Highnotes issue 35, autumn 2017

THE MAKING MUSIC MEMBERSHIP MAGAZINE | AUTUMN ISSUE 2017

Working in harmony Singing in the workplace has always been a winning formula • PAGE 12 ADOPT A COMPOSER LEGACY PROJECT

Get your hands on new music for your group • PAGE 8

MAKE MUSIC DAY UK Following this year’s success, get ready for 2018 • PAGE 16

Manic depression stopped me from playing to the point of getting rid of my guitar to pay for somewhere to live.

Help Musicians UK got me back on my feet. I dread to think where I would be without them.

Your support means we can help more musicians like Matt when a crisis stops them from playing.

Donate at helpmusicians.org.uk or call 020 7239 9100

Backing musicians throughout their careers.

Registered Charity No. 228089.

CONTENTS & EDITORIAL

CONTENTS NEWS

5 In brief 6 Around the UK FEATURES

8 Helping new music to live longer 10 Giving talent a chance 12 Workplace choirs FROM OUR TEAM

14 Membership and services 16 Projects 18 Volunteers MEMBERS

19 Corporate members 21 Blow your trumpet 22 Readers’ page If you have suggestions or would like to contribute to Highnotes, please contact the Commissioning Editor, Natalie Joanes, on 020 7939 6041 or editor@makingmusic.org.uk The copy deadline for Highnotes Spring 2018 (published 2 January) is 27 October Any views or opinions expressed by external contributors may not necessarily represent those of Making Music Highnotes is the official journal of Making Music, The National Federation of Music Societies, 8 Holyrood Street, London SE1 2EL 020 7939 6030 info@makingmusic.org.uk www.makingmusic.org.uk

Welcome We’re delighted to report that your association keeps growing – in membership numbers as well as resources available to member groups.

As we grow we want to ensure that what we’re doing is what you need, so the next membership survey will be in your inbox soon – please do complete it.

You can also help direct our future plans at the Making Music Council in York on 14 October. Register at makingmusic.org.uk/events And help us celebrate what you do: the first large-scale Make Music Day UK was a resounding success, so there are plans to develop it in 2018 and 2019. Mark 21 June in your diaries and start thinking about what you could do to show the world (and your community) what you love doing!

Finally, challenges remain around music libraries, so please alert us to any proposed changes to your local service. On this, as on other issues, you can help us to help you.

Wishing you many successful musical Christmas events!

A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales no. 308632 Registered charity in England and Wales no. 249219 and in Scotland no. SC038849 If you need us to make any of this information more accessible, please get in touch

Barbara Eifler

£6 where sold, annual subscription £15 (3 issues)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MAKING MUSIC

Designed by Cog Design Printed by Gemini Press

Email: barbara@makingmusic.org.uk Twitter: @BarbaraEifler

Advertising: Contact Antoinette at Space Marketing: 01892 677740 / antoinettem@spacemarketing.co.uk

Cover image: Music In Offices Office Choir of the Year Competition Photo: Kim Williams Photography

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NEWS

IN BRIEF Left: Dorothy Wilson Photo: Hugo Glendinning

New Chair for Making Music Dorothy Wilson takes the helm I have been a trustee on the Board of Making Music since 2016 — it’s been a great year of learning for me and a pleasure to get to know much more about the organisation from the inside.

My priority as Chair is to grow Making Music’s reputation as the ‘go-to’ national organisation for leisure-time music making.

Through initiatives such as Youth Engagement and Exploring Music Making, we want to support, encourage and reflect the richness of musical activity across the country and across diverse communities and music forms.

I want to champion that greater reach and see Making Music become even more indispensable for those of us who love music in

all its many manifestations.

It’s not an easy time for music and the arts and yet the sector is the fastest-growing in our national economy. That tells us how important the arts and creativity are and the important role Making Music plays in offering support with its distinctive range of member-led services. I’m looking forward to getting to know more of our member groups across the country, learning more about their successes and also about their challenges so we can make sure Making Music is fit for its purpose and able to support our members, wherever they are, in achieving their ambitions.

Did you know?

As well as our Funding Finder tool, we have a new Local Authority arts funding index at http://bit. ly/2vLNDgv to help you see what your local authority can do for you

Membership survey Our membership survey will be launched later this autumn. It’s a great chance for you to tell us what you think about Making Music, your membership and the services we provide – as well as what else you think we should be doing. It’s a really useful tool for us to assess what we are doing and where we need to go. We’d be grateful if you could keep any eye out for it and take some time to complete it when it arrives.

BOOK REVIEW Facilitating Music Making for Older People by the Institute of Education The Institute of Education’s recently published handbook is packed full of useful suggestions for music leaders working with all age groups, not just older people.

The guide explores different approaches to facilitation, from more instructionbased to entirely learningcentred methods, and considers the benefits and drawbacks they bring. It outlines various approaches including modelling, observation and constructive feedback, peer learning and various different ‘scaffolding’ techniques that can be used to support learners to move beyond their current skills and knowledge in small and attainable steps.

