If you’d like to have a go at a game of ‘Buzzword Bingo’ this blog might not be a bad place to begin.  We’ll start with the current government’s aim of ‘creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through sustainable economic growth’.   You can almost see the curl on Gordon Brewer’s lip already, and you yourself may want to coin an observation involving Maw and her apple pie.

These aims are not just grand ideas, though.  Their pursuit has real outcomes in the world, and they matter.  In the course of pursuing their aims governments have to know whether they are succeeding in delivering their plans, and they need a more reliable measurement than the extent of Mr Brewer’s sneer.

How does the Scottish Government attempt this task?  Around those high level aims it has constructed a National Performance Framework.  If you imagine that framework as a building, then the key aims are emblazoned on a flag flying from the roof. What they call ‘National Outcomes’ – things like ‘our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed’ – occupy the top floor, supported by a structure of ‘National Indicators’, the whole thing resting on foundations of values like ‘greener’ and ‘healthier’, and cemented together with a bucket-load of objectives and targets.   There’s a snazzy diagram here that sets it all out.

So what does that have to do with us?  For some time there has been a growing demand that the Performance Framework should include some commitment to culture alongside education, health, equalities and the rest.  Despite the right to participate in cultural activity being enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, despite a former First Minister characterising culture as ‘our next great enterprise’ in an influential speech a decade ago, and despite the presence of a Culture Minister in the cabinet, culture has up till now been the ragged child circling the policy table in the hope of finding a seat, and a share of the provender.

However, if you look down that list of recently revised National Indicators you’ll see that for the first time it now includes the line ‘increase cultural engagement’.   As Scottish arts doyenne, Anne Bonnar put it ‘the incorporation of the cultural indicator in a set which includes matters of life, death, education and the internet marks the coming of age of culture within the policy framework of the devolved government of Scotland.’

What that means in practice is that we can hold national and local government to account for their performance in helping all of us to get access to the making and appreciation of creative work.  It also means that it puts a duty on government to develop and maintain the infrastructure for cultural activity.  Furthermore it makes it a little easier to help government to see that cultural engagement is a valuable means of meeting targets and outcomes in other policy areas, especially health and well-being.

The Traditional Music Forum is part of the campaign called Culture Counts, which pressed strongly for culture to be included in the National Performance Framework.  We wanted it to be on the top floor of National Outcomes, but that is a battle for another day.  However, its inclusion in the National Indicators is still a welcome and important development, because from our point of view ‘increase cultural engagement’ means ‘increase engagement with the culture of the traditional arts’.   As we work to develop awareness of the critical place of traditional music, song, dance and story in our wider culture, and to encourage people to engage with it imaginatively and creatively, that little line in among all the other buzzwords may prove to be a very useful ally.

EMS will host a series of development sessions for anyone interested
in making an application to the Traditional Arts Fund.

This open sessions are free and will take place at the following venues:

10th February at the Scottish Music Centre, Candleriggs, Glasgow, G1
1NQ from 4.30 – 6pm.

11th February at the Eastgate Theatre & Arts Centre, Peebles, EH45 8AD
4.30 – 6pm

14th February at Eden Court, Bishop’s Road, Inverness, IV3 5SA from
5.00 – 6.30pm

Please email tradarts@emusicscotland.co.uk to register an interest or
just come along on the day.

For further information, please contact tradarts@emusicscotland.co.uk
(Helen McVey)

or visit

http://www.emusicscotland.co.uk/traditional-arts-fund/

Registration for Trad Talk 2012 is now open.  The conference will take place on Saturday March 24 at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, High St, Edinburgh.  Topics include trad music in the classroom, trad and classical co-existing, the power of radio, trad music and local regeneration, festivals and tourism.  Speakers include Karine Polwart, Fiona Dalgetty, Steve Byrne, Fiona Ritchie, Mark Sheridan, Carol Main, Paul Murray, Roger Goodyear, Murdo MacLennan and Wendy Stewart. There will also be a special performance of Duncan Chisholm’s ground-breaking piece, ‘Kin’. http://tradtalk12.eventbrite.co.uk for full details or click through from the button on the right.

Tobar an Dualchais/Kist O Riches are offering opportunities for traditional artists working in Gaelic and Scots, sponsored by Creative Scotland.

Find out more about the positions by following the link:

http://opportunities.creativescotland.com/view.aspx?id=1170cc3b-468c-43d3-a542-205cee8884cc

There is a week long event happening on Gigha 24th -31st March CEOL ‘S CANAN (music and language) This is instead of the weekend classes which have fallen foul of the possible ferry disruptions.

You can book for the whole week or choose to come for a few days. Teaching will be using ULPAN – units 1-24 through the week so the course is suitable for beginners, or those who have made a start, there will also be training for Ulpan teachers – which may also be suitable for those with intermediate levels of Gaelic.
The first weekend will concentrate on music and gaelic song.
The daytime courses will be mostly language but with music tuition and song tuition very much in the mix. There will be music sessions in the Hotel in the evenings – a chance to relax and learn in an informal atmosphere – yet still pick up Gaelic through song.
At the end of the week there will be a Ceilidh which will be a chance to perform if you want to – and end the event with style!
Tutors are – Kevin Rodgers, Sarah Sutherland and Alex McPhee. Booking forms are available from henri(at)smashingglass.com

THE NEXT STEP 

Wednesday 8th February 2012
MU HQ, 1 Woodside Terrace, Glasgow, G3 7UY
1pm – 5pm
£Free

The Next Step (1pm – 5pm)
This workshop helps you take stock of your business, review your achievements, consider options for development, kick start new plans, and renew motivation.

If you are a self-employed musician or music teacher, you are a small business.

