YolanDa Brown is a saxophonist, composer and broadcaster who has played at numerous venues and music festivals around the world and has twice won the MOBO award for Best Jazz Act. She has also presented coverage of the BBC Proms and hosts her own show on CBBC called YolanDa’s Band Jam, teaching children about the joy of music, dancing and movement.

She chatted to Tes about her time in school, the teachers who had a big impact and why music can be so powerful for young learners.

1. Where did you go to primary school?

I went to Bancroft’s School in Woodford Green. It was a new-build [school] and I was the first year of the primary element so it was all brand new. I can still remember the smell and the music and maths apparatus, and it felt like a family because all the teachers were clubbing together to make it the best environment. It was lovely - really happy memories.

2. Did the teachers want to keep everything clean and tidy all the time, then?

Ha, they encouraged mess - I think they wanted the children to use everything and make sure everything worked. I did have a little bit of an inside track on it because my mum was a teacher at the school. She was one of the founding teachers, so I was actually in the school the summer before, helping to paint and bring things together, which was really nice.

3. Is there a teacher from that time that you remember well?

All of my teachers were lovely but from Mrs Worthington, from Year 4, I do remember feeling that belief and support.

Encouragement from teachers, especially at an early age, is really important, and I can still see her smile, I can still feel her empowering words.

I remember feeling safe and, if there was any query or question I had, I never had to think twice - I could just ask her and she always checked in. She’s a teacher that really stands out for me. She just cared about your whole being as well as what you were learning.

4. Did you have your first taste of performing there?

We had performances to our parents and different celebration evenings so, yes, performance was a part of [school life] very early on - which I love to encourage now when I get into doing workshops and going into schools, because being proud of what you’re creating is something that should be inherent within a child. I definitely felt that being able to present what we’d done at school to our parents was really important.

5. How did you find the move to secondary school?

It was in the same school - I went from primary to the secondary at Bancroft’s School. So we’d been seeing this senior school and they were always preparing you [for it]: “You’ll be going up here soon and, for lessons, you’ll have to move classroom.” We also got half days beforehand, with a new form tutor, to get to see things like sports facilities and the hall. It was all handled really nicely.

6. Was there a teacher from that school you remember having a big impact on you?

I remember my biology teacher - and she was a form tutor for me when I was doing GCSEs - Mrs Hart. I think to be a form tutor in a senior school, there’s so much you’re dealing with - teenagers are going through all sorts - [but] she managed us really, really well, and all the different personalities in the class.

In senior school, I was quite cheerful but quite quiet. And I remember she still always made sure that I had a voice.

7. Was there a music teacher who inspired you, too?

Miss Mittell, my saxophone teacher, was amazing and introduced me to the idea of improvisation. At that time, I’d had a very traditional musical upbringing and I remember her saying: “Let’s try some jazz; I can feel that you want to branch out a little bit from the page.”

I remember playing what is now my favourite jazz standard - Misty - and I played it for the first time along with the backing track. By the time I got to the end, I was in tears. And she said: “Are you OK?” And I said: “Yes, everything’s fine. I just feel so emotional.” And she said: “That’s the power of music.” I can really remember that moment of her saying “that is the power of music - it’s emotional, and that feeling that you have, you should put that into your music”.

8. You went to a different sixth form - Beal High School. Why did you decide to move?

I just wanted a different experience. I’d been [at Bancroft’s] since Year 3, and so having a different experience at Beal was great and I went on to become head girl. I also really enjoyed being in a different environment, meeting new teachers, maybe even redefining myself. I studied media, business and maths for A level and had a great time.

9. Was there a teacher there that you remember?

All my teachers were great but, for media especially, I do remember Mr Thomas. He really made the idea of media and broadcast a practical thing. It wasn’t [just] that we were studying it but we had to make things and edit things, and think about concepts and design album covers, and all of those exercises were really engaging for me creatively.

And it’s nice when you have that lightbulb moment of, “oh that’s what they’re doing with this advert” or “that’s what they are doing when they write that in the script”. And he really took the time to make sure we could see our world with a media eye.

10. You’re a bit of a teacher now with your show, YolanDa’s Band Jam, on CBBC. That must be a lot of fun?

YolanDa’s Band Jam is really about having a great time. We have 60 to 90 kids in the audience - it’s like Top of the Pops or Jools Holland for kids. The tunes are catchy, and we just want everyone to be up and bouncing and jumping and dancing.

But we also have a section where I interview a special guest. And then they speak about their instrument, how it works, why they engage with it and they join the jam at the end of the show.

It’s those little nuggets of music education and understanding what it is to play music, and what you do with the instrument, that I don’t remember seeing growing up, even though I was making music, [so] it’s nice to take away the mystique behind playing instruments and seeing that connection that musicians have with their instruments. It’s about making it accessible - that’s my mission.

YolanDa Brown was talking to Dan Worth, senior editor at Tes

This article originally appeared in the 23 July 2021 issue