'Going Global' Abi Bliss on Live Music Now!'s plans for world music domination As the UK 's largest music outreach programme, Live Music Now! (LMN) currently reaches more than 200,000 people a year, dispatching young musicians to play concerts in nursing homes, special schools, prisons, day centres; any place where music can have a cheering and therapeutic effect upon people whose daily lives are challenging. This year celebrating its 30th anniversary, the charity founded by violinist Yehudi Menuhin (who himself played to Allied forces across the globe during World War II) organises more than 3,000 performances and workshops per year.

These differ from conventional concerts in the level of interaction between performer and audience, with the process being as much a learning experience for the musicians as for those listening.

Despite its success, however, the scheme is still, to some extent, tied to its classical roots, considered as something for people leaving music school to do whilst still finding their feet in the professional world. It might be a win-win situation for all involved, as musicians gain concert practice and the people they play to experience music that they might otherwise have been excluded from; but for musicians approaching from another direction – a non-classical style, perhaps, or a less traditional musical education – LMN could seem something like a busy one-way road with few chances to join the traffic and a distinct lack of road signs.

‘World music, in some form, has always been present within LMN, but the recruitment process has traditionally relied on pools of music academy graduates. In this respect, yes, musicians outside of the academy have been underrepresented.' Those aren't words which you might expect to hear coming from someone who actually works for Live Music Now!, but then Carlos Chirinos is the man charged with the task of changing the situation. Holder of the newly created post of World Musicians Development Officer, Chirinos' task is to find ways to attract more musicians active in what the charity calls ‘culturally diverse musics'; identify any potential barriers to them joining the scheme and offer support and advice to ensure that they show off their talents to the maximum at LMN auditions.

With the arrival of Chirinos, LMN's work is now expanding into three areas which have not previously been recruiting grounds: Sheffield and the greater north, Leicester and the east Midlands, and Bristol and the south-west. According to LMN's executive director, Sarah Derbyshire, much has recently been learnt about how to attract and nurture world musicians, both those born in the UK and those who have just arrived from overseas.

‘Some things were fairly obvious, like issues to do with publicity, things to do with the kind of language that we use, that may seem very obvious if you've come from a western classical educational background,' she says, ‘but which would not necessarily be straightforward if your whole approach to music comes from a different cultural foundation.' She continues, ‘For example, the issue of being a professional musician. For musicians from some cultures, it's just not something that they think of; they're a musician, or a master musician, but they don't necessarily think of themselves as a professional musician, even though they are of a standard which in this country would enable them to work professionally.'

Derbyshire outlines other factors which shouldn't be taken for granted: ‘The input that we had with musicians as we were preparing them for audition was really crucial, because it meant that we were able to explain to them exactly how LMN works, what music outreach is, because that's a concept which is developed to quite an extent in this country but which may not be developed in anything like the same way in other countries. It's making the process more relevant to them, rather than an alien process that they've somehow got to go through to be accepted onto the scheme.' The appointment of Chirinos to oversee and develop the process was made possible with the help of a grant from Arts Council England. ‘We felt that having one person in charge of that was really essential, she says, ‘particularly as it's a three-year programme, and that not only would they have specific skills that they could bring to that, but also they'd be continuing the learning process over those three years.'

Chirinos has experience in a wide range of musical areas. Born in Caracas , Venezuela , he studied music and anthropology before moving to the UK in 1999. Having worked as a musician, DJ and music promoter, he has also continued in academia, gaining an MA in ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is currently working towards a PhD exploring issues of intellectual property and indigenous music. He is also co-director of the Red Grasshopper arts management consultancy, which offers research and audience development services and represents a number of artists, including Somalian-born rapper K'naan and Venezuelan group Guaco. His expertise will be put to work identifying the issues which specifically affect potential LMN participants who play world music. ‘The western classical education system prepares musicians to face audition panels, fill in applications and prepare appropriate repertoire. Our goal is to thoroughly equip and advise musicians coming from non-western classical musical backgrounds so they know what is expected of them. We are hoping to translate recruitment information into different languages and use audio-visual support when possible to illustrate the full experience of participation in LMN from application to audition, acceptance and performance as part of the programme.'

Chirinos' own history as an immigrant to the UK will also inform his work: ‘Musicians newly arrived in the UK face many challenges including language barriers, lack of knowledge about employment and networking opportunities, limited popular appreciation for diverse forms of music, and difficulties in understanding cultural differences when engaging with audiences and audition panels,' he says. ‘The preparation leading towards the LMN audition process will work through those challenges and hopefully benefit even those musicians who are not accepted on the programme.'

As LMN is reaching out into new territories both musically and geographically, Sarah Derbyshire doesn't have a specific figure in mind for the number of musicians it is hoping to sign up. ‘We are recruiting in three areas of the country where we've never recruited before, so it's a bit like sticking a pin in a graph. But I think that if we were bringing, say, 20 individual musicians onto the scheme in the first year, we would be absolutely thrilled. Obviously we'd like it to grow over the subsequent two years.'