American Youth Symphony (AYS), a 501 (c) (3) organization founded in 1982 by jazz musician and educator Gregory Charles Royal, was a 'think tank' whose mission was to design creative programs to promote instrumental music in popular culture. Its past programs included the television program America's Hot Musician, theatrical play It's a Hardbop Life, The Plight of American Music Initiative and "To Rap or Play, short documentary. AYS also published findings on the future survival of instrumental music. AYS wound down its operations in 2019 and its concepts have now been incorporated into The BeBop Channel -located at beboptv.com

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