Making Music

Making Music (formerly the National Federation of Music Societies) is a UK membership organisation for leisure-time music groups of all musical genres, representing over 200,000 musicians and promoters of all levels and experience. Making Music provides them with practical services, guidance, artistic development opportunities and a collective voice for advocacy. Mission Making Music aims at supporting, standing for and celebrating groups of people who make and present music in their leisure time across the UK. The organisation plans to do this in four ways. Lobbying and advocacy: creating opportunities to take part in music making, and conveying the needs of its members to decision-makers in government and elsewhere. Practical resources: guidance, tools and discounts. Networking and development: training events to provide support via a team of managers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Artistic support: Making Music selects professional artists and negotiates their rates for leisure-time music groups; has a Music Bank offering repertoire searching, a member sheet music exchange and programme notes; and national and local projects for members to take part in to develop themselves, their members and their audiences. History The National Federation of Music Societies (NFMS) was founded in York on 23 February 1935 primarily to support amateur music groups in the wake of the Great Depression. At the time, there was concern about how the economy was affecting professional musicians. Amateur choirs, orchestras and music clubs were struggling to survive, and, as a result, they were offering fewer engagements to professional artists. A group of influential musicians decided to create Regional Federations of Music Societies to help amateur choirs and orchestras to exchange information and music, avoid clashes of concert dates and arrange professional artist tours in order to make their events more financially viable. By the end of 1934 there were 11 federations representing 486 societies. In 1935, these federations united to form the NFMS with the support of the Carnegie UK Trust and at the instigation of Frederick Woodhouse of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and Sir George Dyson (1883-1964), the first chairman and President.