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Why amateur music making matters

Many of you involved in music making in your spare time never think about why it matters. You enjoy it, so you
assume everyone understands its importance, and often don’t appreciate that it might be helpful to engage with the
larger community on this who do not automatically share your enthusiasm. So why should you consider telling the
world about making music?

Making music has real, measurable, tangible positive effects on individuals, on their community and on the local
economy. If we do not tell the world about these effects, they will be taken less seriously than they should or even be
ignored. This could mean that those who fund us and who make the policies which facilitate or hinder our music
making do not take us into account in their decision making, with potentially far-reaching consequences (think venues
and music libraries, for instance).

The economy is making life difficult for amateur and community music groups as much as for everyone else – costs
are rising, whether for venues or professional artists, audiences are less able to afford attending our concerts, for
which we are having to charge more, and there is less and less external funding to support our projects.

We are all grounded in our local communities from which we draw our players and singers and to whom we perform.
So it is especially important that we communicate the value and importance of music making to our local authorities.

They themselves of course have suffered particularly in these last few years and are cutting their budgets more and
more. In many cases they no longer fund arts activities and simply do not consider the arts, including music, within
their “mainstream” policies. Yet there are very good reasons why they should do so, and we can help them see those
reasons if we have a clear sense of why our music making is important and how we can express – and prove! – that.

For instance, local authorities are now responsible for public health where prevention and community wellbeing are
high on the agenda – issues that taking part in music making can have a positive effect on. There is also the
economic impact of music and the wider arts – bringing in more visitors and tourists, and contributing strongly to
regeneration.

So whilst we may think of local authorities as threats at the moment, in fact they are also our best and biggest
opportunity for support (not always in money of course!). But to turn them into fans of music making, we need to have
the arguments at our fingertips, preferably supported by solid facts, as well as individual testimonies, and we need to
speak in their language.

This guide sets out why amateur and community music making matters, and provides information to argue the case
for it – not just to local authorities, but to funders, potential members, audiences, and music education hubs, just to
give a few examples.

There is a summary if you only want the headlines and soundbites, for instance to use in press releases, or on your
website and social media. There is also a more in depth look at the argument for those who would like to understand
it in more detail or for use in longer documents, for example as part of funding applications.

The information is based on the most recently available data from members (principally the
) and a wide range of publicly available reports, and will be updated from time to time.

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Summary
The benefits of amateur or community engagement with music are multi-layered.

1. Making music is fun, uses different skills to those you need to employ in the rest of your life, is relaxing and
stress-busting, and makes you feel better about yourself. In scientific terms, there is now a growing body of
research which shows that this can amount to better physical and mental health: making music really is good
for you – and thus saves the NHS and social services money.
2. Everyone can make music, from a two-year-old to a 90-year-old, whether rich or poor, disabled or not. It can
therefore help bring communities together across generations, social classes, income brackets, disabled and
not disabled. An obvious benefit of that is that it reduces loneliness and social exclusion, which are a very
real cost to local services. Music groups can also help generate pride in a place and community, helping to
transform an area into somewhere people want to live and feel safe and connected in.
3. Making music not only raises health and wellbeing generally for all kinds of individuals, it can actually
provide cost effective support for people with a range of chronic conditions, from Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to dementia. There is scientific evidence to prove these effects.
4. At practically no public cost, your activities have important local economic implications and benefits: your
audiences will not only help keep the venues going in which the concerts take place and where you
rehearse, they will also spend money locally on transport, food, drink. have shown
that for every £1 of public money invested through Arts Council England, the chancellor receives £5 back in
tax (mainly VAT), and that for every £1 of turnover art and culture generates, 51p of GVA (Gross Value
Added, which is the net benefit once the external cost has been stripped out) is added to the economy.
Furthermore,

5. You are not only mostly independent of the public purse, but actually contribute to the support of other
voluntary organisations through donations and fundraising concerts. Many of you raise thousands of pounds
every year for other charities.
6. You are a major source of enjoyment for substantial audiences. Amateur music groups promote
approximately 48,000 events a year to an estimated 6 million audience members.
7. In many areas, your events may be the only arts experiences available for local audiences.
8. Many music works requiring large numbers of participants, or of a special interest or niche genre, might
never be performed if it wasn’t for amateur music groups. You are the guardians of a range of musical
traditions.
9. You provide an opportunity for experimentation, innovation and new composers to practise their craft. Large
scale or challenging new works are unlikely to be performed by professional groups unless the composer
has a track record. The voluntary music sector is the nursing ground for tomorrow’s composers.
10. You provide the bridge between learning and a professional career for many music professionals, making
amateur music groups the foundation of our very healthy – and profitable – music industry.

More detailed development

Making music together has always been an important part of our cultural lives. As we face a future that will be
characterised by pressures on living standards, a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and unaffordable
health and social welfare systems, we will need, more than ever, new initiatives that both reduce costs and help to
improve social cohesion. Participative music making is singularly well equipped to make an important contribution,
and we all need to ensure that decision-makers recognise the opportunity that we offer rather than undervalue our
contribution and discount it as essentially the preserve of a privileged few.