You’ll do one short exercise before the workshop to help focus your thinking and start the reflective process. This paper exercise will establish the skills, relationships, profile and rewards that connect your experiences to date and support your future choices. You’ll start by discussing your journey to date and the options that lie ahead.

http://musiciansunion.info/t/2QJ-N624-9REJT-8V8KZ-0/c.aspx

This workshop is organised in partnership with the Cultural Enterprise Office and will take place at Musicians’ Union HQ, 1 Woodside Terrace, Glasgow, G3 7UY.

How to book
This workshop is free. Spaces are limited so booking is essential. For more information or to reserve a place, please call the Enquiry Line on 0844 544 9990 or emailevents@culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk

CHILD PROTECTION TRAINING
Wednesday 22nd February 2012
MU HQ, 1 Woodside Terrace, Glasgow, G3 7UY
10am – 3pm
£Free

Lunch is provided for you at this training.

Are you a music teacher? Does your work involve contact with children on a one to one basis or within a group? Do you want to learn good working practices within this environment? This workshop aims to cover the basics such as The Child Protection Act, good conduct, practical advice, good practice within a teaching environment, protecting yourself and how to recognise an abused child and what to do. The workshop will also look at case studies and is free.

If you would like to register for Child Protection Training please email glasgow@theMU.org

WEB-DESIGN
The web-design course(s) have been created to enable you to build your own website. By the end of the course you will be able to manage your own website, make updates and changes from your home PC or MAC.

Course 1
Web-design for MAC (Glasgow)
£Free
Cardonald College, Mosspark Drive, Glasgow, G52 3AY

6 x Wednesdays, 6.30pm – 9pm
Start date: Wed 18th January 2012

To book a place on Course 1, please email: glasgow@theMU.org. Please put Course 1 in the subject line of your email.

Course 2
Web-design for PC (Glasgow)
£Free
Cardonald College, Mosspark Drive, Glasgow, G52 3AY

3 x 11am – 4pm days, exact dates tbc, this course will take place between January and March 2012

To note your interest in Course 2 (depending on dates) please email glasgow@theMU.org. Please put Course 2 in the subject line of your email.

Course 3
Web-design for MAC (Edinburgh)
£Free
Stevenson College, Bankhead Avenue, Edinburgh, EH11 4DE

6 x Tuesdays, 6.30pm – 9pm
Start Date: 14th Feb 2012

To book a place on Course 3, please email: glasgow@theMU.org. Please put Course 3 in the subject line of your email.

Dundee’s Wighton Collection is one of the world’s finest repositories of Scottish music. Housed in the purpose built Wighton Heritage Centre in Dundee’s Central Library, it performs a vital role in furthering the study and development of music in Scotland with its programme of performance, tuition and outreach work.
In this concert, Scots singer Sheena Wellington will be joined by special guests Simon Chadwick, Barbara Dymock, Helen Forbes and Lou Lewis, Karen Hannah, Kyle Howie and Wilma Kennedy to perform some of its hidden gems.

Saturday 21st January 2012, 8.00pm
The Glasgow Art Club : Glasgow Art Club
Tickets: £10 http://www.celticconnections.com/book/event/119675

The Scots Music Group offers a free listing service on its web-site for trad music and dance teachers.  You can see the page and contact SMG here

This holiday I’ve been rooting around my old cassettes and LPs and dusting off some items that haven’t been heard for many the long day.   Most of the folk/ trad items are from the mid 80s, round about the time that I really got the bug, and some of them were much cherished in their time.

However… many have not travelled well into the 21^st century.  We are faced with the paradox that tradition-based material, which we often think of as ‘timeless’, can date as much as any other cultural object, and it seems that the more contemporary-sounding the work at the time, the mouldier it seems to us now.

Put on something like the Bothy Ballad collection put out by the School of Scottish Studies all those decades ago, and those songs by Jamie Taylor, Charlie Esson, Jock MacDonald and the rest sound just as fresh now as they did when they were recorded.

Not so the songs drenched in drum machines playing ersatz samba beats, or the arrangements of traditional tunes which bring in that old Yamaha DX7 sound, and guitar solos straight out of the Yellowjackets play-book.   It may be that electronically derived sounds date quicker than acoustic ones, but then fashions in arrangement of acoustic instruments can also fix the music in its time.    But then one might argue that a ‘Liege and Lief’  (folk music played on electric instruments) transcends its time in a way  that, say, ‘Sweeney’s Men’ (all-acoustic from roughly the same period) does not.

If we are musicians and artists working with traditional material then here’s the question we have to face:  do we build an audience by presenting the work in ways we think a contemporary audience will readily accept, and risk that audience diminishing when fashions change?  Or do we find another way of connecting?

(The views expressed in this blog are mine and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board and members of the TMF.)

For all you musicians thinking about the next step in your career, the Musicians Union and the Cultural Enterprise Office have got together to present a workshop called ‘The Next Step’. It’ll be held on February 8th February from 1pm to 5pm at the MU offices at 1 Woodside Terrace, Glasgow.

This workshop helps you take stock of your business, review your achievements, consider options for development, kick start new plans, and renew motivation.

It starts from the premise that, if you are a self-employed musician or music teacher, you are a small business.

What to Expect:

The workshop includes exercises and plenty of discussion to help you examine the things that you are passionate about, those you are the best at and those that make financial sense for your future.

You’ll do one short exercise before the workshop to help focus your thinking and start the reflective process. This paper exercise will establish the skills, relationships, profile and rewards that connect your experiences to date and support your future choices. You’ll start by discussing your journey to date and the options that lie ahead.

http://www.culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk/uploads/File/TheNextStepPreparationWorksheetBW.pdf

How to book:

The workshop is free. Spaces are limited so booking is essential. For more information or to reserve a place, please call the Enquiry Line on 0844 544 9990 or emailevents@culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk