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Saturday 16th March is National Learn to Play Day when over one hundred locations all over the UK will be offering everyone free taster music lessons across a broad range of instruments.

The organisers have enlisted the support of “comedian and drummer Al Murray and a host of other rock stars, musicians and celebrities.” Citing a recent survey by Arts Council England in conjunction with parenting web site Netmums, “ nearly three-quarters of parents (73%) thought access to a free taster session would be a good way to encourage their child to take up an instrument.”

The National Learn to Play Day is organised by the charity Music for All in partnership with the Musicians’ Union, Arts Council England’s Take it away scheme, MusicTeachers.co.uk and Musicradar.com.

Are you taking part in The National Learn to Play Day? Why not contact us on Facebook and let us know what you are doing?

The installation of a large 6m x 4.8m Music Practice Room at Trent College has dramatically transformed the facilities available to the school’s music department. This important new structure provided by MusicPracticeRooms.com now provides a dedicated percussion room located in the existing music school, allowing the percussion teacher to hold lessons without disturbing other music classes taking place in the rest of the facility.

Director of Music, Steven Henderson, was clearly thrilled with the results when he explained: “As soon as it was installed, the percussion department could see that it was going to make an immediate difference. The percussion teacher, who spends four days of the week inside the practice room teaching, just loved it straight away.” Steven continued: “Now we can have string quartet rehearsals in one room and percussion going on in another room, and various other things happening at the same time as each other, and that’s really made a difference for us.”

Talking about Trent College’s experience of the installation of the Music Practice Room, Steven remarked: “It was done in a few days and we were able to get in and start using it straight away.”

Overall, Steven was delighted with the immediate difference the new Music Practice Room made to his Music Department: “It provided a space which worked really well, it answered the question really quickly, and it offers me flexibility for the future, and those are the three key criteria that I needed it to meet.”

Black Cat Music’s sound-isolating music practice rooms offer a solution that controls noise at source, providing an ideal rehearsal space for musicians and singers. The modular design allows for a wide range of sizes to accommodate musicians from a solo singer to a choir or a band. The rooms can be relocated, if and when major changes in use and allocation of space are planned. For comfort and to create a pleasant environment, the rooms are supplied fitted with integral lighting and fan-assisted ventilation. Thanks to balanced internal acoustics they also make excellent recording studios with high sound quality.

Black Cat Acoustics will be providing a seminar at the Music Education Expo 2013 event being staged at London’s Barbican venue, 20/21 March, on the topic of ‘Simple Solutions to Noise Problems'.

The session will address common noise problems and their solutions and will offer an opportunity for members of the audience to put their noise problems to our specialists, who can suggest some practical and simple to implement solutions. Make sure you attend the Black Cat Acoustics presentation in Seminar Theatre 1, Weds 20th March, 10.15 am and enjoy our free coffee and pastries, served to everyone who attends and don’t forget to collect your free conductor's baton as well.

Black Cat Music and partner company MusicPracticeRooms.com are proud to be Platinum Sponsors of Music Education Expo. Delegates' tickets are free if you register in advance.

When Joe Hughes, Head of Music Technology at Eastbourne College was busy procuring equipment for their new music building, his research quickly moved in the direction of Black Cat Music and the range of Wenger products they supply.

“In preparing for the opening, we had to go round various music schools to see what the best options were for us and we were able to see that Black Cat had an excellent reputation, the build quality was excellent and that is what we decided to go for.” Joe explained. Instrument storage lockers were one such item on the procurement list. He continued, “Prior to installing the lockers we had to make sure we had the right sizes for the various different instruments we have and Black Cat were able to provide us with a range of sizes that suited our needs. It was also important they had the right look, the build quality was there and in a brand new, crisp looking building, the lockers reflected that and fitted in with our style. I would definitely recommend Black Cat and Wenger to other schools.”

Musicians chairs were also on the list of requirements, “It was very important to us that these matched the auditorium … Black Cat were able to supply samples to match fixed auditorium seating and that attention to detail was very important. Being a music school where pupils are sitting down for quite a few hours playing their instruments, it is very important that their posture is looked after which is what these chairs are able to do. The trolleys make it easy to move chairs from room to room as we need them.“

Joe Hughes summed up, “It is good we have Black Cat to supply lockers, chairs, music stands and everything we need in a professional way.”

The full interview with Joe Hughes talking about the products at Eastbourne College can be viewed on the Black Cat Music YouTube channel.

Subject to a special 10 per cent discount only during March is a recently introduced dual-headed, bright white LED light that simply clips on to any music stand to provide even illumination of sheet music.

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. And there is also the alternative option of using the included USB power cable supplied in the pack.

Normally sold at £11.99 plus VAT, as a special offer for March only, Black Cat Music currently has these brilliant LED music stand lights on offer at just £10.79 plus VAT and delivery. A great opportunity to brighten up the orchestra at an affordable price.

The Black Cat Music team was delighted to meet with its US counterparts from Wenger Corporation last week.

Wenger representatives met up with the Black Cat team in Tonbridge Wells to catch up and talk about exciting new product developments, including Wenger’s new StageTek staging system – a portable staging that is easy to transport and store, yet is strong, safe and configurable into any combination. StageTek, available from Black Cat Music, is a refined smart staging system resulting from extensive research, engineering and technical advancements in materials and manufacturing. These technical advances have resulted in a staging system that is 20 per cent lighter, stronger, easier to handle and faster to set up.

Another exciting Wenger development is the new-look RoughNeck music stand. This rugged all-metal music stand is designed for general practice and performance. With its welded base and new trigger-lock mechanism, the Roughneck music stand always stands straight, won't lean or wobble and will never need tightening. The steel desk has a durable powder coat paint finish and rolled edges to add strength - rolled edges also mean no worrying about scratching or denting expensive instruments. The toughest music stand on the market has just been made even tougher!

For more updates on the latest products from Wenger and Black Cat Music, keep an eye on our news section, follow us on Twitter, or take a look at our Facebook page.