According to a new survey published this week by UK Music and taken by pollsters Public First, music has played an integral role in reducing the stresses of the majority of UK citizens over lockdown.
It was the largest poll performed since the music industry’s initial closure back in March 2020, and was orchestrated to find out what role music played in the lives of the British public during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The key findings of the wide-ranging poll revealed:
57% of adults said music had helped them cope with lockdown
Around one million adults say they have taken up an instrument during lockdown
71% think music makes them more productive at work/studying (From a personal perspective music & shows on BBC Sounds have kept me focussed at work & WFH. It helps my anxiety issues so much – in a good way!)
The Importance of Live Music & Venues To The Nation:
Despite Covid-19, 43% of the public are interested in going to a live concert, gig or festival this year
Two-thirds (66%) said they planned to attend as many or even more gigs than before Covid-19 hit
Among 18-24 year-olds, 38% say going to a music festival or gig is one of the things they are most looking forward to
Almost half the public (45%) are worried about the financial viability of their local music venues due to the impact of Covid-19
It’s been a while since I wrote to you so I thought I’d let you know that real life gigs are slowly coming back! Yay! I thank all of you who watched my regular live streams which really helped me stay positive and keep ticking over during all this madness. Read on for details of new dates!
GIGS!!
I’m over the moon to have some gigs on my website again that don’t involve the words facebook or zoom! First up I’m back in my former home of Newcastle THIS SATURDAY! I can’t wait to be back – there are a few tickets left if you want to grab them. Here’s the full list as it stands for the rest of the year: JULY 10 NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE Bobiks https://www.punchbowlnewcastle.com/event-details/dan-walsh
The pandemic put pay to the original plan of releasing my live album recorded in January 2020 with a big solo tour in April/May/June that year. Sorry for such a delayed release folks but the whole plan was to sell it at gigs so it seemed sensible to wait til gigs were back! However, be assured it will be out soon and another studio album is also in the works I’m pleased to say. Stay tuned!
PATREON
Just a reminder, my Patreon page is up and running and I’m really pleased with how it’s going. If you’re not a banjo player but like my stuff then the lowest tier is probably for you – three exclusive videos each month including an in-depth look at one of my numbers. The other two tiers are aimed at banjo players with four new tabs each month (two easier, two harder) and for the top tier, detailed video tutorials on each tab plus a look each month at a different area of banjo technique. Lots of other stuff posted for everyone too!
SKYPE TEACHING
Just to remind, my skype lessons are also still avilable! This is something I’ve been doing for a good nine years now and thanks to the wonders of the internet I’ve taught people in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Norway, Germany and here in England! Get in touch if you fancy a lesson – more details on the teaching page of my website: https://www.danwalshbanjo.co.uk/teachingandoutreach/
Thank you all so much for the continued support. It’s a crazy life I’ve chosen, and you all make it possible and I am forever grateful.
We need to save our venues. And we need to do it now.
London, Monday 27th April – Music Venue Trust has announced #saveourvenues, a new national campaign to save hundreds of grassroots music venues at imminent risk of being closed down – permanently.
Without these independent venues the live music scene in the UK will die. These grassroots venues play a crucial role in the development of British music, nurturing local talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers and develop their music and their performance skills. These venues also play a vital role in the cultural and economic vibrancy of any village, town or city.
Currently 556 venues are at risk including The Sugarmill in Stoke-on-Trent. “We’re extremely proud to be a grassroots music venue. These spaces are pipelines for talent and absolute lifelines for the communities they serve and the talents therein. We cannot allow them to be consigned to the past. UK music culture as we know it will simply not exist without these spaces, so it is vital to protect them” said Danni Brownsill, the venue’s chief booker and promoter.
Artists will be performing ‘at home’ gigs in support of their local venues, chosen from a list of venues currently in crisis which can be found at the campaign website www.saveourvenues.co.uk. Each venue will have their own fundraising page with a clear target of the funds it needs to raise to stay afloat throughout this difficult period. Once a target is reached any excess revenue will go to the central #saveourvenues fund to help the wider grassroots music venue community.
How can music fans get involved?
1. Donate to a specific venue’s fundraising page by clicking this link www.saveourvenues.co.uk to see a list of local venues that urgently need help.
2. Watch ‘at home’ shows by artists supporting the #saveourvenues campaign. Click here www.saveourvenues.co.uk to see a list of shows coming up.