The handbook looks at the merits and drawbacks of the use of space, for example how some room layouts can create a sense of hierarchy while others can remove it. It also includes a music leadership skills self-assessment questionnaire – a useful resource for music leaders to reflect on their relative strengths and areas for development.

Finally, the handbook outlines educational, social and personal barriers that might prevent people participating in music making, and gives ideas for how these could be addressed.

As the musical director of two choirs with members ranging from their 20s to 70s, I found this resource thought provoking and will definitely be using some of the ideas and techniques in my groups.

Download the handbook for free at http://bit.ly/2vPfvTR Xenia Davis

Summer 2017

HIGHNOTES

5

NEWS

AROUND THE UK ISLE OF WIGHT

NEWCASTLE

Hot stuff The Chilli Road Band’s Young Leaders blaze a trail with original composition This year, the Chilli Road Band’s younger members had a chance to take the reins, from writing and rehearsing their own composition, through to a recording session and première performance at the Heaton Festival.

First formed to mark the new millennium, the community-based Chilli Road Band is still going strong seventeen years later. The band welcomes players aged nine and upwards and plays a wide range of Latin, jazz, rock and world music on a mix of steel pans, brass and woodwind instruments.

The band’s Young Leaders Programme — supported by past and present musical directors and committee volunteers — was set up to develop its young adults aged 14 to17. Joe Horrell, Isaac Fuller, Tom Henery and Robert Henery attended informal composing and arranging sessions during the summer of 2016, followed 6

HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

by workshops on leadership and teaching skills. Putting into practice what they had learned, the composers taught their new piece to the rest of the band, leading the rehearsals.

Although the composition sessions were initially just for fun, the results were successful enough to incorporate into the Young Leaders Programme, funded by grants from Music for All and John Lewis’ Music Matters. The project culminated in the band spending a day recording the track in a studio earlier this year and giving a warmly-received performance at the Heaton Festival in June.

You can listen to the Young Leaders’ composition, Samba de Heaton and find out about the Chilli Road Band’s upcoming gigs at chilliroadband.co.uk/listento-the-band or visit facebook.com/chilliroadband

Above: Chilli Road Band Photo: Lucas KnowlesLevitt

Earlier this year, the West Wight Arts Association (WWAA) celebrated 70 years of bringing professional musicians to the Isle of Wight with a special performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s story of two warring families, I Capuleti e I Montecchi. With minimal set and props, the adaptable Pop-up Opera company swooped in, set up and performed the opera all on the same day.

Formed by the Arts Council in 1947, the WWAA’s earliest recorded concert was an All Island Young Talent Concert in 1947 entitled, ‘The Promise of Youth’. The association continues this tradition of fostering young talent with its biennial bursary open to local young people aged 11 to 18. The bursary offers help with buying instruments, paying for exams or travelling to lessons.

WWAA’s new season opens on 16 September at Freshwater Memorial Hall with a performance by Trio Ducasse. westwightarts.co.uk LONDON

On Friday 20 October, Crouch End Festival Chorus (CEFC) will perform the world première of composer Laura Bowler’s, navigating the dog watch, at the Barbican. The piece is largely wordless and inspired by Laura’s month-long voyage to the remote islands of the South Atlantic Ocean.

A large-scale choral work, the piece requires highly creative use of choir, orchestra and video including flossing a bow’s horse hair on the strings of a piano, dripping water into a half-full bucket and recreating the ship’s flapping sails with gloved hands pounding chests.

Also featured in the programme is Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, with Inner Voices and the London Orchestra da Camera, all under the direction of David Temple. cefc.org.uk

NEWS

STAFFORDSHIRE

Rising stars

Phoenix Singers join a professional cast to celebrate local literary heritage Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of writer Arnold Bennett, the Phoenix Singers, Leek, took part in a new adaptation of Bennett’s Anna of the Five Towns at The New Vic Theatre, NewcastleUnder-Lyme.

The community singers got the chance to step in when writer Deb McAndrew decided to use a local choir to enhance the sense of Staffordshire life, which centred on the Methodist churches and potteries of the mid-1800s. The choir faced the multiple challenges of learning words and music off by heart while using their acting skills as extras in the play. A core group of members took part in 19 performances, watched by almost 8,000 people during the run, as well as a gala concert in which all 70 choir members performed.

Later this year, the Phoenix Singers will be performing their cantata of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, twice at Blists Hill Victorian Town and at a charity concert for Myeloma UK at Chatsworth House, on invitation from the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

To join, visit phoenixsingersleek.co.uk

New members A warm welcome to the 62 new members who joined us between 1 April and 31 July!

