Guidance

Making Music is frequently asked by members how much others pay the various kinds of professional musicians they engage. The results of this survey provide some useful indications.

This page summarises some of the results from our survey in January 2016, and then gives full findings on each type of musician, including average, lowest and highest fees, and ranges.

We've put together some How-To guides for key tools on the website, including managing your group's members via Manage My Group, adding events and vacancies and changing your personal preferences and saved pages.

No one can really just pick up an instrument and play it perfectly but we know how hard it can be to find time to dedicate to practice. Below we explore a few different ways to practise and ideas on how to make your practice more enjoyable and effective in general.

Scales strike fear into the heart of many musicians. Here we hope to give you a little bit of insight into why they are so important and how you can make them a lot more fun to learn.

Finding a teacher can be a daunting task. Finding the right instrumental or vocal teacher is not simply a case of choosing the person nearest to you with the most qualifications; you need to find someone you get on with, someone you trust to help you achieve your as yet un-explored potential.

Don't worry - an instrument exam is about having a positive, supportive experience whilst achieving a milestone in your learning.

Why leisure-time and community music making matters (and why it could be useful for you to know how to say that)

A range of reports, resources and further reading that provide evidence of the wide-ranging benefits (to individuals and communities) of lesiure-time music. Useful for funding applications, campaigns and general advocacy.

Losing your hearing can be particularly distressing for musicians. From Beethoven to will.i.am, classical musicians to pop stars young and old, many people are affected by damage to their hearing, some of which can be caused by musical activities. For example, while ‘safe’ hearing levels are around 60 decibels (about conversation level) an average symphony orchestra might perform at around 120 decibels. Being exposed to more than 89 decibels for more than 5 hours a week will induce hearing damage over time; protection against damage and prevention is vital.