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Music performance equipment on show at Musikschulkongress Mainz

Black Cat Music Europe will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of equipment for music, performance, practice and theatre at Musikschulkongress 2011 taking place at the Congress Centrum Mainz, 20th to 22nd May.

Performance equipment including examples of music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders will be on show. In addition Black Cat Music Europe offer a range of theatre products embracing staging, tiered audience seating, make-up stations, costume racks and instrument storage cabinets. Black Cat Music Europe is the Master Distributor in Europe and Russia for Wenger Corporation - a company widely recognised as world leaders in fully guaranteed staging and music performance equipment.

New at the show are Music Practice Rooms offering an affordable and flexible solution to noise problems in schools. Music Practice Rooms allow music teachers and students to rehearse within a controlled environment that minimises the acoustic impact upon other classes. The flexibility of the modular design permits Music Practice Rooms to be configured to fit available spaces.

Expert staff, experienced at advising and supplying equipment for the diverse needs of performers, technicians, architects, events companies and teachers will be available on the stand to demonstrate products and provide advice. Whether looking for musical performance equipment, event staging, audience and performance seating, theatre equipment or acoustic solutions, Black Cat Music Europe can provide high-quality equipment, which is as durable as it is elegant and easy to use.



Black Cat Music at MMA Conference

Reporting on the MMA Conference 2011 that took place at King’s College and St. John’s College Cambridge, 20th to 22nd May, Alice Dagger of Black Cat Music says, “We're delighted with the success of the conference. There has been a great response from Music Directors, both to our music performance equipment and to our new music practice rooms by MusicPracticeRooms.com, which is excellent news. We've also enjoyed the venue and the opportunity to visit Cambridge. I particularly enjoyed the Evensong and dinner at St. John's College.”

Performance equipment including examples of music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders was on show. In addition Black Cat Music offer a range of theatre products embracing staging, tiered audience seating, pit filler staging, make-up stations, costume racks and stage boxes. Black Cat Music is the Master Distributor in the UK and Ireland for Wenger Corporation a company widely recognised as world leaders in fully guaranteed staging and music performance equipment.

New at the show were Music Practice Rooms offering an affordable and flexible solution to noise problems in schools. Music Practice Rooms allow music teachers and students to rehearse within a controlled environment that minimises the acoustic impact upon other classes. The flexibility of the modular design permits Music Practice Rooms to be configured to fit available spaces.



Flipform delights The Granville School

The Granville School has a rich heritage of performing arts and offers a varied and extensive programme of Drama and Music.

“To compliment our equipment I was looking for innovative, well-priced, flexible options,” Kate Brown, Speech and Drama at The Granville School explained, “and was delighted to come across the Wenger Flipform sold by Black Cat Music. Comprehensive pictures, dimensions and price details were on their web site and I was invited to visit the Black Cat Music showroom outside Tunbridge Wells. Being able to see the Flipform in its different positions, feel the weight of it and the ease with which it moves on wheels confirmed that it was the right equipment for The Granville.”

Flipform is designed to turn classrooms into exciting educational environments. They flip into whatever shape is called for and go wherever needed. Manufactured from moulded, high-density polyethylene making them virtually indestructible, Flipforms are available with a choice of blue, red, yellow, green or grey top with a grey base, or black top with a black base.

Kate Brown continued, “Black Cat Music also recommended a set of three stage boxes of various sizes that make valued additions to the Flipforms. These pieces are used at The Granville School constantly, in many different contexts both in the classroom and on stage. The variety of levels and shapes it is possible to configure offers all the creative flexibility required to meet our performance and teaching needs and, most importantly, the children love using them.”

Music practice rooms join extensive range of performance equipment at FMS event

Black Cat Music will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of equipment for music, performance, practice and theatre at the FMS Conference 2011 taking place at in Manchester, 17th and 18th June.

New at the show are Music Practice Rooms offering an affordable and flexible solution to noise problems in schools. Music Practice Rooms [www.musicpracticerooms.com] allow music teachers and students to rehearse within a controlled environment that minimises the acoustic impact upon other classes. The flexibility of the modular design permits Music Practice Rooms to be configured to fit available spaces.

