On 18th July 2024 we wrote to Labour’s Minister of State for Education to offer our support as the Department for Education begins to assess what needs to be done to put education ‘at the heart of change and the forefront of national life’. You can read the letter below:   Dear Minister, On behalf of the Board of Trustees, the Membership and staff team at the UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Minister of State for Education. Alongside the ISM and MTA, The UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark, represent music ..read more

On 29th June 2023, Norfolk Music Hub, in partnership with the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association hosted an inspirational event called Bucket Beats XL, which set the current Guinness World Record for the largest percussion ensemble ever to play using only recyclable materials. The event saw over 1,200 students from 45 Norfolk schools come together to create a powerful musical performance, which also reinforced an important and relevant message around environmental sustainability. Alison Brain told us more about what inspired them to organise the event and the opportunities it provided to te ..read more

Tinderbox Orchestra announce ‘Live in Libraries’ UK & Ireland Tour Scotland’s flagship Tinderbox Orchestra will tour libraries across the UK and Ireland to spread a campaign that gets musical instruments into public libraries so people can borrow them for free, just like borrowing a book! Bringing together rappers and singers with heavy brass, strings, woodwind and a thundering backline, Tinderbox’s groundbreaking 20-piece orchestra will undertake a tour of libraries to spread a national campaign to get musical instruments into public libraries, so people can borrow them for free, just lik ..read more

The UK music industry is responsible for approximately 540,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year (The Environmental Sustainability of Music Industries, 2020). Whilst most of these emissions come from live music, the impact of musical instruments, as part of this, is also worth considering.  Becoming carbon neutral is a challenge for the instrument manufacturing industry, as many instruments have historically relied on threatened natural resources. For example, string instruments have typically been made with materials from multiple types of trees and animals, many of which are vulnerab ..read more

On 11th July 2024 we wrote to Labour’s Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, to congratulate her on her appointment and offer our support in fulfilling the manifesto promises for music education. You can read the letter below:   Dear Secretary of State for Education On behalf of the Board of Trustees, the Membership and staff team at the UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as the Secretary of State for Education. Music Mark is the membership association for organisations, including those within the Music Hub ..read more

The CfSA (Council for Subject Associations) have awarded Music Mark their new kitemark to recognise formally that we are a subject association that has done excellent work in supporting schools and teachers with music education over a sustained period of time. The CfSA is an umbrella organisation, independent of Government, which represents subject associations nationally (from all curriculum subjects, Art to English, Music to Maths) and allows them to speak with a single voice on key issues. The Subject Associations that make up the CfSA membership share expertise on their curriculum subject ..read more

After their engaging session at the inaugural Digital Innovation in Music Education Virtual Conference, Heidi Johnson from Yorkshire Sound Women Network tells us more about their WIRED Toolkit and the importance of creating gender-inclusive learning environments. WIRED is a Yorkshire Sound Women Network (YSWN) initiative, run in partnership with several Music Hubs across Yorkshire and funded by Youth Music. The WIRED clubs offer girls and minority gender young people the chance to get creative with music technology in a low-risk, supportive environment, and they’ve developed all sorts of new s ..read more

With the confirmation that Labour will form the next government, the music education sector looks forward to working in partnership with the new government on delivering and expanding their manifesto promise to create a National Music Education Network. At the heart of this pledge is the idea that music should be a key part of a child’s education, and the ambition to ensure easy and equitable access to music making opportunities across England. As the membership body for Music Education organisations across the United Kingdom, The UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark welcomes the fo ..read more

Music Mark has commissioned a research project to understand what work is already taking place across hubs and services concerning environmental sustainability. The research forms part of our This Is Not A Rehearsal campaign, and will help us to learn more about how we can support our members and the wider sector to respond to the climate crisis. The research is being undertaken by Dr Ross Purves, Associate Professor for Music Education at the Institute of Education, UCL, alongside his colleague Emma Arnott.   Ross and Emma have launched an online survey to form part of this research. We ..read more

As part of our This Is Not A Rehearsal campaign to encourage action around the climate crisis in the music education sector, we spoke to Nick Walker from Normans Education to learn more about their bespoke instrument recycling scheme for Music Hubs, ReTune. Read on to learn more about how the programme works, and how your hub can get involved!   Could you give us an overview of the ReTune scheme? ReTune is a musical instrument recycling programme for regional Music Hubs. We invite Music Services around the UK to recycle their old unused instruments, where we collect them free of charge, a ..read more