4. Help spread the word on social media using the hashtag #saveourvenues and the campaign link www.saveourvenues.co.uk.
One of the main drivers of this initiative is the musician Frank Turner whose recent series of ‘Independent Venue Love’ shows for local venues Nambucca (London), The Joiners (Southampton) the Railway Inn (Winchester) and The Forum (Tunbridge Wells) raised thousands of pounds and provided a major inspiration for this campaign.
Frank Turner said, “The UK live music industry is staring into the abyss right now. I’m not able to save the whole thing on my own, but I decided to do a series of livestream shows to raise money for specific independent venues that I know and love, and that are in serious risk of disappearing right now. The success of these shows demonstrated the love that exists between music fans and their favourite grassroots music venues so the #saveourvenues campaign is a brilliant way of building on that and hopefully giving artists and music fans a chance to get involved and play a big part in helping them survive.”
One venue saved from closure by Frank’s fundraising gigs is Tunbridge Wells Forum. Co-founder Jason Dormon said “Frank Turner has always championed the grassroots sector, having grown up and learnt his craft in these venues. His generosity and commitment is truly admirable, he inspires live music fans to come together and unite in raising awareness and funds for the UK’s grassroots music venues. We were totally overwhelmed and heartened by Frank’s help and the support and generosity of the local community.”
Music Venue Trust’s CEO Mark Davyd said, “Without the support of music fans and artists literally hundreds of the UK’s grassroots music venues could go out of business, never to return, in the coming months. Please help to save every single grassroots music venue in the UK so that it can reopen after this crisis and continue to be a home to our musicians and our communities.”
On the 4th April, we gave our first ever live streamed concert. Boy were we nervous…but boy was it a success!! We were joined by over 2500 of you over on the website and another 500+ on Faceook and we have been absolutely overwhelmed not only by your feedback and amazing messages of support, but also – the generous concert donations that people made before, after or during the show. We’re so grateful to you all!
The resounding feedback was that we should do more of these streams – and who are we to argue?! Something that really struck us after the last concert was the wonderful sense of community the evening generated. People here in the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Colombia, the USA, Spain, France, Sweden, Italy, Canada – the list goes on – all coming together for an evening of music – all chatting, posting photos, jokes, emojis…! All of us ‘together’, even though we must also be apart during these strange times. We can’t think of a much better way to spend an evening, to be honest!
So here we go again, with a totally different set of songs! 😎
We were so thrilled to get messages from people who were seeing us for the first time on Saturday. We know that’s because lots of you shared word of the concert with your nearest and dearest around the world – and we’d be so grateful if you’d all consider doing that this time too. Now we know the whole thing works – it’d be amazing to try and beat the viewing figures for last time! 🙂
All the best – stay safe and well – and we’ll look forward to seeing you on the 2nd May! 😊
So when’s the next one then? APRIL 19TH 6pm-8pm via ZOOM So please note this is NOT on facebook live this time. Oxford Folk Weekend have had the splendid idea of moving their entire festival online using Zoom. The advantage of this over Facebook Live is you will be ‘in the room’ with me in that I’ll be able to see and hear you. So I can play a load of numbers and in between we can have a bit of a chat, you can ask questions etc. Should be fun! You can get your tickets here: https://fao.yapsody.com/event/index/524606/dan-walsh?fbclid=IwAR3kKIg7Wdw_JRG-fycMlPAbRTZgju9wwsSD3_kbRctkCYORkk6kD8K7YFs Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with Zoom. Once you’ve got your ticket which is ‘pay what you feel’, you will be emailed full instructions.
MY INTERNET ‘TOUR’!
