Never underestimate the reach and influence of commercial radio. A news clip on a station like Forth One is worth the equivalent of thousands in advertising. That's exactly what we secured within a couple of days of working for Morningside School of Music. Watch this space for more.

A government advert suggesting people in the creative industries should retrain in more conventional jobs sparked fury across the musician community in the UK. Linda Boyd, Morningside School of Music's managing director, explained those concerns eloquently in a piece in the Times. The article is below and can be read here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/telling-artists-to-retrain-is-insulting-and-short-sighted-m0zr2nk...

Writing in the Scotsman, the school warned that musicians must stick together if they are to survive 2021 better than the previous year. With live music venues taking such a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is feared many will try to attract live musicians back for reduced rates... or no fee at all.
As families across the country battle with online learning, the music school said there were actually some benefits to Zoom lessons which could be retained when things go back to normal. In a Herald comment piece, Linda said digital learning could even open doors for disadvantaged children and adults who wanted to learn an instrument in later life.

To read the full piece, visit: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19084299.opinion-remote-learning-no-hurdle-music-tuition/

Bucking the general economic trend, so many adults were seeking to learn a musical instrument during lockdown, the school has to appeal to hire more music teachers. 
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/music-school-scores-with-lockdown-surge-in-adults...

We had great fun with the story that the music school was to be the first in Scotland to accept cryptocurrency like Bitcoin as payments. It appeared in the most important publication of all - the local Edinburgh Evening News - but also on business websites in Scotland and cryptocurrency news sites across the world.

As the hospitality sector began to open up following the easing of lockdown restrictions, the school joined with high-profile Edinburgh musicians in this plea: for live gigs to be at the very heart of pubs' economic recovery. Full piece here: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/forever-edinburgh-musicians-plea-for-live-enterta...

Although life was beginning to return to normal for many industries, figures we uncovered for the school should nearly one in three arts and entertainments workers were still on furlough, with the scheme set to run out in September.

As the school launched a new series of online singing lessons, Linda wrote in the Scotsman about the importance of using technology in helping expand opportunities in music. Read the full piece here: https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/covid-pandemic-forced-music-lessons-online-now-we-c...

As schools prepared to return, the school offered free music lessons to the first 100 kids who applied, in everything from guitar and piano to saxophone and songwriting. 

The beauty of a case study: the school wanted to promote its lessons for older pupils, and 65-year-old Helen King was delighted to talk about how she's learning the drums.