Friends Of Flintshire Youth Music Mirabile Vocal Ensemble Rissington Singers EigeR Music SCIO JustForTonight Let’s Sing Community Choir RCT Community Wind Band Western Isles Instrumental Music Teachers Network Malmesbury Community Choir The Fabulosos Big Band SOUND Big Christmas Wind Orchestra & Choir Marlborough Big Band Ambassadors Showband Derby Brecknock Sinfonia The Hosen Ones FYC Alumni Choir Wingrave Community Choir Tilford Bach Society (CIO) Leigh Ladies Choir Hastings BIG Choir The Wall of Sound Redbridge Music Society Lanercost Festival of Music and The Arts Cumbria Gaita Band Northern Chords Festival South Notts Men’s Chorus N10 Choir Old Wives Lees Community Choir Cambridge Concert Orchestra Lyrical SoNGbirds Ipswich Hospital Community Choir

Thanet Concert Band Crawley Millennium Concert Band The Guards Musicians Association eXe Singers Community Live Music HANGFIRE Barulho Salford City Singers Truro School of Samba St Bede’s Singers Saffron Opera Group New Horizons Youth Theatre Sing Streatham Community Choir Machynlleth Wind Band River Voice Community Choir Gorton Philharmonic Society Ashton Keynes Music Festival Society Woolpack Concert Band Foxwood Steel New Note Projects Aspect Opera Cor Crymych a’r Cylch Schola Cantorum Pimlico Musical Foundation SERBO Woburn Jazz Southside Harmonics The Edge Chamber Choir Footloose Dance Orchestra MHS Community Choir

Above: Phoenix Singers Photo: Andrew Billington

BBC Radio 3 Breakfast recordings Earlier this year, 11 Making Music members had the chance to hear their recordings broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The initiative was so successful that we’re working with the BBC to get more airtime for our members. Look out for how to apply on our website.

• • • • • •

Adoramus Veni Sancte Spiritus, Mass in C. K.317 — W.A. Mozart Capella Caecililana Ut omnes unum sint — James MacMillan Monmouth Big Band Caravan — Duke Ellington London Oriana Choir O Nata Lux — Kerry Andrew Oxford Sinfonia Trio Sonata no.5 (2nd mvt.) — Johann Zelenka The Singers When to the temple — Johannes Eccard

• • • • •

The Fretful Federation Mandolin Orchestra Symphony No 1, Allegro — William Boyce Yorkshire Bach Choir Et Resurrexit — J.S. Bach Dulwich Choral Society Arion and the Dolphin (5th mvt.) — Jonathan Dove Con Anima Crossing the Bar — C.H.H. Parry Fleetville Swing Band St Louis Blues — W. C. Handy

HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

7

FEATURE

Helping new music to live longer Our Adopt a Composer scheme pairs emerging composers with member groups for one year, but what happens to the pieces produced after that year?

As part of our new Adopt a Composer legacy project, for the first time we are working with composers who have previously taken part to ensure the music produced during the scheme spreads further and lives for longer. So far, all the ‘adopted’ composers from 2016 have taken part by rescoring their pieces and kindly making scores and parts for these new versions available to all our members to download for free.

narrative orchestral work inspired by an elephant sculpture, to Neil Tòmas Smith’s piece for choir that allows for personalisation to a group’s own local history, there is a wide range of inspiration among the legacy compositions.

Jump-starting new music

You can look through the scores, listen to recordings, and read comments from the composers and mentors involved on our website at makingmusic.org.uk/ legacy. The composers would also be happy to hear from you with any questions or requests for parts.

We hope you’ll consider performing some of this fantastic new music - if you do, then please let us and the composers know!

Member groups often tell us that cost and lack of accessibility can make it challenging for them to programme contemporary music.

The Adopt a Composer scheme makes the process of working on new music more approachable and exciting by fostering a partnership between composer and group, from the very start of the life of a new piece. Likewise, the legacy project allows these pieces to then be made available to other groups for free – whether for a full performance or just to stretch their abilities in rehearsal.

The original compositions were tailored to the specific groups involved in the scheme but the composers have all adapted these works – sometimes using flexible scoring – to make them accessible to a large range of groups. From Chris Hutchings’

8

HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

How do I access the Adopt a Composer legacy project?

Adopt a Composer is run by Making Music in partnership with Sound and Music, in association with BBC Radio 3, and funded by the PRS For Music Foundation, Philip and Dorothy Green Trust and Creative Scotland.

Above: La Nova Singers worked with composer Ed Scolding Credit: Lemonade Pictures

“the composers have adapted these works ... to make them accessible to a large range of groups.”

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FEATURE

Giving talent a chance A passionate instrument collector’s legacy is helping young musicians from lower income families to reach new heights. Hannah Turner explains.

Robert Lewin, a musician from the East End of London and writer for The Strad, was also a passionate collector of stringed instruments, bows and books.

Awards for Young Musicians (AYM), originally the Musicas Fund, was established in 1998 from the sale proceeds of Robert’s collection. This legacy, and ongoing fundraising, has ensured that young musicians with exceptional potential are given a chance to develop their talent. AYM is a national charity helping these young people from lower income families to achieve their ambitions, despite the barriers they face.

