Blog

With music events for the Christmas season in full swing, many choirs and music ensembles throughout the country are performing with their smart new music folders from Black Cat Music.

Jemma van der Byl, Director of Music at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate told Black Cat, “Folders all received on time for our rehearsal and Carol service. Thank you so much for your swift and efficient service. Just what we needed!”

Elsewhere, Fellow and Director of Music, Simon Whalley at Keble College, Oxford reports, “Just a quick note to thank you and the team for getting the folders to us for the end of last week. We sang from them on Sunday evening at a very big service here and they looked magnificent!”

Imagine the visual impact at your Christmas concerts that can be created by a set of smart new matching music folders to give a great identity to your orchestra, chorus, band or choir. The hard-wearing leatherette covers enhanced by hand stitching and brass-bound corners are sure of a long life protecting your music and keeping it together. Choose your style and size, whether for orchestra or choir, some with options such as expanding pockets or retaining strings, pencil pockets and windows. And there is a choice of colour – Concert Black, Royal Blue or Cardinal Red.

It’s Black Friday news from Black Cat Music! The current 10 per cent discount on LED music stand lights will continue until New Year’s Eve.

Black Cat Music’s popular dual-headed, bright white LED light simply clips on to any music stand to provide even illumination of sheet music. The standard version is battery powered, so no trailing wires to trip over in the orchestra pit. The adjustable twin goose-neck lighting heads pack the illuminating power of 4 bright white LEDs that thanks to economic operation give extra long battery life. Supplied complete with 3 x AAA batteries the stand light is ready to use straight out of the box. But if you want to plug in, there is an alternative option of using the included USB power cable supplied in the pack. Ideal for rehearsal or performance these LED music stand lights are bright, light and versatile and very affordably priced.

Black Cat Music has introduced a helpful wireless device for turning digital pages of music on tablets and computers, hands-free.

For musicians who have adopted screen based digital music scores on their i-Pad or tablet devices, from Wenger comes a foot pedal operated device for ‘turning’ pages both forward and back. Using secure Bluetooth connectivity, the need for a wired connection is eliminated and therefore there are no wires to trip over. Containing an internal rechargeable battery which gives an impressive 100 hours of operation between charges, the device is ‘paired’ to the tablet or PC and it’s ready to go.

- Ends –

Black Cat Acoustics will be presenting a ‘solving noise problems’ session in the just announced conference programme at Music Education Expo.

Scheduled to start at 10.30 am in Seminar Theatre 2 on March 13th 2015, acoustic specialists from sponsors Black Cat Music and MusicPracticeRooms.com will talk through common noise problems experienced in schools and how they can be remedied. The session also promises to demonstrate how thanks to recent developments in sound isolating rooms, their new Express version can be assembled rapidly using only a few basic tools.

And if the prospect of this important learning experience is not enough, Black Cat Music is providing a free breakfast! Music Education Expo is the UK’s largest conference and exhibition for music teachers. Hosted in four conference theatres, the 2015 conference programme will feature more than 50 high-quality professional development sessions designed for primary, secondary and instrumental/vocal music teachers. The event takes place at The Barbican, London on 12th an 13th March 2015.

- Ends –

Black Cat Music’s Martin Loft and Alice Dagger exhibited a comprehensive range of high quality performance equipment at the Music Mark conference in Daventry on 21-22 November.

Alice Dagger commented: "It was great to meet representatives from music hubs across the UK. The conference was well attended by music educationalists from all over the UK, and the atmosphere was buzzing."

Black Cat Music exhibited their range of music education equipment ranging from music stands and folders to staging and acoustic treatments. The new MusicPracticeRooms.com Express sound-isolating practice room went on show for the first time, and was well received by music hubs, as it enables music teachers to manage their space efficiently and cost-effectively.

The Music Mark conference - "Progression in Music Education; Further Still, Yet Further” – was held at Staverton Park, Daventry in Northamptonshire, where attendees heard from some of the country's leading music educators, schools leaders and music industry specialists. “The Music Mark Annual Conference 2014 offered a forum to debate, share expertise and exchange ideas for developing the national picture of music education for children and young people.”

Black Cat Music is the central distributor in Europe and Russia for Wenger Corporation. Wenger is world-renowned for the quality and durability of its music equipment, and all Wenger products carry a minimum 5-year warranty.

Pipe Major Jim Motherwell BEM is impressed with the MusicPracticeRooms.com sound isolating room recently installed at Eton College by Black Cat Music.

In a video interview Pipe Major Jim Motherwell, formerly of the 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders explains that bagpipes are not woodwind instruments, but are classed as instruments of war. Bagpipes originated among the Scottish battalions as they could be clearly heard on the battlefield. So quite a challenge for a teaching environment, where one aim was to prevent the sound of the pipes causing interference for 16 nearby classrooms teaching other instruments.

One concern, quickly put to rest, thanks to a visit to the demonstration room set up on Black Cat Music’s stand at Music Education Expo exhibition, was how the pipes would sound inside the sound isolating room. Jim brought his pipes along and was not only impressed by the acoustic environment, but also the build quality of the room itself. Another issue when teaching 6 hours every day was the absence of daylight, a concern that was resolved by integrating three windows providing exterior views of the playing fields. The result, “an absolutely brilliant teaching environment and the boys love it” was Jim Motherwells’ verdict.

The Sound Isolating Rooms are designed to create an ideal rehearsal space with a climate controlled interior environment for the comfort of the band in which they can practise without their pipe and drum music causing disturbance to other classes in the college. The balanced acoustics within the room create a quality space also suitable for recording purposes. The modular design allows for a wide range of sizes to be constructed, from accommodating a solo singer to a choir or a band. And as needs and space allocations change, the sound isolating rooms can simply be re-located when required.

- Ends –