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The Black Cat Music team will be attending the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association Annual Conference at Torquay in May. Conference delegates are invited to drop by the Black Cat Music exhibition stand where examples from their comprehensive range of music education and performance equipment will be on display.

The 2013 ISBA annual conference will take place at the Riviera International Conference Centre (RICC) in Torquay from Wednesday 8th May - Thursday 9th May. The ISBA hosts an annual members only two-day conference every year in May. The event, which is held in selected locations throughout the UK, attracts some 400 bursars and senior management staff from member schools and around 100 exhibitors.

Janet Parr has plenty of hands-on experience with the Wenger Classic 50 music stands from Black Cat Music, so we asked how they measured up against other stands on the market.

“Why buy any other music stand other than the Classic 50 ?“ Janet asked, “They are indestructible as far as I see!“ She went on to explain why. “We have had them at Colchester Institute for a number of years, amongst other stands, and only the Black Cat stands are as good as new. All the others have broken or lost screws, suffer from rust problems, are bent so you can't change the height without suffering from RSI, or have so many bits missing they no longer have any use as a music stand. The Black Cat stand however stills changes height and keeps it, still tips ready to be a conductor’s stand and looks as good as new.”

Janet Parr continued, “The Essex Youth Orchestra caught onto the idea and now have their own set! I'm not sure how long they've had them, but they get taken on foreign tours each year, are used in frequent rehearsals and concerts and they all still work! Of course I have my own Black Cat stand which seems to disappear when my husband needs a conductor’s stand and I'm left with a substandard model which has great big holes in the music rest part. Who would design a stand that has holes in it! When you use a pencil to write on the music it goes straight through puncturing your music and when the sun shines, it shines through the music so you can't read it! Give me back my Black Cat which passes both these tests perfectly.I honestly think there isn't a stand to beat it.”

Congratulations to The Ladies Association of the British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) on retaining their title at the European Female Chorus Championship which was held March 14th to 17th at The Koningshof in Veldhoven, Netherlands.

Marion Morley from LABBS speaking to Alice Dagger, marketing manager for Black Cat Music, said, “It was a fantastic international convention hosted by Holland Harmony. The Ladies Association of the British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) are delighted to announce that they retained the championship.”

“Congratulations also to The Mix - a new champion European female quartet . All-in-all the event was a great celebration of female choruses!”

Black Cat Music is offering Wenger all black Bravo Music Stands at a reduced price throughout April.

The Bravo Music Stand is designed and engineered to high quality standards to provide a long, trouble-free life. 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. Wenger’s premier heavy-duty stand usually retails at £69.60, but can now be owned for £62.64 plus VAT and delivery.

Full details and the offer which applies to the black stand and black base versions is published on Black Cat Music web site.

We announced that visitors to the MusicPracticeRooms.com stand at Music Education Expo last week, would not only see a fully functioning sound isolating music practice room, but be able to try it out and even buy the very same room at a special ex-demo price. And first in line were Surrey Arts, eager to make the purchase on opening day.

The facility to dismantle and reassemble the sound isolating room in a new location proved interesting to a number of visitors to the show, including Surrey Arts and we shall be following the story as the room heads off to Surrey.

MusicPracticeRooms.com specialise in the supply and installation of sound-isolating rooms which provide the ideal rehearsal space for musicians and singers and also make excellent recording studios. The modular design allows for a wide range of sizes, suitable for a solo singer up to a room large enough to accommodate a choir or a band. As the ability to set up an example room at the show demonstrated, the rooms can be relocated as space requirements and priorities change.

Peter Dunkley was the winner of the Music Teacher Lifetime Achievement Awards, sponsored jointly by Black Cat Music and MusicPracticeRooms.com

Peter, retired Chief Executive of Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Service told Black Cat Music that he was very honoured to receive the award presented by Guy Dagger, managing director of the sponsoring companies. He went on to pay tribute to the two other nominees – Adrian Brown and Atarah Ben-Tovim – and explained that the award was not the work of just one person, but thanks were due to all the support he had received in a lifetime in music. An interest that continues into retirement in working to continue to provide “opportunities in music for young people.”

The first ever Music Teacher Awards for Excellence were created by Rhinegold Publishing and Music Teacher magazine to celebrate excellence in the UK’s music education sector and to recognise the projects, organisations and products that are contributing the most to the development of music education in the UK. The Lifetime Award was for the individual who has made a seminal contribution to music education. The winners were selected from a pre-announced shortlist by an experienced panel of music educators, chaired by Christopher Walters, editor of Music Teacher magazine.

The awards ceremony and gala evening was hosted by Classic FM presenter Margherita Taylor, and attended by 180 guests from across the music education sector.