AYM has created a number of programmes supporting young musicians at different stages of their musical journeys and, with our independent voice, the wider musical education sector as a whole. Perhaps best known is our annual Awards programme, through which we’ve so far supported well over 1,000 individual young people and made grants of nearly £1 million.

Award-winner Alex, 17, who plays the viola and composes, has grown in confidence. “Getting the Award from AYM not only altered my own opinion of myself but also other people’s perception of what I am doing. My family have made so many sacrifices to get me this far and when I received this Award it gave them a boost too. It not only relieved financial pressure but let me hold my head a little bit higher.”

Instrumentalists of school age and of all genres can apply via our annual open application process.

As well as providing financial help towards young people’s musical costs, ranging from instrument purchase to travel and tuition, we’ve built a programme of wider assistance, enhancing musical 10 HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

skills and broadening musical networks.

Thanks to our partners and dedicated volunteers, last year’s Award winners were given a plethora of opportunities, for example to watch top orchestras rehearse, play alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra at our Awards Day, explore chamber music with the City of London Sinfonia and be mentored by and perform with musicians from the Southwell Music Festival.

Libby Burgess, pianist and Southwell Music Festival coach, who spent a day working alongside our young people had this to say. “The students were a joy to work with — very receptive, and so quick to implement things! It was a joy to hear them performing in the evening and already including several ideas that we’d talked about.”

Alumni of our Awards programme include conductor Duncan Ward (now an AYM Patron), BBC Young Musician 2014 winner Martin James Bartlett, 2016 concerto finalist Jess Gillam and 2016 Jazz Award winner Alexandra Ridout.

How can your group help?

We’re keen to invite Making Music members to work with our Award winners. If you’re interested in rehearsing or performing with them, presenting them in concert, offering tutorials or tickets to your concerts, helping them to fundraise, or to enrich their music making in any way — we’d love to hear from you.

Contact hannah.turner@a-y-m.org.uk, call her on 0300 302 0023 or visit a-y-m.org.uk

Above: AYM winners Photo: Edward Webb

“AYM has developed a number of programmes supporting young musicians ... and the wider musical education sector ...”

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FEATURE

Working in harmony Singing in the workplace may have evolved substantially over the centuries but it’s here to stay, writes Natalie Joanes.

Scythes threshing wheat, hammers rising and falling on metal, the humming of the loom — the rhythms of work have always inspired people to sing.

Early pastoral societies in Europe and Africa sang to pass the long hours while tending livestock away from their settlements. Generations of Indian farmers passed down songs that usher in monsoon, sowing and harvest.

In the English fields of the 17th century, ballads became popular, with narrative subject matter ranging from the labour itself to love, humorous tales, historical events and legends. The strong rhythms and call and response format of sea shanties helped sailors put their backs into heavy tasks such as adjusting the rigging, raising the anchor or heaving on pump handles.

By the 19th century, protest songs of workplace disasters, laments over conditions, as well as strike ballads came to the fore, even as the sound of human voices at work was being overpowered by the machinery of the industrial revolution. As steam coal mining in Wales took off, the miners looked for activities to fill their leisure time outside the collieries, from sports and working men’s clubs to brass bands and choirs. Being part of a choir created camaraderie in a daily existence fraught with lifethreatening dangers such as gas explosions, flooding, roof collapse and gas inhalation.

In modern times (boosted by vehicles like the BBC’s Choir: Sing While You Work) , downing our tools and

12 HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

singing with our colleagues has become increasingly popular. Even Parliament has a choir (for MPs, peers and Parliamentary staff) that has been running since 2000. The mental, physical and psychological benefits of music making for individuals are well-established.

Research (such as a 2015 study from the University of Oxford, The Ice-breaker Effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding) has proven that singing is also good for creating a stronger bond with others. As employers see the wider benefits that this brings to businesses, choirs are becoming a fixture in the workplace.

Singing unlocks potential In 1925, a choir was formed by staff at a large retailer on Oxford Street. The shop even had its own theatre, where the choir could perform operatic works. Fast forward several decades and the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) Music Society has no less than 15 choirs and an orchestra, with groups having performed at the Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall and locations all over Europe. Manvinder Rattan took over musical directorship of the choir in 1995 and was a judge on Choir: Sing While You Work. He found that in the early days, “a challenge was setting up the branch choirs. You need to push buttons with business leaders to get their support.” Performing at JLP events

Music in Offices Office Choir of the Year Competition Photo: Kim Williams Photography

FEATURE

attended by senior partners was one way to win backing. Manvinder has gone on to oversee the burgeoning success of all the JLP music groups over the years.

His favourite exercise is surprising new graduate recruits during training, with the announcement that they are going to sing together. “The most common reaction is, ‘I can’t’. Then after we’ve sung together … their reaction is complete shock at what they can do. It helps people to realise their potential, not just in singing but personally and professionally. It’s creating new leaders of business.” His favourite part? “Scaring the hell out of people at first but then seeing their joy as they realise what they’re capable of.”