There will be more gigs on the way! One of my many cancelled gigs is also going ahead with the gig but online – thanks to Penrith Plug’n’Play! That gig will be on the facebook group for that particular gig (which is public) and will once again be totally live with a paypal donations page. Then I’ll do lots of gigs from my living room for you on facebook live and youtube live until all this madness is over! Any ideas for show themes let me know – I’m thinking of doing a covers gig, genre-specific gigs, artists that have inspired me. For now though I’ve put dates in the diary for April and May… So the ‘Home Tour’ for April/May looks something like this: APRIL 07 Facebook Live – 7pm (THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT ON THIS ONE!) www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo 19 Zoom Live Stream presented by Oxford Folk Weekend – 6pm https://fao.yapsody.com/event/index/524606/dan-walsh?fbclid=IwAR3kKIg7Wdw_JRG-fycMlPAbRTZgju9wwsSD3_kbRctkCYORkk6kD8K7YFs 20-25 UFQ Live Week – my band will be doing a week of live stuff on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/theurbanfolkquartet/ MAY 03 Facebook Live presented by Penrith Plug’n’Play – 8pm https://www.facebook.com/groups/plugplay.email/ 13 Facebook Live – 7pm (‘Old Stuff’ – material from Tomorrow’s Still To Come and Walsh and Pound) www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo 17 Facebook Live – 1pm (‘Incidents and Accidents’ – the whole album performed live) www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo 20 Youtube Live – 7pm https://www.youtube.com/c/danwalshbanjo 27 Facebook Live – 7pm (‘Verging On The Perpendicular’ – the whole album performed live) www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo 31 Facebook Live – 1pm (‘Trio’ – the whole album performed live) www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo
FACEBOOK LIVE AND LIVE STREAMING INSTRUCTIONS…
A few of you replied to my last newsletter with a few questions about the whole facebook live thing and I know one or two of you had a bit of a battle to get in to it! So with that in mind, here’s instructions for you for the various live streams coming up:
Penrith Plug’n’Play Live Stream 1) Head to https://www.facebook.com/groups/plugplay.email/ (you don’t need to be a member of this facebook group or even have a facebook account at all) 2) When you go to the page scroll down til you’re past the group’s photo, the about section and the announcements. Basically, keep scrolling til you see the posts in the group which is under the heading ‘new activity’ 3) [Note there will be open mic submissions between 7 and 8 and then my live set begins at 8pm] At 8pm I will be live in the group. I should be the top post of all the posts. If at 8pm I haven’t appeared automatically, refresh the page and scroll down again until you see me! If there’s not sound on the video click on the video and it should work.
Facebook Live Gigs 1) Head to https://www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo/ 2) Scroll down until my posts start – so scroll past the main page photo, about, photos by Dan Walsh, upcoming events, related pages and you should get to my posts and the live one will be the top one. Again, if I haven’t appeared at the start time refresh the page and scroll again til you see it. If there’s no sound on the video click on it and it should work.
OR:
1) head to https://www.facebook.com/danwalshbanjo/videos 2) at the start time the live video should appear at the top of the page 3) if it doesn’t refresh the page 4) click on the video which has a ‘LIVE’ button on it
The third (and final) 50 Gigs In A Day is this weekend with the aim being to raise awareness of the work done in music therapy by the Nordoff Robbins charity.
A BIG thank you to all the bands and artists taking part this year and if you can get along to support them at one of the shows.
ABOUT NORDOFF ROBBINS
Nordoff Robbins is the largest independent music therapy charity in the UK, dedicated to changing the lives of vulnerable and isolated people. We support thousands of people in our own centres and by working in partnership with a wide range of organisations including care homes, schools and hospitals. When delivered by a trained practitioner, music therapy can be used to support people living with a wide range of needs. It can help a child with autism to communicate, reduce anxiety for those living with dementia or provide comfort and celebrate the life of someone facing terminal illness. Music therapy can be life-changing for so many people. https://www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk/about-us/
Nordoff Robbins Registered Charity Number: 280960
What Donations Can Fund: £3-£10 could pay for a music instrument, giving a client with autism a way to express themselves beyond words £20 could pay for a vulnerable child to attend a group music therapy session £35 could pay for a one-to-one session of life transforming music therapy for someone with dementia £50 could help us bring comfort and joy to a child suffering from a brain injury during a one-to-one music therapy session £100 could pay for a music therapy group session at one of our dedicated centres £150 could pay for half a day of music therapy at a Children’s Centre £200 could pay for an entire month of one to one music therapy sessions at one of our centres £300 could pay for a full day of music therapy in a local school for pupils with special educational needs, or in a care home helping older people with dementia unlock memories and communicate with loved ones £500 could help subsidise 5 children whose families cannot afford to pay full fees to have a term of music therapy through their school
The idea is to have a whole host of gigs/events mention via their social media posts the work of the Nordoff Robbins charity on and around the 8 February each year
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Fifty Gigs In A Day 