“We Out Here 2025 with NYJO was a great experience; helping out with the tuba workshops not only showed me how to play the tuba for the first time, but it was also amazing to see everyone be thrilled as they heard the sound of the instrument!”
Anna Baalbaki, NYJO Emerging Professional Musician
This summer, our NYJO tuba collection hit the road again for a series of workshops in the Family Field at We Out Here Festival! For the fourth year running, NYJO Trustee and Lead Educator Andy Grappy introduced young people to the magic of this instrument, teaching total beginners how to play and make music together.
This year, our work around the festival has been exploring Township Jazz music through the lens of freedom. Our projects in Dorset and Ramsgate before we arrived at We Out Here allowed young people to explore South African rhythms and melodies, whilst also diving into what it means to be free today.
At the festival itself, supported by our NYJO Emerging Professional musicians, Andy helped people go from never having held a tuba before to playing the bassline of Abdullah Ibrahim’s ‘African Marketplace’ in the space of 45 minutes!
“I really enjoyed the tuba workshops. It was amazing to work with Andy again. He is such an inspirational teacher and I was able to learn some techniques which I could put towards other teaching opportunities.”
Isabella Zufolo, NYJO Emerging Professional Musician
On the last day of the festival, workshop participants had the chance to perform in the Family Field alongside an ensemble of our NYJO musicians, fresh from playing themselves on the Lush Life stage.
Freedom once again sat at the heart of this, as it has across our whole summer of Learning activity. Here, we celebrated the freedom of making music for the joy of it, without worrying about having to be perfect or what happens if you make a mistake.
Instead, we just enjoyed the freedom to create together; we can’t think of a better way to see out the end of summer!