At Rochester Bridge my train slices through the November mist, which hangs heavily over the melancholy Medway beneath. Today, as autumn fades to a blur, I make my second visit to Doncaster and the Quirky Choir.
News
The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod returns for its 68th event this summer and promises to showcase six days of the best in world music and folk dance.
The winners can be engaged by Making Music's 3000+ members - music clubs, amateur choirs and orchestras - at fixed fees and substantial subsidies, thanks to the generous funding by the Philip and Dorothy Green Music Trust. Artists gain valuable performing experience at the beginning of their careers and often forge lifelong relationships with groups all over the country, and voluntary music groups benefit from the substantial subsidy to book the best young soloists at an early stage in their professional careers.
We have a new model constitution and a brand new trustee handbook to go alongside it that you can now use. Both have been developed with the Charity Commission for England and Wales specifically for Making Music members and will be a huge benefit in helping you to run your group.
What is Gamelan, and how can you learn to play it? Laura Shipsey tells us more about this Javanese musical tradition.
Music Education Expo filled a real gap in the market when it first came along in 2013: not only had there not been anything specific to music education, there wasn’t a trade show for any of the music sector. Where could amateur musicians find out about organisations that might be useful to them? Nowhere that I could see, until Music Education Expo.
Volunteer Jacquie Hamel tells us how one choir, inspired by the poet Sir John Betjeman, wrote their own words for their latest commission
Submitting an annual return to the Charity Commission is a requirement of being a registered charity - the Charity Commission have issued updated guidance for 2015 annual returns.
Small grants scheme supports creative cultural activities.
Updates on the ongoing fight to preserve music library services across the country, including Somerset, Nottingham and Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol, Ealing, Manchester and Buckinghamshire. Let us know if your local music library is under threat.