Blog

Black Cat Music Sales Consultant, Brigitte Downs back from the MMA conference said: "It was a pleasure, as ever, to meet up with familiar faces and new at the annual MMA conference.  Ripley St Thomas CE Academy in Lancaster was a great venue, and we enjoyed the weekend."

The MMA Conference, which took place over the weekend is described as “a widely respected annual gathering of professionals in music education with a comprehensive and diverse programme of some of the best speakers in the UK. Hosted by an MMA member school, the atmosphere is always friendly but professional and for the last five years, the conference has sold out in advance.”

Managing Director of Black Cat Music, Alice Dagger added: "We were able to attend some very interesting conference sessions by Music Mark and ISM.  We loved the keynote talk with Evelyn Glennie, and I was pleased to attend the Micromusicals workshop run by Christopher Norton, as I learnt to play piano with the help of his Microjazz piano pieces".

“The conference trade fair is always a lively hub of activity with some thirty corporate members giving in-depth advice and showcasing the latest instruments, products and scores” The Black Cat Music stand displayed Wenger music stands, chairs and accessories including the top-selling Classic 50 music stand, the Nota Standard Chair, the Encore chair, the Preface Conductor's Stand and the Folding Podium.  The Black Cat choir folders and band folders, with bespoke gold-blocking (also on display) continue to be highly popular with music teachers.

Throughout the month, Black Cat Music is offering a generous 10% discount on their best selling Classic 50 music stands in a special May promotion.

Quantity discount breaks allow purchase prices as low as £40.45 when purchased in quantities of 50 or more. Schools and colleges looking to equip with new music stands designed for robust and regular handling can take advantage of this great offer this month.

The ever popular Classic 50 Music Stand is tough enough to handle the hardships of regular classroom use thanks to a formulation of advanced polymers offering inherent tensile strength that will not bend or dent like metal stands.  Its elegant design makes it quiet and rattle-free during performances. And the scratch resistant desk surface also incorporates a unique recess for keeping pencils in place. The patented one-hand height adjustment of the music desk is simplicity itself, requiring no screw or locking collar adjustments. To learn more watch the Classic 50 put through its paces at   YouTube.com .

Full details of the May offer can be found on thet    Black Cat Music web site.

Based in Villach in the Austrian province of Carinthia, Austria the KELAG Blasorchester took delivery of  40 Bravo Music Stands supplied in a smart chrome and black version along with a Preface Conductor’s stand.The band was formed  over 60 years ago and in the tradition of many such bands has a strong connection with local industry with employees of Carinthian electricity AG being members. They  talk of themselves as “musical ambassadors of Kelag” which is a major energy company. Their repertoire includes traditional brass band music, symphonic music and music from films and musicals. The traditional concert in November is an integral part and musical highlight in the team of the year Kelag brass band.

Wenger Bravo Music Stands are already recognised as a premium design and thanks to a recent engineering upgrade the late versions incorporate a new friction slider making a great product even better.. The Bravo Music Stand is designed and engineered to high quality standards to provide a long, trouble-free life. Wenger explained that as the Bravo desk is heavier than in other music stand models, the desk must be held to a higher level of force expectation. In other words the latest upgrade enables the force to be increased. But the even better news is that this is achieved without any price increase!

Bravo’s polypropelene desk will not chip, bend or scratch and includes a useful accessory shelf, handy for keeping pencils or reeds to hand. Height is adjustable in just a single smooth motion, from 61 cm to 116 cm. 

The team at Black Cat Music just love to hear news of how our musical equipment has contributed to the success of a music event, particularly when it is from such a distinguished event as the Bernadi Music Group’s performance at Goodwood House opening the Shipley Arts Festival.

Andrew Bernardi, Director Bernardi Music Group and Member of Professorial Staff, Trinity Laban Conservatoire , told Black Cat Music’s Carla Croft, “I wanted to say ‘ Thank you for providing such high quality stands folders and lights - our players have expressed their great appreciation.  Black Cat’s high quality stands add the confidence of maintaining the practical elements of supporting the sheet music whilst adding the finish touch to our appearance - thank you for your invaluable advice and care to our Ensemble.”

