Learning music

Normans Musical Instruments is very proud to be a Premium Corporate Member of Making Music, and is pleased to announce a special offer for members.  

Staffed by musicians, Normans is one of the country’s leading education suppliers of musical instruments and accessories. Normans is delighted to be offering a special discount for Making Music members - use the code MM5 at checkout on normans.co.uk to get 5% off any order you place.  

Being the music director (MD) of a group is a diverse role with lots to think about from conducting, arranging music and developing the group to leading, inspiring and encouraging cohesive working. We have put together a range of guidance, resources and opportunities that MDs might find useful.

For many leisure-time music groups, it’s often the case that someone in the group with no formal training may step in and conduct a rehearsal as a one-off, and then suddenly find themselves permanently on the podium. Orchestras for All’s new online conducting skills development course can help to address this skills gap.

There’s a wonderful variety of musical genres being played and sung in towns, cities and neighbourhoods across the UK, so we decided to create introductory guides to some of them. Pick a genre and dive in to find out more and how you can get involved. Or if you would like to submit an introduction to your favourite kind of music, please email us

What is Indian classical music and how is it different to Bollywood or Indian folk music? What are all the different instruments used and where can you go to try listening to it or playing it yourself? Seetal Kaur of member group, the Sitar Music Society, gives us an overview.

After looking at pipe and tabor, signing choirs, samba, handbell ringing, barbershop and wind bands, t

Steinberg have linked up with GAK Music shop to offer Making Music members preferential discounted prices on their range of products.

In the latest in our 'An introduction to...' series that explores different types of music making we take at the long history of a unique instrumental tradition - Pipe and Tabor.

Music for All has been closely monitoring developments regarding Coronavirus COVID-19 and its potential impact on Learn to Play Day weekend. After much consideration, they have decided to postpone Learn To Play Day 2020.

Music for All hopes to run events at a later date, so please check back on this page for updates.

Learn To Play Day is a free national event organised by the Music for All charity to inspire new and lapsed musicians to take up playing an instrument, and takes place every year in March.

In the latest in our 'An introduction to...' series that explores different types of music making we take a look at signing choirs, how they work and how they can bring people together.

What is a signing choir?

In the UK, choirs that use British Sign Language (BSL) to perform musical repertoire are known as signing choirs. Signing choirs were first developed in the church, in partnership with the Deaf members of the congregation, to encourage equality between the experience of Deaf and hearing members in services.