Performance equipment including examples of music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders will be on show. In addition Black Cat Music offer a range of theatre products embracing tiered audience seating, pit filler staging, make-up stations, costume racks and stage boxes. Black Cat Music is the Master Distributor in the UK and Ireland for Wenger Corporation a company widely recognised as world leaders in fully guaranteed staging and music performance equipment.

Staff, experienced at advising and supplying equipment for the diverse needs of performers, technicians, architects, events companies and teachers will be available on the stand to demonstrate products and provide advice. Whether looking for musical performance equipment, event staging, audience and performance seating, theatre equipment or acoustic solutions, Black Cat Music can provide high-quality equipment, which is as durable as it is elegant and easy to use.



Black Cat Music exhibit at Luxembourg choir competition

Black Cat Music recently exhibited at the Tour des Mélodies choir competition organised by the INECC (L’institut Européen de Chant Choral) as a celebration of singing and choirs in Luxembourg.

A variety of music and performance equipment products were on show, ranging from choral and orchestral music folders to staging for choirs, choral risers, conductor’s stands, podiums and music stands. With the choral competition attracting more than 1,000 singers including groups, ensembles and solo performers singing music of many era, from medieval and baroque through to modern day, it was a full day of competition from 9 o’clock in the morning until midnight at the Centre Cultural de Rencontres in the Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg where the event was staged.

Brigitte Downs, Sales Executive at Black Cat Music, reported: ‘We thoroughly enjoyed the event and were most impressed by the standard of singing. Our products, especially our choir folders and our Tourmaster choral riser, were well received in Luxembourg and we received lots of enquiries from choir conductors and singing teachers’.



Tempo chair – ergonomically designed for comfort

The Tempo chair is ergonomically designed to provide musicians with a comfortable seated position, even during long performances and rehearsals. It can also be adapted in height and angle to suit every musician’s individual requirements.

The result of much research and study, the Tempo chair benefits from a number of built in adjustments allowing each musician to set up the chair to suit their own preferences for height, tilt and back support. Seat height can be set with front and back pairs of legs independently adjusted quickly and quietly without even needing to put the musical instrument down. Mid back lumbar support helps with good posture ensuring maximum opening of the airways, which is a particular advantage for wind players. A slight curve in back support offers comfort in a range of straight and rotated positions. The upholstered seat is cleverly designed with a ‘waterfall’ front section that prevents restriction of the blood supply to the lower legs that can otherwise be a cause of discomfort.

As might be expected for a Black Cat product, manufacturing quality is high with a strong, durable tubular steel frame with black powder coat, scratch resistant finish. And when it comes to putting the chairs away they are designed to be stacked six high and can be transported on a move and store cart. A video showing the Tempo chair being put through its paces can be viewed on the Black Cat Music YouTube channel.



Feedback was ‘music to our ears’ for Black Cat at FMS event

Black Cat Music exhibited a comprehensive range of equipment for music, performance, practice and theatre at the FMS Conference 2011 in Manchester on the 17th and 18th June. Marketing manager, Alice Dagger (pictured) said, "It was good to meet face-to-face some of the customers we speak to regularly on the phone, and we received some excellent feedback on our products. Our Classic 50 Music Stand in particular remains very popular with Music Schools and Services, which was music to our ears".

"The interest in our new products especially our Music Practice Rooms was very welcome, and it was great to see all the FMS delegates again." said manager Teresa Rogers commenting on the event. Music Practice Rooms allow music teachers and students to rehearse within a controlled environment that minimises the acoustic impact upon other classes. The flexibility of the modular design permits Music Practice Rooms to be configured to fit available spaces.

Performance equipment including examples of music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders were on show. In addition Black Cat Music offer a range of theatre products embracing tiered audience seating, pit filler staging, make-up stations, costume racks and stage boxes. Black Cat Music is the Master Distributor in the UK and Ireland for Wenger Corporation a company widely recognised as world leaders in fully guaranteed staging and music performance equipment.