A report specifically on Scotland:

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With reference to points 1 & 3: A provider of improved health and wellbeing for
participants
Anyone involved in making music knows intuitively that it is good for them. In recent years those benefits have been
the subject of academic research – and the results have not only confirmed what we always knew but have provided
insights into how and why music is important. We now know that active involvement in music, especially group
activity, releases chemicals in the brain that reduce stress and increase feelings of wellbeing, and there is even
emerging evidence that it improves empathy so that people can and do work better together.
has shown that choir members report statistically significant better health and wellbeing than
comparative groups not in choirs.

As with all such research, the question is often raised whether people are happier and healthier because they are in a
choir or whether they have chosen a choir because they are already happier and healthier. The Sidney De Haan
Research Centre in Folkestone is a world leading centre in this field and they have undertaken a randomised control
trial involving structured group singing for older people. shows that the individuals in the control group
and those in the singing groups were broadly similar on recognised measures of wellbeing and similar scales but after
3 months of weekly singing, the singing groups showed statistically significant improvements both in generalised
mental health and a reduction in depression. So the scientists are proving what we know, and more importantly
providing an evidence base that group participatory music has much to offer a wide range of disadvantaged people.
(See )

In addition many members use music to support underprivileged groups – older people in particular have benefited
from the work of volunteer members who have made a difference to their lives and helped reduce the social isolation
that can be a crushing burden. Member groups also perform their music in healthcare settings (e.g. hospitals), care
homes, prisons and other locations to benefit lonely, isolated, deprived or difficult to reach people.

With reference to points 2 & 3: A potential provider of improved health and wellbeing
for the wider community
The general evidence of the benefits of music has resulted in a wide range of initiatives to demonstrate how
participation in group music making can help individuals and communities. There is a continuum of music based
interventions which at the moment is primarily focused on singing as this is not only something that everyone can do,
but is also a lower cost approach. The interventions range from community choirs simply bringing people together
and singing; through wellbeing choirs which are focused on individuals with issues of social isolation, stress,
depression; to choirs for older people; to a range of interventions supporting users of mental health services, those
suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), dementia, Parkinson’s and stroke victims. A wide
range of initiatives, all of which are showing promising results.

Some articles on specific health benefits of music:

These developments come at a particularly critical time, as the National Health Service faces enormous challenges
with rising incidence of age related conditions, increase in issues of mental wellbeing and a realisation that many
aspects of health are driven by social exclusion. In addition government policy seeks to increase the focus on public
health and prevention of poor health which includes wellbeing by increasing monies allocated to public health and
allocating responsibility for it to local authorities. The NHS and local authorities will be looking for cost effective
innovative ways of helping to make individuals and communities happier and healthier, and music has a role to play.

There is also evidence of the community impact of arts activity, e.g.

With reference to point 4: An economic contributor

As an individual group, it is all too easy to underestimate the cumulative economic importance of voluntary music. It is
only when figures are aggregated that the economic impact becomes clearer – and it is worth recognising that the
figures for Making Music members probably represent only around a quarter of the total national impact (according to
the 2008 DCMS study referenced above which suggests there are around 12,000 amateur music groups in total in
the UK).

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Based on Making Music’s data, the turnover of all amateur music groups UK-wide is
estimated at £100m. £18.7m was spent on professional artists, including musical directors, rehearsal accompanists,
orchestral fees and soloists. £1.8m a year was paid out to music publishers; and with 12,000 concerts and their
associated rehearsals substantial sums were paid out in venue hire. Local businesses benefit from printing activities
and advertising, and in addition there are substantial indirect economic benefits as audiences incur transport and
refreshment costs that also boost the local economy.

While the contribution of any one member group may not appear significant, the effect is like that of any Small and
Medium Enterprise: cumulatively they matter a great deal, and together make an important difference - and you do
that with negligible contribution from the public purse. It is quite wrong for planners, analysts and funders to ignore
this significant cumulative input.

With reference to point 5: A major player in and supporter of the voluntary sector
Local authority plans all too often focus on tangible assets, and in the current economic climate that financial focus
has been reinforced. The reality however is that communities are not simply defined by buildings and other
infrastructure. What creates, defines and sustains a community is often what is referred to as social capital – and a
network of voluntary organisations is a critical part of any community’s social capital. Voluntary music is an important
way to help create a sense of community, and the rapid growth of community choirs is evidence of that. Our members
however not only provide a socially inclusive activity that can help create a sense of identity, they also help other
voluntary groups in very specific ways. It is an amazing and heart-warming fact that in spite of all the difficulties facing
Making Music members, they fundraised and donated £1.8m to charity in 2010 – almost £650 per member group –
over 4% of their gross income.

