News
Stars in their drives
6 December 2007
British rock stars give free music lessons to budding bedroom musicians
Some of the biggest names in the music industry have teamed up to provide free tuition to aspiring musicians.
Arts Council England’s ‘Take it away’ scheme and online tutorial site ‘Now Play It’ have joined forces to produce an exclusive DVD, featuring music lessons from KT Tunstall, Dave Rowntree from Blur, Michele Stodart from The Magic Numbers and Tim Wanstall from Athlete.
Launched today, the DVD is available to the first 10,000 people to sign up at www.nowplayit.com/takeitaway
Dave Rowntree, drummer with Blur – whose song ‘Coffee and TV’ features on the DVD, said: “This free sampler gives new players the chance to learn some of their favourite songs. Instruments and music tuition can be expensive - especially for young people - so it’s fantastic to be involved and help the budding rock stars of tomorrow.”
Take it away gives people the chance to apply for a loan of up to £2,000 towards buying any kind of musical instrument, and pay it back in nine monthly instalments, completely interest free. Already, £1.5m worth of new instruments have been sold since the scheme launched in the summer.
Mary-Alice Stack, Development Manager, Arts Council England said: “Almost a third of people who have used the Take it away scheme are complete beginners, so it’s great to be able to create a starter pack with Now Play It and some of the biggest names in British music today. We hope that the partnership will not only help more people buy an instrument, but also give them the support and inspiration they need to take the first steps in learning to play it.”
Now Play It is a unique video service that features well-known pop and rock musicians leading step-by-step video tutorials on how to play their songs. The award winning site sees a number of household names guiding aspiring musicians of all abilities through songs from ‘Parklife’ to ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’.
Ant Cauchi, Founder of Now Play It said: “Now Play It has been developed to provide an instant and engaging way of learning for budding musicians. The free sampler will help thousands of people learn the songs they love with added bonus material that offers advice on everything from chord progression and musical technique to the best equipment to use.”
MySpaceTV is also supporting the launch. James Fabricant, Director of Entertainment and Head of Video, MySpace Europe said: “This initiative fits right into the MySpace ethos of creativity and self-expression. By supporting this DVD, we hope we can help inspire the next MySpace star.”
For further information on Now Play It visit www.nowplayit.com