A unifying experience Although Ann Barkway, executive director of Music in Offices (MIO) is a trained viola player, she says she gets more out of singing as part of a group. “It’s an earthy experience that goes back to everybody’s roots. Everybody can sing, and it’s what people were doing thousands of years ago.” MIO works with companies using music as a means of engaging and developing their employees, through choirs, music-led development workshops and one-to-one instrument tuition.

Ann believes music at work helps people feel connected. “It brings a sense of unity which is why our work is valued by organisations who are trying to improve their corporate culture. It doesn’t matter what type of business you are, we work with some of London’s leading companies ranging

from law firms and banks to media giants such as Channel 4 and The Telegraph, and even London Zoo — the benefits of experiencing music at work are enormous.”

“The Channel 4 choir brings together a group of very different individuals that would otherwise never cross paths,” says choir member Chrissy Silver. Ann has seen first-hand how the barriers which are often imposed by the corporate world can be broken down by workplace choirs. “Music is a brilliant leveller. I’ve seen rehearsals with the CEO standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the receptionist, and in a choir there’s no difference, no hierarchy, no seniority.”

Singing together may have evolved over the years but its ability to both level and empower us, as a group and individually, is here to stay.

GET STARTED

•

• • •

Find a champion – someone senior in the company who understands the benefits and can advocate on your behalf Secure a regular space to rehearse Structure rehearsals around performances, even if only internally, to provide an incentive Stay flexible in your approach – be prepared to adapt to any changes in the company

Music In Offices helps set up and manage choirs of all sizes with a variety of goals, from the competitive to just having fun. Learn more at musicinoffices.com

“It helps people to realise their potential, not just in singing but personally and professionally”

Autumn 2017

HIGHNOTES 13

FROM OUR TEAM

MEMBERSHIP AND SERVICES Helping you get the most from your membership INFORMATION & ADVICE EVENTS

Here are our upcoming events for autumn 2017.

• Top tips for social media Sat 16 Sept, Sheffield Sat 7 Oct, Telford • Engaging with young people (for performing groups) Sat 23 Sept, Warrington Fri 29 Sept, Bromley Tues 26 Oct, Bristol • Meeting for orchestral MDs

Increase your group’s lifespan

Weds 27 Sept, Bristol

New resources to help you assess, plan and increase your income options A key focus of our five-year plan is to increase the longevity of music groups, which often hinges on issues of funding. Trust funding can be a great source of income but is generally a oneoff and comes with restrictions.

We want to help make sure that your group is self-sufficient and in robust financial health.

Regular income year after year and multiple income streams can help you weather loss or reduction in income. We can give direct support by helping with subsidies and Orchestra Tax Relief, for instance, but no two groups

are the same.

So we’re now also offering tools to help you take more control of your financial situation and find the right solution for your group.

Our new ‘Increasing your income’ resources offer detailed guidance on the main options as well as helping you to rethink matters such as where your income comes from, where you spend most of your money and whether you could cut some of your costs with ‘easy wins’ or more long-term solutions. Learn more at makingmusic.org.uk/ income

• Every penny counts – tips for improving your income Sun 24 Sept, Coventry Sat 21 Oct, Truro For more information and to book

Did you know?

Half of new members joining between April and June list their main repertoire as non-classical

go to makingmusic.org.uk/events WEBINARS

We launched our first ever webinar recently to an audience of 50 people on the topic of Orchestra Tax Relief (if you missed it you can watch it at makingmusic.org.uk/otr-webinar).

We hope to run more webinars in the future – please feel free to send any topic suggestions to us at info@ makingmusic.org.uk

New online resources (May—Aug) • • • • • •

Recommended rates for engaging professional musicians Orchestra Tax Relief – guidance and toolkits Starting a new group An introduction to: Samba Welcoming beginners and less experienced musicians into your group Access for all: Top tips for welcoming people with physical disabilities

CONTACT info@makingmusic.org.uk / 020 7939 6030

14 HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

• • • •

Case study: How creative thinking led a new group to success Top photography tips for music groups Template policies – Safeguarding, Equal Opportunities, Conflicts of Interest and Data Protection Recruiting young members: where to find them

Find more online resources and guidance at makingmusic.org.uk/resources

FROM OUR TEAM

MEMBER NEWS The Promenade Concert Orchestra, Morecambe, which specialises in the light orchestral music concerts of seaside and spa towns during the 19th and 20th centuries, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year with a double album of live recordings, ‘Music for You’, as well as new works commissioned from young composers. promenadeconcertorchestra.org.uk Affinity Female Voice Choir will be swapping its home city of Cardiff for Edinburgh when it tours in the autumn.

The 40-strong choir, which is celebrating its fifth birthday, will be performing at Edinburgh Castle followed by a concert at Augustine United Church, Saturday 7 October. The programme includes hits from Les Miserables, Cats and Hairspray, choral favourites by John Rutter and Eric Whitacre and songs from both Wales and Scotland. affinitychoir.com EMG Symphony Orchestra celebrates 50 years of music making in Exeter with a specially commissioned piece by young composer Alfie Pugh. Exeter Cityscapes – A Symphonic Suite, inspired by the city, reflects the constant development and changing face of the city centre.

