Post by Traditional Music Forum on Jun 15, 2021 8:33:15 GMT
A weekly two minute catch-up for members from the
TMF Director's desk
These are some of the things that have caught my attention this week.
A huge hurray for Malinky's Steve Byrne who was pictured in a few of the papers this week. Steve has managed to track down the bouzouki that had belonged to the late Roy Williamson of The Corries, the very one that was used in the first televised performance of Flower of Scotland back in the 60s. He then persuaded Edinburgh University's Reid Music Collection to house the instrument, where it will soon be on view. Roy was one of the first people to use the bouzouki, now fairly common, to accompany Scottish folk music.
The European Folk Network now has its own YouTube channel where you can find the presentations from the recent Spring Forward conference. Short presentations from Poland, Serbia, France and Norway, and the inspiring keynote I mentioned a couple of weeks ago from Alistair Anderson. Subscriptions welcome!
The Music Education Partnership Group has some useful workshops coming up next week and the week after, on video editing for online bands and ensembles, and a series on cyber resilience, aimed at musicians, educators, parents and carers.
The TMF Board met this week, possibly for the last time in its current composition, as we are due to lose some long-standing members at the next AGM. There will be four or five vacancies, so this is an early call to get in touch for anyone who might be interested in becoming a trustee.
A new organisation called Together with Music is offering some free CPD places to musicians interested in intergenerational working, and working with people with dementia at a two day event scheduled to take place in July at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. That's right, an actual face to face, real life event. Contact us if you know of anyone who would like to take up the opportunity.
Fair Work is an idea that is becoming better known, and is one of the key strands in the Scottish Government's Culture Strategy. It's defined 'work that provides workers with an effective voice, opportunity, security, respect and fulfilment'. There is concern that a lot of workers in the cultural sector do not enjoy these things and moves are afoot to make the culture and heritage sector part of Scotland as a Fair Work Nation by 2025. The impact of that is likely to be felt in relevant grant schemes as Fair Work becomes one of the criteria for funding.
Make Music Day (21st June) is becoming an established event in the calendar. This year it features the Global Folk Challenge which invites musicians from across the world to take part by swapping folk songs. Participating musicians or groups can share a folk song from their country, and in exchange, learn and perform a different folk song submitted by another participating musician. The songs will then be performed and shared on Make Music Day. There is still time to get involved. If this is of interest contact Making Music's Alison Reeves.
SENScot, the social enterprise network, is promoting community-led tourism in Scotland with a couple of pilots in Girvan and Brechin. They're launching a social media campaign week to celebrate and promote community-led tourism across Scotland – and would welcome the participation of community organisations throughout the country who may be – or wish to be – involved in this area of activity. We're always hearing that the tourism sector doesn't make the most of our traditional music. Here's an opportunity to get involved. Contact Sarah Cameron at SENScot if interested.
Tim Edey is a consistently amazing musician. This has been on rotation this week.
Sorry to hear of the passing of the Elphinstone Institute's Associate Director, Colin Milton. He had a wide range of research interests, including vernacular literature and Scots language which he taught on the Institute's M.Litt course. RIP.
All the best
DF
David Francis is Director of the Traditional Music Forum
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