TRADITIONAL music is at the heart of a ground-breaking project which is teaching vital life skills to vulnerable young people and helping to increase their self-confidence and esteem.

Okehampton based music charity Wren Music has been working with some of the region's most troubled youngsters in the Music 4 Life programme.

The two-year project has had a major positive impact, according to teachers at the specialist schools and inclusion services that have taken part in north, east and central Devon.

The programme runs in a series of five weekly sessions with one course per term.

Music 4 Life is delivered by a team of Wren's professional musicians and singers and is funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music. The project brings music to young people who would not otherwise have access to music lessons.

Wren musician David Faulkner, who heads the Music 4 Life programme, said: 'They learn how to play a range of acoustic instruments including squeeze-boxes, guitars, mandolins, fiddles, autoharps and dulcimers. They also learn about their voice, sing songs and learn how to sing in harmony.

'Songwriting is also a big part of the project. And perhaps the most challenging thing for the young people is making music together in a group.'

Among those being helped by the programme are children at North Devon Personalised Learning Services at Clearwater.

The referral unit is for children of all ages who cannot access mainstream education, often due to permanent exclusion from schools across the North Devon area. Senior teacher Paul Morris said staff notice a difference in the children when they are taking part in the Music 4 Life sessions.

'They have very low self-esteem so for them to be able to achieve a skill so quickly is very powerful. This is one of the reasons they love it so much – they can pick up the tunes quite easily and this is important because they can see themselves becoming good at something very quickly.

'The younger students, the children aged six to eleven, love the sessions. It gives them the chance to explore their creativity and they really enjoy playing the traditional musical instruments.'

Their work helps numerous children at schools across the county, including those in Exeter, Barnstaple and Peters Marland.

David Faulkner said the students learnt empathy from working with the young children: 'One student from the Inclusion project said that what he really enjoyed about it was watching the younger children having fun.

'It's also fantastic that all the students from the Inclusion projects completed the Devon Youth Service Music Awards and students from other settings are working towards their Bronze Arts Awards. Having a real context for the learning that the young people do is brilliant.'

David said it was very unusual, if not unique, for a programme of this sort to be working with traditional music. 'We've found that the children are particularly engaged with learning how to play the instruments. One young lad said it helps him to forget.

'Some of the traditional music is from the areas where they live. The tunes and musical structure are flexible so that we can adapt them straight away to each child's needs and ability. The music is supposed to be learnt by ear and they get it instantly. We develop and progress the music from that point to extend their musical skills and enjoyment.

'They also write and record songs; some of them have written songs about their circumstances – it's like an outlet for them.'

The programme, which has reached vulnerable young people of all school ages, comes to an end this summer but Wren Music hopes to continue the work. David said: 'We've seen the positive impact that music has made for these young people who had not been able to access it until now. And it's becoming more and more documented that children succeeding in music has a knock-on effect in other areas of life, so we would like to extend the project and work with more people in Music 4 Life.'