After three years of campaigning from the music community, including Making Music, the future is looking bright for children learning instruments in Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament election is over, new MSPs are inducted and ministers are taking up their portfolios. ‘To do’ lists, dominated by pandemic and planning for recovery, will be longer than ever this year. And how many of those confident manifesto promises will become policy in the next five years?
Bury St Edmunds Concert Band trombonist Gary Hawkes pens a diary entry for Adopt a Music Creator 2020/21, again pondering how Litha Efthymiou's Zoom workshops have got him to reflect on his musicianship.
So here we are, back on Zoom to go through these findings with Litha. Everyone else, with a lot more imagination than me, doing some very strange things. Litha is getting very enthusiastic with each musician, taking what they’ve come up with and trying other things out – what is going on? Admittedly, I am thinking, ‘Where is this going?’
Bury St Edmunds Concert Band trombonist Gary Hawkes fills us in on another thought-provoking Zoom workshop with Litha Efthymiou for Adopt a Music Creator 2020/21.
We’re back on Zoom to meet up with one band representative from each section: trombone, clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, percussion, euphonium, flute and tuba.
Litha told us about a little project she’d like us to complete: three tasks to research, bringing our findings to the workshop in two weeks’ time. Here are her instructions:
Jenny Dalton, communications and marketing manager for Club Europe, talks us through their Covid protection framework for your next music tour.
As restrictions start to ease and the world opens up again, choirs can start dreaming about going on tour again.
To give you the reassurance you need to travel again, we at Club Europe have created our Individual Covid Promise. This is our commitment to working with all our ensembles individually for the best and safest possible tour.
Bury St Edmunds Concert Band trombonist Gary Hawkes reflects on introductory sessions with Litha Efthymiou, and how she has got to know the group during their Adopt a Music Creator 2020/21 collaboration.
Litha’s first step was to send each member of the band five questions, to start understanding us after she had seen and heard the band perform. Here are the questions and my answers:
Trombone
Joan Lind, managing director of TryBooking, provides the lowdown on their socially distanced seating plans for any size or type of musical performance.
Isn’t it terrific that musical organisations can start to plan concerts, be they over summer, autumn or Christmas? TryBooking, a corporate member of Making Music, makes online ticketing simple. We have very low booking fees and are free to use for all free concerts.
Emily Abbott, programme director for Intergenerational Music Making and Together with Music, outlines the aims of an exciting new project.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams identifies Somebody Else’s Problem (SEP) as: something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem... [A] Somebody Else's Problem field... relies on people's natural predisposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain…’
I have often felt that when the topics of inclusion and access come up, it is as if they have just such a Somebody Else’s Problem field around them.
Hepton Singers' MD Richard Bunzl ponders how Fergus Hall has drawn on the history of Hebden Bridge to inspire their Adopt a Music Creator 2020/21 collaboration.
Hepton Singers have now had two full choir meetings with their music creator, Fergus Hall. Even over Zoom, with its sometimes dim and grainy pictures, and often intermittent sound, Fergus, alongside Emily Crossland, our project mentor, came across as a breath of fresh air for a choir living through (and coping with) difficult times.
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