Hear the orchestra perform the full work at Exeter Cathedral on Friday 3 November. emgsymphonyorchestra.org Send your news to: editor@makingmusic.org.uk

Did you know?

Any member of your group can log into our website and access resources — contact us to find out how

Making Music staff Barbara Eifler Executive Director Workineh Asres Head of Finance Ben Saffell Membership and Services Manager Sally Palmer Projects and Membership Coordinator Joe Hooper Membership Coordinator Lily Funnell Office and Membership Assistant Alexandra Scott PDGYA Administrator Ollie Mustill Marketing and Communications Manager Natalie Joanes Publications Manager

Rey Trombetta Communications and Events Coordinator Sharon Moloney Member Engagement Manager Abby Charles Manager – Wales Alison Reeves Manager – Scotland Xenia Davis Youth Engagement Manager Najia Bagi Project Manager – Exploring Music Making

Call 020 7939 6030 Email info@makingmusic.org.uk We are here Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm

Membership and insurance renewal Key dates for your diary

The time for membership renewals is approaching as we near the end of the year and as ever we’ll contact you in November about how to renew. We will be continuing our drive to increase online renewals. There will still be the option to renew by paper but if you haven’t renewed online before we’ll be sending you information on how to do so.

We also want to give you advance warning that the insurance premiums have increased. This is due to an increase in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from 10% to 12% from 1 June 2017. For most groups this will mean an increase of between £1 and £3. There have been several increases in IPT since October 2015 (when it was 6%) and we hope you can appreciate this is not our doing – the membership fees (which we do control) will not increase for 2018.

Making Music Council

Help us keep in touch with your member group’s wants and needs The next meeting of the Making Music Council takes place in York on Saturday 14 October. A forum for discussion and consultation between members, Board and staff, it acts as a valuable advisory group for the development of policies and services at Making Music and is a mechanism for us to keep in touch with the wants and needs of our members.

Anyone from a member group is welcome to attend the Council meeting and contribute to the discussion. Reserve your place now at makingmusic.org.uk/events

The Council comprises a named core of people, selected to represent a cross-section of our membership profile. In addition to the annual council meeting, we may also consult the core members individually between meetings. If you would like to become a member of the council, visit makingmusic.org.uk/council to find out more and download an application form.

CONTACT info@makingmusic.org.uk / 020 7939 6030

Autumn 2017

HIGHNOTES 15

FROM OUR TEAM

PROJECTS Keeping you up to date with our national projects and programmes Left: New and returning musicians participated in the Learn to Play event at Westminster Music Library on Make Music Day 2017 Photo: Rey Trombetta

Make Music Day UK 2017 – wow!

International day of celebration is set to continue The UK’s first large-scale Make Music Day was a resounding success with 150 events, many put on by or including Making Music members.

The post-event meeting of over 40 supporting organisations from across the music sector showed clear support for work starting immediately for Make Music Day 2018.

How can you be involved?

Save the date (always 21 June, a Thursday in 2018), and start planning. Events should be free and ideally in a public place where passers-by can accidentally stumble across musical activity.

This year’s venues included bandstands, railway stations, city centre squares, hospitals, libraries, shopping centres...

Any music event qualifies and we’ll be suggesting some types of activity in case inspiration doesn’t strike spontaneously!

•

•

Hidden talent uncovered: Show your community what you do, and raise the profile of your group.

Everyone is a musician: Enthuse lapsed or nonmusicians, and recruit new members and audiences.

Link up with the world to celebrate music

Some stats from around the world: • •

120+ countries participated France: 2/3 of population took part • US: 4,000+ events, 60+ cities, 29 landmarks lit up in orange • China: 2,000+ events, 75 cities, a special postage stamp • Italy: 571 cities, 10,000+ music groups, 34,000+ individuals To see what went on this year, sign up to the newsletter or get in touch, go to makemusicday.org/uk

CONTACTS: Sally Palmer, Projects and Membership Coordinator: sally@makingmusic.org.uk Najia Bagi, Project Manager, Exploring Music Making: najia@makingmusic.org.uk

16 HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

•

Why would you want to be involved?

•

A WIDER MUSICAL DIALOGUE Leisure-time music in the UK is thriving but we know that there’s a wonderful variety of musical genres being performed in towns, cities and neighbourhoods all over the UK that we don’t know enough about.

This summer, we launched the Exploring Music Making project, funded by Arts Council England.

The project aims to open up a conversation with groups from genres that Making Music has previously had little or no contact with, and to welcome them into our community.

So why do it?

Did you know?

150 Make Music Day UK events took place in bandstands, city squares, libraries, schools, churches, shopping centres, hospices, hospitals - and the London Eye

There may be leisure-time musicians and groups that would welcome a platform to express their views, needs and challenges.

