Jazz Services has received the following release from our working partners at Yamaha's Education department:
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Yamaha's free Summer 2012 digital YES magazine
By Bill C Martin, music education manager, Yamaha Music Europe GmbH (UK)
The digital Summer 2012 issue of Yamaha UK's music education magazine, YES, is now available to view free online, with video and external links to make the reading experience more informative and interactive. To view the latest issue, click on the YES 14 cover image.
This issue has a contemporary music focus, including: articles on the Yamaha Jazz Experience competition finals and jazz scholarships; Oldham Music Service's Contemporary Music Group; an interview with Paul Kirkham of the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance; a report from Rt Hon Mike Weatherley MP on his Rock The House programme, whose finals took place in Northampton and at the House of Commons in May; SMA chair Jay Deeble's report on Yamaha Class Band's presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education in Westminster; and some great video for some of the articles, including one on Northampton College pop-punk band Judy Mooch, videoed during a recording session with Yamaha's THR amp, which was also featured at Cheltenham Jazz Festival this year.
YES magazine is funded entirely by Yamaha UK and is published and posted free to around 5000 heads of music, music services, conservatoires and others. This year, Yamaha is extending YES to three issues a year. The Summer 2012 print issue has already been posted but the plan is to reduce from two to one print issue per year, the saving from which will fund the additional digital issue in Spring each year. The publishing schedule from September 2013 will then be: Autumn term: print and digital; Spring term: digital; Summer term: digital.
Readers of this Summer's digital YES will find videos and external links, all of which are designed to inform the reading experience and provide direct and immediate links to further information on a subject. The free digital issues currently works on Mac and PC desktops and laptops, but Yamaha UK's education department is also currently exploring the possibility of a paid-for mobile version, for Apple and Android mobile devices, for those who prefer to read YES on the move.
Jazz lovers will be interested particularly in the jazz news stories on page 3. These include details of the winners of the exciting May 2012 Yamaha Jazz Experience ensemble competition finals and their forthcoming winners' prize gigs at Ronnie Scott's the 606 and the Bull's Head. Jazz Experience couldn't happen without the partnerships and support of these generous venues, of our patrons, Michael Connarty MP and Peter Ind, and our judges Simon Purcell, Helen Mayhew, Julian Joseph, Issie Barratt, Gwilym Simcock and Jazz Experience patron, Peter Ind.
In the run-up to the competition, in Autumn 2011, Jazz Experience toured a 1-day improvising workshop for teachers, with some superb input from Yamaha jazz flute artist Geoff Warren and Jazz Experience's lead educator, Richard Michael, which is also reported on page 3. (Click on these links to see some of it.)
In addition we highlight the annual Yamaha jazz scholarships, details of which can be found on the same page.