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For January only, Black Cat Music is offering a massive 10 per cent discount on their best selling Classic 50 music stands in a special New Year 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 throughout the 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 January offer can be found on the    Black Cat Music web site.

With the Christmas shows, carol services, concerts and other musical events over, time to take a quick review. How effective was the production? Did we have the right equipment? What could be improved in time for the Easter concert?

Christmas is a busy time for school choirs. After months of rehearsal how was the presentation? For those who haven’t already equipped their choir or orchestra, a nice presentational touch is to have matching choral or orchestral folders, particularly if customised with the school crest gold-blocked on the covers. 

Staying front of house with the orchestra were the music stands doing their job, or were they showing their age and creaking and ratling at just the wrong moment? How about smooth operating rattle free music stands next time? Did you know there are some smart clip-on LED  lights on the market now and the great thing is that not only do they illuminate the sheet music beautifully, but thanks to battery operation there are no trailing cables to trip over. Sitting down for a long time can be demanding, so do you have ergonomically designed music chairs to support your young musicians with the correct posture? 

  How was the staging? Many venues offer only a flat floor or stage, but this can be transformed by the use of risers. Risers can provide  three or four tiers which is great for choirs with everyone able to see and be seen and their music projected into the auditorium. What is really clever, the risers fold up to move and store away and great if your choir is visiting another venue. There are complete staging systems too that can be configured  to suit the available space.

Could everyone see the conductor? Ofen conductors struggle with wobbly podiums and inadequate music  stands. Yet there are perfectly affordable, dedicated conductors’ stands available to enable conductors to organise and store their sheet music. Elegant looking, robust conductors’ podiums are also available at surprisingly affordable prices.

Finally, how were things back stage? A portable make-up station is great for shows and concerts and how about costume storage racks to keep clothes tidy, ready for a quick change and not take up valuable space?

All these items and more can be supplied from    Black Cat Music products. Sign up to join their Education Discount Programme and qualify for a discount on future purchases of  Black Cat Music products. There is no fee to join, so call Freephone 0800 072 7799 or email sales@blackcatmusic.co.uk to join.

New to the Black Cat Music catalogue for 2016 is the Adjustable Orchestra Chair.

With seat and back upholstered in a business-like black fire resistant fabric and with co-ordinated matching black base, the new adjustable chair certainly looks professional. Adjustments can be made to basic parameters to suit individual musician’s personal requirements. Each leg can be individually adjusted in height and further adjustments allow the tilt of the seat and back to be fine tuned too, as well as vertically setting the preferred back height. Up to five chairs can be stacked for compact storage and there is even an under-seat music storage rack!

Speaking at the product’s launch, Managing Director, Alice Dagger said, “ Thanks to the very affordable price for our new   Adjustable Orchestra Chair, orchestra managers and music departments can now consider equipping the whole orchestra, whereas up until now often funds would only stretch to having a few such chairs.” Alice continued, “ Adjustment is very important to allow musicians to set the chair for personal comfort and good posture is an essential contributor to good health.” “We believe this new chair will be well received by orchestra managers and music departments alike.”

 November 22nd is St Cecilia’s Day. The patron saint of music is said to be one of the most famous of Roman martyrs whose feast has been celebrated since about the fourth century. Legend has it that St Cecilia was a noble lady of Rome who suffered martyrdom around the year 230.

Various music has been inspired by St Cecilia down the centuries from Gregorian chants to popular songs of today. So this Sunday, why not raise a salute to music’s patron saint and  sing along to this .. 

ENDS

 Finalists for the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence have just been announced where once again Black Cat Music and MusicPracticeRooms.com are sponsoring the Lifetime Achievement Award category.

Following a record number of nominations, the 59 finalists for the 2016 Music Teacher Awards for Excellence have been listed. The winners of the 11 award categories will be announced on 25 February 2016 – along with the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Music Teacher Magazine Editor’s Award – in a gala ceremony at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Kensington. The evening will feature music from the Locke Brass Consort, under the direction of Leslie Lake and a Yamaha music scholar, and will be hosted by Classic FM’s Margherita Taylor.

Alice Dagger, Managing Director of Black Cat Music said, “We are pleased to be again sponsoring the Lifetime Achievement Award at this important annual event.”

Alex Stevens, editor of Music Teacher magazine, says: “We are delighted to announce a very strong selection of shortlists for this year’s awards. It is inspiring to see how much hard work goes into music education in the UK, and we are excited to be able to recognise some of the teachers, schools and initiatives achieving excellence – often in challenging circumstances.” 

ENDS

Back from the recent ABRSM conference in London, Alice Dagger, Managing Director of Black Cat Music said, “The ABRSM conference was extremely well organised and offered us the chance to speak to music teachers and examiners alike - many were already familiar with Black Cat's products and services. Others who were not familiar with our acoustic services were very interested to learn about products such as our sound-isolating practice rooms.” 

Brigitte Downs, Sales Executive at Black Cat Music added, 'We enjoyed the ABRSM conference and it was a great opportunity to meet and chat to many of our customers”. The 2015 ABRSM conference concerned the broad range of skills that support musical performance.  The organisers described the event as offering “a wide range of practical and thought-provoking sessions for class, group and one-to-one lessons. Presenters introduced inspiring resources and gave interactive demonstrations to show how to use them effectively within your teaching.”