• Some groups may welcome practical support because they are not accessing it from anywhere else.

• Groups may be interested in linking up with other musical activity in their locality, perhaps cross genre, and so might like to find out about Making Music members or Making Music itself.

So far we have talked to groups in genres including gospel, jazz, classical Indian, Latin and folk but that’s just the beginning of our dialogue. Linking up with more musicians from a wider range of musical genres also means we can shout more loudly and be heard more clearly by policy makers on the issues that affect us all.

Look out for updates on the project on the website and in this magazine.

Najia Bagi

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FROM OUR TEAM

VOLUNTEERS Interested in volunteering for Making Music? Visit www.makingmusic.org.uk/volunteers VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

STAFF MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

NATHAN VALLIS

NATALIE JOANES

Funding Research Volunteer

Publications Manager

How long have you been volunteering with Making Music?

When did you join Making Music?

I joined as a digital media volunteer in November 2016 and was made to feel very welcome - I knew immediately it would be great to volunteer here!

I’ve been volunteering since May. What does your volunteer role involve?

Looking for both private and public funding opportunities for our member groups. I’m currently sorting through all the local council community funding and grants across the UK. What inspired you to volunteer with Making Music?

I’m about to start a Masters degree in Creative Industries and volunteering with Making Music gives me the opportunity to see how amateur music groups go about finding funding.

The chance to help support the enjoyment of many amateur musicians also attracted me to the role.

What has been your most rewarding experience with Making Music so far?

Meeting with the other volunteers at the volunteer day was a good chance to help understand the contribution made by so many different people and the benefit to amateur music groups that comes from the collective input of all volunteers.

Do you play an instrument or sing?

I play piano and guitar.

If you could invite three people, past or present, to dinner, who would they be and why?

Oumou Sangare – I love her music and it would be incredible to hear about her childhood in Mali. My French could do with some practise as well! Alex Ferguson – I’ve been an avid Man U fan for my whole life. To meet Fergie would be a childhood dream.

I’m sure he and Oumou would hit it off. Henry VIII – to see if he enjoys the food in the 21st century.

What was your role as a volunteer?

My role was to look after the Making Music England Facebook and Twitter pages alongside my counterparts in the other regions. I enjoyed meeting the other volunteers and was impressed at how committed they were to giving up their own time to support leisure-time music – some had been doing it for several years.

What do you do now that you’ve joined the office?

I look after the editing and production of our publications, from the annual report to the Selected Artists Guide – as well as the magazine you’re reading right now, which is my first issue! I hope you’re enjoying it. If your group has a story or news to share, please do email me at editor@makingmusic.org.uk What do you do when you’re not at Making Music?

I volunteer at a primary school – supporting the children’s learning – and can frequently be found amid mountains of coloured paper making wall displays. I also love hiking, writing stories and occasionally acting with my old university’s alumni theatre society.

Do you play an instrument or sing?

I play the violin, piano and guitar. I’ve been playing the violin with the London Charity Orchestra over the last few years. A highlight was performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with Thomas Gould at St Giles Church, Barbican – he inspired us all to raise our game.

Charity busking with a quartet at Christmas was also loads of fun.

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MEMBERS

BLOW YOUR TRUMPET five15 project sails into second year

Right: London Oriana Choir. Photo: Kathleen Holman

The London Oriana Choir’s initiative to champion women composers has now entered its second year with young British composer Rebecca Dale as the next composer-in-residence.

In July, member group London Oriana Choir teamed up with the Sammy Ofer Gallery of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich to deliver a concert dedicated to female composers.

The performance kicked off with the première of new composer in residence Rebecca Dale’s a cappella piece, Radiate.

The concert, led by the choir’s musical director Dominic Peckham, included works by Italian Renaissance and early Baroque composers, as well as contemporary composers such as Kerry Andrew, Ailsa Dixon, Dobrinka Tabakova, Roxanna Panufnik, Hannah Lash and Elizabeth Alexander.

Rebecca says, “I am thrilled to be working with Dominic and the choir and honoured to be part of the five15 project ... As a composer, it’s a joy to collaborate with an ensemble so passionate about discovering and promoting new music in all its forms.”

Three commissions for five15 by Cheryl Frances-Hoad have already been completed, with more general programming of works by female composers and educational outreach to 16- to 18-year-old budding female composers planned.

Choir member Fiona Tong says, “… I am immensely proud to be part of this groundbreaking and much needed initiative. The opportunity to work closely with these talented women and give a boost to their careers is one that the choir is grabbing with both hands as we recognise the significance of the project.”

As well as touring around the country, London Oriana looks for opportunities to take music outside the traditional venues in their local area. The group’s relationship with Greenwich museums has given them the opportunity to perform two concerts in the space underneath the Cutty Sark, in the Great Hall for the reopening of Queen’s House and on the lawn as part of their open air cinema events.

