Thomas Barlow-Coxon, founder and director of Newcastle-under-Lyme Community Orchestra, provides an insight into the early days of his group's Adopt a Music Creator 2020/21 partnership with Charlotte Marlow.
News
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt… or that’s what you think.
Since March 2020, if you’re in a music group, like me you have probably sung into a silent microphone on Zoom, recorded yourself playing into your mobile, whilst connected by earplug to a different device for the backing track, tried to get the lighting in your living room to make you look less bleached out/zombie-like/barely discernible in the shadows, and despaired at ever getting one whole take of 'Bring Me Sunshine' without mistake. Right?
At Making Music, we have part furloughed the staff team from 18 January to 31 March, reducing staff capacity during that period by about one third.
After we took that decision and started telling people about it, I found out that many other organisations had been or are doing this – but they are not going public about it.
Why not, I wondered?
We sit down (virtually) for a quick-fire interview with member group Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO), who worked with Making Music award-winning music arranger George Morton.
Describe your group in three words
Progressive / Welcoming / Dedicated
Due to the impact of the pandemic, Making Music is part furloughing its team from 18 January to 31 March 2021, reducing capacity by around one third.
Making Music has taken the decision now while member groups are unable to meet, given the strict lockdowns or equivalent in all four nations of the UK.
Alison Martin, chair of Crieff Choral Group, recounts how a Victorian poem recently came to be arranged for the choir.
In 2020, Creative United published the first edition of the Take it away Guide to Buying Adaptive Musical Instruments distributed in partnership with Normans Musical Instruments and the Musicians Union.
Alex Peringer updates us on Westminster Music Library's relocation and restructuring over the past year.
In Ugie Voices’ first blog from Adopt a Music Creator 2020/21, member Sheila Biegala updates us on her group’s progress and their upcoming collaboration with Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra and Ben Lunn.
Ugie Voices’ collaboration on Making Music’s Adopt a Music Creator project is gathering momentum.
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) (a US organisation) usually organises an international trade fair for music sector retailers, suppliers and manufacturers in California in January. This is a highly popular industry occasion, but of course cannot take place in its usual format in 2021.