Talent to Talent
AYM’s music-based mentoring programme, Talent to Talent, combines peer mentoring opportunities with creative music making for young musicians at different stages of their musical journeys. Funded by a project grant from Arts Council England, Talent to Talent was delivered in partnership with four Music Education Hubs and included the production of a series of films to share the value of this type of mentoring model as widely as possible.
We’re delighted to release five films outlining what music-based mentoring is, why we do it, how we trained our mentors and supported their development, what makes a good mentoring environment and the Talent to Talent process. They are designed to be watched in sequence or as standalone films. Each film will be accompanied by a larger written piece which you can find below the media player.
Further reading
What is Talent to Talent?
Talent to Talent is AYM’s music-based mentoring programme which combines peer mentoring opportunities with creative music making.
What is music-based mentoring?
In Talent to Talent, mentoring relationships and conversations were encouraged to emerge organically as part of the creative music-making, starting with participants’ musical journeys.
Why is music-based mentoring important?
The Talent to Talent music-based mentoring model grew out of AYM’s Musical Progression Roundtable key finding that there was the need for young people to lead their own musical learning in practice and to be ‘engaged in shaping their own learning pathways.’
Developing skills and confidence in mentors
As part of the Talent to Talent programme, before each series of creative music-making workshops, we brought our older mentors together for a day of bespoke mentor training.
Common themes in a successful mentoring environment
The key aspects of a successful mentoring environment identified through the programme included facilitating a safe space, lack of hierarchy, lack of focus on a specific genre and ensuring opportunity for reflection.
The music-based mentoring process
In this final blog to accompany AYM’s new Talent to Talent film resources, we explore the process and activities of the music-based mentoring model.