Staff, experienced at advising and supplying equipment for the diverse needs of performers, technicians, architects, events companies and teachers were available on the stand to demonstrate products and provide advice. Whether looking for musical performance equipment, event staging, audience and performance seating, theatre equipment or acoustic solutions, Black Cat Music can provide high-quality equipment, which is as durable as it is elegant and easy to use.



Knighton Chamber Orchestra pleased with Black Cat Music purchases and service

Knighton Chamber Orchestra recently purchased several music equipment products from the Black Cat Music range.

Conductor, Paul Jenkins expressed his pleasure with the new purchases, saying, "In the Knighton Chamber Orchestra we are very pleased with the orchestra lights, conductor’s stand and acoustic shield we have purchased from Black Cat Music." Paul went on to say, "The service is always prompt and professional and the staff seem to understand the urgency of some orders to meet performance deadlines. In conclusion I would recommend the products and service of Black Cat Music to anyone."

In addition to the products supplied to the Knighton Chamber Orchestra, Black Cat Music offer a comprehensive range of music equipment including music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders. There is also a range of theatre products embracing staging, tiered audience seating, pit filler staging, make-up stations, costume racks and stage boxes.



Classic 50 Music Stands fully live up to expectations for Havering Music School

When Isobel Liebmann, Principal of Havering Music noticed the Classic 50 in the Black Cat Music catalogue, she realized this could be the answer to a problem the school had been experiencing with music stands.

Isobel Liebmann explained, “We were disillusioned with the fold up metal stands which seemed to break, collapse and need replacing regularly. We also found they disappeared! We were looking for something sturdy, easy to use, but not easy to lose”. Thanks to the catalogue which she described as “clear with photographs that gave a good representation of the size and style of the stands,” a batch of Classic 50s were soon on their way to Havering.

Asked how the school was getting on with the Classic 50s, she said, “We were talking about this the other day and came to the conclusion that they are probably the best investment we ever made. They have lived up to our expectations in every way - they are easy to move up and down, child friendly, stable and durable - and the bonus is that our banners sit on them beautifully without causing them to topple. The trolleys are also excellent; they store ten stands neatly and are very easy to wheel around with a full load - good for transporting on the van when we take equipment out to concert venues. We have only had one breakage in over ten years and when we reported this, we were sent a replacement top for the stand within days”.

Not only are Havering Music School delighted with their Classic 50 stands, but thanks to their recommendation other schools are now also equipped with the popular Classic 50 Music Stands. Tough enough to handle the hardships of regular classroom use thanks to a formula of advanced polymers offering inherent tensile strength that will not bend or dent like metal stands, the Classic 50 is elegantly designed to be quiet and rattle-free during performances. 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. When the performance, rehearsal or class is over, stands can be stacked on the easy to load Move & Store Cart for transport and convenient, compact storage.



Black Cat Music attend abcdConvention

Members of the Black Cat Music team attended the abcd 25th Anniversary Annual Convention that took place at the Birmingham Conservatoire over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

The organizers explained, “We're celebrating not only our quarter century, but also our place in the world, our country and our region. We will be experiencing Birmingham's own contribution to choral music … including the first performance of renowned composer Kerry Andrew's new choral work, commissioned specially for this anniversary.

Robert Dagger, Chairman of Black Cat Music said, "It was great to meet so many choral directors who are really passionate about inspiring good singing and getting the best out of their choirs. We were particularly delighted to receive so much positive feedback on our products, such as the Wenger Tourmaster choral risers and the Jazz Music Stand, from people who really care about the quality of their musical performance." The easiest-to-move, easiest-to-set-up riser on the market, the Tourmaster goes anywhere and now Wenger are so confident of the quality of both Tourmaster and Signature choral risers they come with an impressive 15 year warranty.

"We enjoyed the weekend and were even able to take part in one or two of the singing sessions. It was good to meet so many talented musicians under one roof. There was a real buzz about the event" said Alice Dagger, Marketing Manager, Black Cat Music, summing up the convention.