With reference to points 6 & 7: A source of enjoyment

In 2010-2013 our 3,000 members staged around 12,000 concerts a year to audiences of around 1.5 million people
annually. They did this throughout the UK, bringing live music to communities that without voluntary music would often
have had none. Almost as important as the sheer volume of performances is their diversity, both within and between
genres. Making Music members are performing diverse and exciting repertoires that challenge and entertain their
audiences. The performances encompass brass bands, choirs - (chamber, community, gospel and large choral
groups), hand bell ringers, jazz bands, orchestras, opera as well as presenting of professional concerts involving
individual instrumentalists and ensembles. Musical activities were not limited to conventional performances however,
for you also ran 7,000 open rehearsals, and 2,500 educational events and workshops. So voluntary music is an
important source of enjoyment, often to people who cannot or choose not to access live music any other way – and
that provision of enjoyment is backed up by substantial educational activity.

With reference to points 8 & 9: A guardian of tradition and its development and its
development
The United Kingdom has an almost unrivalled tradition of brass bands, choral music, and classical orchestras. These
traditions are heavily represented in voluntary music, and without that base would be seriously weakened. Many
members’ concerts focus on traditional works, but importantly two thirds of all concerts have included works written
since 1938 (i.e. still in copyright), and half of all concerts featured works by living composers (data from Making
Music’s ). In addition, nearly a third of member groups commissioned a new work between
2010 and 2013. Amateur and community music groups are maintaining important cultural traditions, but not in
reactive ways – through the commissioning of new works, through the diversity of repertoire, through opening up to
other European traditions, and through genre diversity, groups are allowing our traditions to evolve and remain vital.

Whilst Making Music members are overwhelmingly small, their sheer number (an estimated 12,000 throughout the
UK) makes them significant players in terms of royalty revenues for composers and arrangers. The composer was
undoubtedly paid for the original composition for a professional or amateur group, but it is from the ongoing
performances of such new works up and down the country by hundreds of amateur groups that he or she, and their

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publisher, will derive an ongoing income, and it is his or her popularity with Making Music member groups which will
allow a composer to have a career and earn a living from writing new music, and encourage a publisher to keep
investing resources into nurturing new composers.

And that’s not all: large scale works, even if performed by professional ensembles, usually employ the services of one
or several amateur choirs (e.g. Carmina Burana), or indeed are done very rarely by professional ensembles, and are
kept alive – for audiences and performers alike – by amateur performers. This means these works continue to
generate revenue for the professional music sector through score hire/sales, CD/streaming sales, concert tickets etc.
because the amateur sector has regularly performed them all over the UK. Whilst particularly true of choral works,
this also applies to large scale or unusual orchestral works, e.g. Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony.

Amateur music groups should therefore never feel in any way inferior or less important to professional ensembles –
without amateurs providing the ongoing performances, in any and every place of the UK, over many years, many
composers and publishers would be significantly worse off, indeed many composers’ careers would quite possibly not
be viable.

With reference to point 10: The foundation of our music ecology

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport in their report Our Creative Talent (2008) calculated that there are
around 12,000 voluntary music groups in England alone with over 1.6 million total participants. The study estimates
that amateur arts activity could amount to around 20% of total arts activity.

The importance however is not limited to the volume of activity. What is perhaps of equal importance is that our
members provide career opportunities for emerging musicians – whether they be performers or soloists –;
opportunities that would not exist without them.

The DCMS study calculates that around 34% of voluntary arts groups see members progress to become
professionals. This is also referenced in Ruth Finnegan’s 1989 in-depth study of amateur music making in Milton
Keynes, The Hidden Musicians.

More significantly, in the three years leading up to Making Music’s , Making Music
members engaged over 34,000 professional artists every year to a total value of £18.7 million, and commissioned
around 400 new works every year, spending also around £1.7 million annually with music publishers. The
professionals employed by Making Music members are accompanists, conductors, soloists (voice or instrument),
arrangers and composers.

It should also be remembered that amateur musicians employ a significant number of music teachers privately to
pursue their leisure activity. : 5% of all adults, or 2.5 million, currently have
music lessons. That is a significant amount of income for many music teachers.

In addition, through our Adopt a Composer scheme and Awards for Young Concert Artists participating members
actively contribute to the careers of some of our most talented emerging professional performers and composers.

Without voluntary music the live music industry would shrink and career paths would be destroyed, and this is freely
recognised by many leading professional performers and composers who not only acknowledge the importance of the
voluntary sector but reinforce that by becoming patrons of those groups that helped start their careers.

Summary
What you do matters, not only to your members but to a much wider group. The amateur and community music
sector is a foundation block of the music industry, you provide entertainment and education to substantial numbers,
you contribute to the economic wellbeing of your communities without relying on public money, you are actively
involved in and support the wider voluntary sector and you help to maintain the health and wellbeing of members and
the wider community. What we can all do through participatory music is to help improve our communities and the lives
of hundreds of thousands of people suffering from stress, depression, social isolation and a range of chronic
diseases.

We have a resource, a capability that does, should and will continue to matter to our communities – and so we should

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not hide our light under a bushel. We are doing a great job – and we could do more - , so let’s shout about that a little
bit more loudly.

As well as this document, you can find more help and resources for any lobbying and advocacy you want to
undertake and templates for specific campaigns or documents in our

Arts Council England also have a very useful resource,

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