I can get very miserable, especially when it’s dark in the morning, dark in the afternoon, and grey and rainy in between. The house is a mess, there’s been yet another invasion of the teenage pizza snatchers in the kitchen, the washing piles up and Christmas is looming – and once again no cards have been written and only the briefest of brief investigations of various online shops has taken place, ahead of panic-ordering on the day of the last delivery deadline.
It must be December!
First opened on 1 August, the consultation has now been extended twice and will finally close on 31 December – so there’s still time if you want to make a submission.
When you perform or present music in copyright in public, royalties are due to the creator(s) of that musical work. PRS for Music collect this money on behalf of creators who are their members and then distribute it to them. Sometimes they use ‘agents’ to do this for them, and Making Music is one such, so groups who perform in unlicensed venues can pay PRS through us.
Dr Daisy Fancourt introduces the first World Health Organisation report on the evidence base for arts and health interventions.
Making Music is delighted to announce the appointment of Stephen McNally as its first Northern Ireland Manager.
Based in Mid Ulster, McNally will support Making Music member groups across Northern Ireland and undertake campaigning and advocacy for members and the Northern Irish leisure-time music community in general.
Barbara Eifler, Making Music Chief Executive, comments:
In February 2019, Surrey County Council Cabinet finally agreed that the charity, NewSPAL (New Surrey Performing Arts Library), would be allowed to take on and run one of the largest music and drama collections in the country, numbering over 200,000 individual items.
Until the new facility in Woking is ready, the collection is still available through the council in Ewell Library – see www.newspal.org.uk for details.
Most of us with any kind digital presence are likely to have been subject to attempted cybercrime. An email from someone claiming to be stuck and unable to come back from holiday in need of money, for example. Or receiving junk email from companies you’ve never heard of could happen because someone has accessed your data through cybercrime.
While there's no need to hit the panic button, cybercrime is a threat and you should take time to think about how to protect your group.
Members of the City of Bristol Brass Band reflect on the opening stages of their 2019/20 Adopt a Composer collaboration with Laura Shipsey.
Composer Rob Jones and members of The Edge Chamber Choir reflect on their first spacewalk-themed workshop of Adopt a Composer 2019/20.
Reunited with her flute fourteen years ago thanks to the Cobweb Orchestra, their archivist Christine Macgregor reflects on how this unique organisation succeeds in tempting adults to return to an instrument that has been gathering dust, or to pick one up for the first time.
Making Music member groups have the chance to submit their carol recordings to Classic FM in the lead up to Christmas.
Entries will be whittled down to five recordings which are then broadcast over the space of one week in December. It doesn't matter if you're an instrumental or vocal group - if you have a good quality recording of a carol we'd love to hear it!
Here are some of last year's entries to give you inspiration.
For all our updates and opportunities