ABRSM is the UK’s largest music education body, one of its largest music publishers and the world’s leading provider of music exams, offering assessments to more than 630,000 candidates in 93 countries every year. ABRSM’s mission is to inspire achievement in music. In partnership with the Royal Schools of Music, it supports high-quality music-making and learning around the world offering pathways and resources for learners and teachers that help build musical skills, provide goals and encourage progress.

ENDS

Black Cat Music is currently promoting Wenger Tourmaster Choral Risers, which are subject to a 10 per cent discount for orders placed in November.
br> Tourmaster Choral Risers bring a professional look to performances and are ideal for choirs on tour as they are designed to fold away, roll into place and set up smoothly and easily. Tourmaster is easy to take up stairs, around tight corners, across the parking lot and load into a bus or van. Thanks to precision engineering and use of high quality materials Tourmaster risers will deliver reliable operation for a long, long time.
br> Tourmaster Choral Risers distributed by Black Cat Music are now backed by an impressive 15-year warranty on all new products sold. This exceptional  warranty demonstrates Wenger’s confidence in their choral risers that are already widely used and recommended by choirs everywhere. Tourmaster is a world leader.

ENDS

Tourmaster and Signature Choral Risers distributed by Black Cat Music are now backed by an impressive 15-year warranty on all new products sold.

This extended warranty demonstrates Wenger’s confidence in their choral risers that are already widely used and recommended by choirs everywhere. Signature risers with classic black styling benefit from safe, simple set up, lightweight handling, easy mobility and an integrated back rail with safety crossbar. They are strong and quiet in performance. Available in 3 – step or 4 – step models, configurations can be changed quickly and securely, or optional side rails added without the need for tools.  The patented fold-down design allows easy one person set up.

No other risers fold, roll, set up or travel as smoothly as Tourmaster Choral Risers. Easy to take up stairs, navigate round tight corners or load into vehicles for transport, the Tourmaster is a world leader. Precision engineering and use of top quality materials are reasons why these products now come with a 15-year warranty.

Watch Signature Choral Risers

ENDS

The Black Cat Music team will be heading to the ABRSM conference on 7th November at London’s Grange Tower Bridge Hotel.

The focus of the 2015 ABRSM conference is the broad range of skills that support musical performance.  The organisers say the event, “offers a wide range of practical and thought-provoking sessions for class, group and one-to-one lessons. Our presenters will introduce inspiring resources and give interactive demonstrations to show how to use them effectively within your teaching.”

Managing Director, Alice Dagger summed up Black Cat Music’s anticipation of the conference, saying, “We are looking forward to attending the ABRSM Conference, the splendid programme of events and making contact with conference delegates.” Further details are on the ARBSM web site. 

ABRSM is the UK’s largest music education body, one of its largest music publishers and the world’s leading provider of music exams, offering assessments to more than 630,000 candidates in 93 countries every year. ABRSM’s mission is to inspire achievement in music. In partnership with the Royal Schools of Music, it supports high-quality music-making and learning around the world offering pathways and resources for learners and teachers that help build musical skills, provide goals and encourage progress. 

ENDS

Black Cat Music has a message for choirs, music groups, orchestras and schools planning Christmas concerts, that now is a good time to consider ordering music folders customised with the music group’s own name, a crest or logo.

Managing Director, Alice Dagger talking about Black Cat Music’s popular range of music folders explained, “Musical groups might like to know that Black Cat Music offer a gold-blocking service on all of our choral and orchestral folders, so you can add your logo or school crest to the front of the folder. We can also add gold-blocked lettering, and many customers choose to gold-block the instrument name or number in the corner of the music folder. Our choir folders and band folders from Black Cat Music are elegant, high-quality music folders to help you organise your sheet music. Whether you belong to a professional orchestra, chorus, school band or church choir, our choral and orchestral folders will give a sense of identity to your music group.”

Alice continued, “If your choir, music group or school has previously ordered music or choral folders with your own crest or logo from Black Cat Music, now is also a good time to order extra copies ready for the Christmas concert season. When we create a die to imprint your crest on music folders using our traditional gold-blocking technique we keep the die ready for future use. Just give us a call if you need to add to your set of folders.”

The visual impact created by a set of smart new matching music folders gives a great identity to an 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 music and keeping it together. There is a choice of 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.

Black Cat Music’s customers just love our music folders, especially when gold-blocked with the name and crest of their choir, band or orchestra. So much so that many write to tell us how delighted they are when they open the parcel and see their new folders for the first time. Jim Jefferson of Barrow Steelworks Band contacted us to say, 'The Band were delighted with the music folders.' The Orchestrate Project told us, “Received our shipment of orchestral music folders from Black Cat Music. They look stunning!” Kristen Callaway of Wimbledon High School says, “The orchestra folders have arrived safely and are great - thanks so much! “Order arrived today safe and well. The folders look great. Many thanks.” says Chris Stone from Thornden Community Wind Band. “Our fabulous performance folders have arrived in time for Friday's concert; thanks, Black Cat Music,” the Cecilian Choir at the University of Kent told us. “Just to say thank you for all your help and support with this order which we received last week,” says Frances Belamy of St Peter's Catholic School. And a final word from Jo Black, St. Mary's School Calne Opera Ensemble. “The Opera Ensemble was very happy with their music folders, so thank you very much for them.”

“It’s always encouraging to hear from our customers and how pleased they are with their gold-blocked music folders,” concluded Alice Dagger. “Customised music folders will certainly add to the presentation of your music group – why not contact us now and discuss how we can make you look special in concert this Christmas.”