Creative & Cultural Skills (CC Skills) currently have two consultations running, one for the Music Performer and Composer National Occupational Standards (NOS) and one for developing a qualification for practitioners working with children and young people. To see how you can you can contribute and have your say please see the information below:-

Music Performer and Composer National Occupational Standards (NOS)

CC Skills have developed these National Occupational Standards in partnership with the industry stakeholder. To add your comments please follow the link below (Please note you will need to register first before commenting):-

http://ccskills.consult-on.com   

Qualification for practitioners working with children and young people

From an Audit that was carried out in 2010 by CC Skills, funded by Arts Council England, it was clear that there was a need for recognised vocational qualifications, which could be accredited within the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) and recognised by schools and other organisations in England. 

The content and structure of a proposed Certificate for Creative Practitioners Working with Children and Young People has been drafted. Now consultation has been opened up to practitioners, employers and other key stakeholders in order to test the suitability of the qualification in meeting the needs of creative practitioners before the development is completed and the qualification is formally submitted to the qualifications regulators for accreditation. To contribute to this consultation please follow the link below:-

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/65H7D5F

The third MU Teachers’ Conference is set to take place at The Menzies Hotel & Golf Club in Cambridge on 19-20 October.

The conference will run over two days with valuable debate, workshops and networking for MU members who teach. The cost of attending the conference is £60 per delegate, which includes accommodation and meals from Friday lunchtime until Saturday afternoon.

With the new Music Hubs in practice in September, no doubt there will be much to discuss and debate with your fellow peers – an invaluable networking opportunity that you can’t afford to miss.

There are 110 delegate places available for MU members and application forms are available to download from the website here:

Please save to your computer before completing this document.

http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Teachers-Conference-Application-Form-2012.pdf

Alternatively, if you need to receive and application form by post, please call Bindu Paul on 020 7840 5506.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Access to and participation in music making gives pupils the opportunity to learn a musical instrument in line with all four learning outcomes set out in the Curriculum for Excellence; successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors.

The previous administration at West Dunbartonshire Council voted to cut the budget for music instructors in schools by £61,000 from Aug 2012.

This equates to a 15% cut in music instruction staff.

The current proposals will lead to the loss of music instructors’ jobs.

Ironically, instructors already cannot meet the demand of pupils wishing to learn an instrument.

The cuts will mean that instruction in only one instrument can be offered in each primary school. So there will be even less choice of instrument for pupils to play.

In three years from now primary schools will have little to no provision leading to less young people taking music making into secondary school.

The cuts will also lead to no individual lessons and to group sizes increasing from the current level of 4 to a yet to be confirmed number.

These type of cuts lead to music being an option only for those who can afford to pay for private tuition.

Reducing the music service in West Dunbartonshire is not worth the long term impact to the service itself, the music instructors and most importantly the young people of West Dunbartonshire.

Join us in campaigning to save the music service.

If you disagree with this cut in provision we urge you to write to your local councillor objecting to the cuts to the music service.

To find out who your newly elected local councillor is check the West Dunbartonshire Council website, http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk. You can email your councillor on firstname.lastname@west-dunbarton.gov.uk

Sign this on-line petition against the cuts.

For more information on the cuts and the campaign to keep music making in West Dunbartonshire schools contact Jen Hunter or Sheena Macdonald, Musicians’ Union, tel 0141 341 2960, email glasgow@theMU.org

83 Glasgow refugees are to be evicted by their landlord, Ypeople, in the near future.  They will be left without home,  access to work, benefits or state support.

These people have had their claim for asylum refused even though most are unable to return to their countries as they are too dangerous.

Ypeople, a charity funded to provide accommodation for vulnerable people, claims it has to do this before handing over the housing of asylum seekers to Serco.

For more information or to help the campaign, contact the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees at: glascamref@hotmail.com

Are you contracted on a West End, or touring show, or working as a dep on one of these ?

Do you need new gear?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, you can get 40% off Roland products.

Contact Dave Webster, MU London Regional Senior Organiser, for details:

dave.webster@theMU.org

Tel 0207 840 5532

Please note that, should you purchase Roland gear for use on your show, Roland UK may contact you and seek your involvement in some promotion of the equipment.

The singer, who was born in Punjab, has lived in Birmingham since 1984. He will receive the award on 10 May at Gatecrasher on Broad Street, Birmingham.

Malkit Singh told BBC News: “Although bhangra music originated in Punjab, India, it was in Birmingham that it was recognised and has since become popular amongst all communities throughout the UK.”

Other MU members featured on the Walk of Stars include Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, Slade’s Noddy Holder and MU Gold Badge recipient Joan Armatrading.

www.malkitsingh.com

Over 160 musicians, agents, managers and politicians including King Creosote, Karine Polwart and Patricia Ferguson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, have called on the BBC to reverse its decision to cancel one of the cornerstones of the station’s music output.

The show has played a fundamental and unique role in the musical life of Scotland for over a decade, bringing together the various strands of Scotland’s musical identity, from indigenous roots to newest innovation, far flung diaspora to welcomed refugee, community movement to the biggest concert stages.  It has championed and provided a much needed platform for up and coming artists and the best of folk, roots and work music acts from Scotland, and placed them within the context of the very best of international music.

At a time when Scotland seeks to define her identity and how she is perceived by the world at large, to lose a programme which has done this though its music defies understanding.

The open letter and full list of signatories is attached.

For further details please contact:  jen.hunter@theMU.org

Following on from her appointment to Officer position to the E/SE England region in February of this year, Emily Stewart is delighted to be carrying on an MU tradition of having a presence at The Great Escape festival in Brighton.

Spread over 30+ venues and hosting over 300 artists, while simultaniously putting on world renowned conference for industry professionals; the festival is an ideal platform for catching up with existing members and thier questions, while reaching out to other artists about the work the MU is doing.

Taking place in Brighton from the 10th through to 12th May, The Great Escape kicks starts the festival season, introducing 15,000 music lovers to the key artists and sounds of the year.

http://escapegreat.com/

Emily will be on hand, both in the conference space and at various venues to industry professionals and artists alike, answering your music business related queries and distributing various MU goodies and advice leaflets.

Where: Brighton (various venues)

When:10 – 12 May

If you are planning to be there and have any specific questions that you would like answered on the day, or if you would just like to say hello, please email Emily on:

Emily.Stewart@theMU.org