around the arts – from the government or the media – with: ‘Don't let that put you down.’

YolanDa's Band Jam is out now. Music videos for ‘Let Me See You’ and ‘Something ‘Bout that Noise’ are available on YolanDa's website: www.yolandabrown.co.uk
YolanDa Brown is also the host of London Philharmonic Orchestra's LPO Offstage podcast, which is available on all major podcast apps.