Across November and December 2025, we had the absolute pleasure of working with a group of young people aged 13-18 on a project which gave them the chance to explore the musical sounds of London as it is now, as well as to envision a new future for the city through song-writing.
“I enjoyed seeing my musical ideas get brought to life by other people!”
Harry, Project Participant
“I like that we took everyone’s thoughts and made some fabulous pieces together.”
Ella, Project Participant
“Some people have brought their own ideas and then we’ve worked on it as a group, or some songs we’ve created together from the ground-up. It’s a nice mix of collaboration on all of our ideas about London'”
Lauren Breen, NYJO Emerging Professional and Assistant Educator
Delivered by NYJO Lead Educator FLOetic Lara, alongside NYJO Emerging Professional musicians Jamie Harms and Lauren Breen who acted as Assistant Educators, this project enabled the young people to create their own music inspired by London. Together, they combined ideas about spaces that feel calm, like the river, and spaces that feel busy and overwhelming, where you can feel lonely even though you are never physically alone.
“Over the 7 weeks of this project, we’ve been writing songs about London; different experiences, our favourite places, and our favourite people.”
Imani, Project Participant
“It’s really cool to create something spectacular our of nothing; making something your own. This project has been really big on improvisation. Improvising feels really similar to what it’s like living in London – the constant change of different things outside your daily routine.”
Caleb, Project Participant
Caleb’s reflections on the similarities between improvised music-making and his feelings around living in a busy city are really interesting; drawing out shared experiences around spontaneity and the joy that can be found in the unexpected.
Across this project, we were able to see the young people building the confidence and skills needed to navigate the world in which they live, and also finding their feet within their own creative world. Drawing the throughlines between both these spaces, the young people connected across their shared experiences and learnt new ways of ‘speaking’ to one another through music.
We also focused heavily on showing the young people that music doesn’t have to only be about playing the notes given to them on a page by someone else, but that it can also be about finding a means to express their own thoughts and ideas.
“Having the opportunity to come to these spaces and bring music that you’ve been thinking about and are excited about, rather than just being presented with stuff – it’s such a valuable experience to take away for these young people, and such an important thing that humans can do together.”
Jamie Harms, NYJO Emerging Professional and Assistant Educator
At the end of the project, we asked the young people to rate from 1 to 10 (with 1 being ‘not at all’ and 10 being ‘extremely’) how far they felt that this project had given space for their ideas and identity. Their mean response was 8.1.
It’s always special to see young people exploring how they can use music as a vehicle for creatively expressing themselves in new ways. Here, they could embrace the joy and creativity that should sit at the heart of music-making; taking risks, trying new things, and growing in confidence as a result.
“Music is my whole life.”
Imani, Project Participant
“Music is a key to opening another door.”
Caleb, Project Participant
“Music is family.”
Federico, Project Participant
“Music is a symbol of calm and respect.”
Ella, Project Participant
Above are the participants’ reflections at the end of the sessions about what music means to them. Projects like this can provide vital opportunities for even more young people to find out what music could bring into their own lives; building communities, teaching self-expression, and allowing them to be fully themselves.
If you’d like to get involved in our offer for young people aged 18 and under, drop us an email anytime at [email protected].