Professional development

The ISM provides you with opportunities to build up your skills in the digital arena with our advice pages and webinars. We also have a collection of professional development videos and resources available to members and the wider music sector through our sister charity, The ISM Trust.

The Empowered Musician ‘How to…’ Series The ISM has teamed up with industry experts to produce two new resources as part of its How to… guide series.

How to… Make a recording, John Croft from Chiaro Audio, Dr Phil Harding, and Steve Long from Signum Records take you through the complete cycle of creating an audio recording, from engaging an engineer and producer, fi nding an appropriate venue, preparing and taking part in recording sessions, to mixing and mastering for online distribution and CD production. The guide has been designed to provide helpful insights and advice to recording musicians from all genres. Internationally-renowned lecturer and educator Lucinda Mackworth-Young presents How to… Teach adult learners. The majority of music teachers start their careers teaching children and young people, however there is a huge number of people who take up instruments later in life. The guide takes you through altering your pedagogy for older learners, as well as providing key recommendations for maintaining motivation and developing this side of your business. These resources join the other guides in the How to… series, which examine connecting with digital audiences, marketing, working with artist managers, playing at festivals and negotiating contracts. You can read from each resource free of charge on the ISM website, or become a member of ISM (if you are not a member already!) to download the guides in full at ism.org/howto

Future webinars

With music in mind

Monday 16 November from 4-5pm With Music in Mind is The Amber Trust’s pioneering new music service for families who have a visually impaired child with neurodegenerative disease, such as Batten disease. This webinar is for parents, carers and professionals caring for, supporting or working with a young person with neurodegenerative disease. Amber founder and trustee, Professor Adam Ockelford, will introduce the new music service and resources developed after three years of research in collaboration with the University of Roehampton

Catch up – Past webinars

Dyslexia and music: A personal journey As part of Dyslexia Awareness Month, Irish soprano Anna Devin and Sally Daunt, BDA, spoke about Anna’s experiences as a dyslexic opera singer and offered advice to both teachers and performers on how to improve the learning experience.

Indian Takeaway: Ra¯g and Ta¯l basics

Take away a lesson in Indian classical music. Our innovative, free online resource brought to you by the ISM Trust and Indian music expert Yogesh Dattani enables you to take away our lesson plans and successfully play or teach a piece of Indian classical music on any instrument. This lesson explores the basics of the melodic (ra¯g) and rhythmic (ta¯l) structures of North Indian classical music: sargam, as you gradually learn to play a short composition, Sargam Gi ¯t. ism.org/indian-takeaway