Bernardi Music Group at Goodwood House opened the Shipley Arts Festival on the 10th April 2016. Led by violinist Andrew Bernardi, who played on his priceless Stradivarius violin, dated 1696, with Voirin bow formerly owned by Yehudi Menuhin. The popular classical programme celebrated the first night of the Shipley Arts Festival and also featured baritone and composer, Roderick Williams, soloist at the 2014 ‘Last Night of the Proms’. The programme included the world première of ‘Goodwood Variations’ composed by Roderick Williams, and featured concert pianist Maria Marchant and flautist Bruce Martin.

Choral Folders are always a popular choice and the capability to customise  with gold-blocking creates a great sense of identity for the choir members. At Black Cat Music we are used to requests to add a crest, name or individual detail, but the requirement from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral  was also to match the choir’s red cassocks. 

Sarah O’Keeffe,  Music Department Administrator at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, initially  asked Myke Millward at Black Cat Music to send samples of various red folders to match the red of the choristers’ cassocks. Myke was delighted to later receive some photographs from Sarah with members of the choir complete with their brand new folders. Myke told us, “The folders look fantastic and match the cassocks perfectly. I’m really, really pleased, it's so nice to see 'the end result' for us here.”

Red choral folders are available in two options – with strings, or with expanding pockets to retain sheet music – and the hard-wearing covers benefit from brass bound corners and include such detail as hand-stitching, resulting in the traditional high quality product expected from Black Cat Music. There is a minimum order of five folders and the option, at a modest extra charge, to customise with gold-blocking the name and crest of the choir. Black Cat Music offer a custom gold blocking srviceon all of our choral and orchestral folders, so you can add your logo or choir crest to the front of the folder.

During the recent Easter break, Black Cat Music successfully installed a number of Instrument Storage products at Tonbridge Grammar School. It seems the school is delighted with the result, tweeting ‘Lovely new instrument storage units from @blackcatmusic finally in over Easter.”

Musical instruments vary considerably in size, but Black Cat Music has a comprehensive range of standard product solutions, or alternatively can provide custom built storage to suit the available space and needs.

Instruments require storage facilities that offer protection against damage and loss. Some instruments are frail, demanding suitable storage that protects against physical damage. As with any expensive asset it also makes sense to provide safe and secure storage to guard against accidental damage, vandalism and theft.

Other factors to keep in mind are space, ease of access and keeping a consistent temperature all year round. Storage can take up a great deal of floor space and Black Cat Music can provide guidance in using available space sensibly without causing congestion at busy times.   At class change times, where many students are storing or retrieving instruments, careful consideration of planning layouts so everyone have access without getting in each others’ way and damaging the instruments will help things go smoothly. It is important to avoid areas of high temperature and humidity, which can be detrimental to some instruments and a cause of problems such as cracking, loosening of joints and corrosion.

Black Cat Music is offering a 10 per cent discount on their popular Double Conductor’s Pdium, during April.

This offer is a great opportunity to add this useful accessory to your store of essential music equipment. Sturdy and manoeuvrable, the Conductor’s Podium can be easily moved from rehearsal room to the stage. The upper stage is detachable and locks securely into the base unit. The detachable safety back rail is removable for storage. The construction is built around a robust single piece steel chassis, tough epoxy powder coated black paint blends with the black laminate sides and the step surfaces are covered with a durable grey carpet which all adds up to a high quality and elegant product. Furthermore, the Conductor’s Double Podium comes with a 5- year warranty. 

Visit the   Black Cat Music web site to get the complete story.

At Black Cat Music we know that budgets are under pressure, but compromising on quality by opting for the cheapest option can prove to be a false economy in the longer term. That’s why we have two schemes to help education establishments make purchasing music education more affordable.

 The Black Cat Music Education Discount Programme   is free to join and you can  save 5% on all standard products purchased for schools, colleges and universities – in fact any education establishment located in the United Kingdom. Just log on to the Black Cat Music web site to complete the online application form. We will then send you a confirmation email and your discount code to use each time you make a purchase of standard priced products

When setting up a new music facility, spreading the costs of equipment over the following years can now be a welcome benefit thanks to the  Structured Payment Options  system operated by Black Cat Music. So we have come up with a scheme to spread payments over a period of up to five years.  We use a government compliant operating lease, ensuring the purchase is within government guidelines which offers benefits for government funded schools and organisations. The scheme smooths out budgets and cash flow while allowing investment in music performance equipment that doesn’t compromise on quality. The scheme also applies to independent schools and other non-government funded organisations. What’s more, at the end of the Agreement, for one extra payment the equipment becomes fully owned. Terms and Conditions apply, these and further details can be read online.