Next up, the choir will be performing a remembrance concert in Bristol this November. five15.org

Composers’ hub innovates and inspires Martin Jones on how London Composers Forum is giving composers a chance to shine Making Music member, London Composers Forum (LCF), was formed in 1995 by a small group of composers to promote their music. Now with 35 members, LCF embraces the full spectrum and welcomes composers with a variety of skills and backgrounds living in or near London, working in a range of contemporary classical styles, from the traditional to the highly experimental.

LCF members meet on a monthly basis to explore musical topics and discuss feedback on their own work in progress.

Each year, LCF aims to organise up to five concerts of its members’ music.

Recently these have included pieces for chamber orchestra, vocal works and music for woodwind quintet. LCF has unique access to an affiliated orchestra, the London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra (LCCO) and established links 21 HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

with professional performers, such as the Konvalia String Quartet and the award-winning London Myriad Ensemble.

LCF runs an annual workshop focusing on an area selected by members and led by a specialist tutor.

Previous workshops tackled writing for specific instruments – organ, harp and guitar – as well as working in new media, including electronic music and film soundtracks. These workshops provide members with the tools, insight and inspiration to compose new works for eventual concert performance.

In 2016, LCF was privileged to be joined

by Judith Weir CBE, Master of the Queen’s Music, and David Matthews as our first ever Honorary Patrons. Their participation is of major help in LCF’s continued evolution and in seeking funding to support more ambitious programmes.

Above: LCF harp tutorial with Alexander Thomas Photo: LCF

You can next hear LCF at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, on 15 September where MOSAIC, a programme of woodwind music by ten LCF members, will be performed by the London Myriad Ensemble. On 30 September at St George-the-Martyr, Borough High Street, new works, Sounds and Silents, will be performed by the LCCO. londoncomposersforum.org.uk

MEMBERS

READERS’ PAGE This is your page and we’d love to hear from you: editor@makingmusic.org.uk.

Could you be our occasional or even resident cartoonist? Would your group like to feature in a 60 second interview or send in an anonymous column?

Working as one

6sec0ond

w

rvie

inte

Inclusivity and harmonious working practices between choir and orchestra are important to the success of this music group based in Ipswich.

Artistic director Professor Chris Green explains.

Describe the Trianon Music Group in three words.

Inclusive, inspirational, fun.

The group has a 220-strong choir and orchestra — how does this work?

The orchestra was formed by three friends in 1959 and five years later some of them, who were also singers, formed the choir. The group continued to grow into its present form with choir and orchestra working together with shared management and music committees to produce programmes that exploit this strength.

Where and when are you?!

I moved towns recently, and having been in a choir for a few years, tried to find out which choirs there are near my new house or workplace.

On Making Music’s website ‘find-a-group’ tool, quite a few nearby vocal groups came up, so I settled in with a cup of tea for a good look to decide what kind of choir might interest me and fit in with my schedule.

Clicking on a group on Making Music’s website took me to a brief description and map. That page then linked to the group’s website and that’s what really interested me, as I thought it would give me more practical information – 22 HIGHNOTES Autumn 2017

Each year we stage three major concerts plus four community-based programmes in which different sections of the group combine (for example strings, wind, brass and singers). Thousands of pounds have been raised for local charities by Trianon while at the same time the group has maintained a low annual subscription rate for members.

Tell us about your partnerships with music groups in Europe.

We have active partnerships with L’Esperance (Dutch choir), Crescendo (French performance group), and have hosted visits by Kalee Kolot (Israel) and Braintree Choral Society (US). We are partnered in the UK with the Choir of Anglia Ruskin University (Chelmsford) and play a major role in the work of Ipswich Arts Association with its 50-plus member groups.

How will the group celebrate its Diamond Jubilee in 2019?

There will be three major concerts plus smaller-scale community-based programmes. The major concerts will include commissions of new works.

Previous composers have included Debbie Wiseman, Imogen Holst, Ben Parry and Matthew Curtis. One work will be for orchestra and possibly another for choir and orchestra. Partner groups will be invited to participate in the September Diamond Jubliee 2019 programme as they did for our Golden Jubilee. There will also be an active social programme.

What do you do when you’re not doing music group-related activities?

What’s been the highlight of the last year for the group?

I write for newspapers and journals as well as lecturing. I conduct other music organisations and chair different organisations using my background as a chartered psychologist.

Having combined choirs with our orchestra (including the necessary two brass bands) for Belshazzar’s Feast (and other works) performed at Snape Maltings.

What would be your desert island disc?

Over the rainbow — Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. tmg.org.uk

especially which night the group usually rehearses.

But how difficult it was to find this information on many websites, with some not having it at all! It was lovely reading about concerts, musical directors and CDs, but what I really wanted to know first was: when and where are your rehearsals?

So I’m begging you all: please tell me (and maybe countless others who might want to join you), all the practical stuff in a place on your website where we can easily find it! #rantover Anon Got something to say?

Email editor@makingmusic.org.uk

Reproduced by kind permission of PRIVATE EYE magazine / Tony Husband www.private-eye.co.uk

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