ABRSM announced an exciting new partnership with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) at its annual UK teacher conference today (5 November), where music teachers took part in ‘The Big Play’ – an inspiring jazz workshop led by NYJO musicians.  The partnership will see ABRSM and NYJO work together on three priorities:

• 1. Raising the profile of jazz education in the UK: by making it clearer what the progression routes are for promising young jazz musicians.
• 2. Focusing improvements in areas of low cultural engagement and poor arts provision: by delivering inspirational performances and workshop sessions by NYJO musicians and through providing mentoring for emerging next-generation jazz musicians.
• 3. Developing new resources to help support young musicians and teachers: by combining the collective expertise of both organisations to sustain engagement in jazz.

Lincoln Abbotts, Executive Director of Strategic Development, said: “We’re delighted to support NYJO’s work in raising the profile of jazz and in championing jazz education. Through a portfolio of performances, workshops and resource development, we’ll be working together to inspire and support the next generation of jazz musicians, leaders and ambassadors.” Nigel Tully, Executive Chair of NYJO, said: “NYJO’s partnership with ABRSM will significantly enhance NYJO’s nationwide learning and participation work. We want the progression routes for jazz to be as clear and available everywhere for young musicians as they are for classical players, and this partnership will help us to spread the jazz message much more widely.”

Notes to editors

About ABRSM

ABRSM is the UK’s largest music education body, one of its largest music publishers and the world’s leading provider of music exams, offering assessments to more than 630,000 candidates in over 90 countries every year including jazz exams in eight subjects. ABRSM’s mission is to inspire achievement in music. In partnership with the Royal Schools of Music, we support high-quality music-making and learning around the world. We offer pathways and resources for learners and teachers that help build musical skills, provide goals and encourage progress.

About NYJO

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) is Britain’s leading ensemble for young people up to 25 playing big-band jazz. Its mission is to perform exceptional music to excite audiences and engage with young people of all backgrounds around the country. In addition to the main performing orchestra, the organisation operates the weekly NYJO Academy which contains several training bands and a vocal ensemble, and a nationwide series of workshops and educational events intended to inspire children and young people with a love of music and jazz. The organisation has helped launch the careers of many of the UK’s most-renowned musicians including Guy Barker, Amy Winehouse, Mark Nightingale, Laura Jurd and Gwilym Simcock. NYJO is a registered charity (no. 274578), it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015 and recently released a special double-album ‘NYJO FIFTY’. "It takes only two tracks of this celebratory double album to establish the breadth, maturity and technical excellence of this long-established proving ground of UK jazz talent." Financial Times

About the ABRSM teacher conference

ABRSM’s teacher conference took place on 5 November at London’s Grange Tower Bridge Hotel. Over 500 teachers from the around the UK attended a wide range of practical and thought-provoking sessions for class, group and one-to-one lessons.