Our latest Solo Concert at St John's in Lichfield was a wonderful evening of music making in the most beautiful little chapel on their premises. The acoustics are ever so wonderful and the size was just right for our young players. We had a mix of violin, piano and cello performances and a lovey little social get together afterwards over drinks and biscuits in their community room. This connection was made because one of their residents heard us busking and asked us to come and play :-)
This year's Lichfield Greenhill Bower also had us play on the Community stage in the afternoon, following the Parade. On such a lovely day it was a great experience - for some of the children the first time they played on an open air stage with monitors and everyone stepped up to the occasion. People enjoyed our set and we were even asked to play Happy Birthday for a member of the audience - which we happily did to celebrate their special day! We have already been invited back for next year :-)
Tremendous congratulations to Grace who got awarded a distinction in her recent grade 8 violin exam.
She played Bach, Brahms and Haydn all beautifully with such a high level of accuracy and musicianship and it was a pleasure to have guided her over the years from her very first lesson as a Pre-Twinkler to this monumental achievement.
Well done Grace - everyone is super proud! Make sure you go and celebrate :-)
Congratulations to Alex A for a wonderful performance at the Bromsgrove young musician's platform. A very big stage, no parents allowed and a full size concert grand piano to be accompanied on and you took it all in your stride!
Very positive, constructive feedback - and Alex very much enjoyed her performance Well done!
This year NBSS participated for the first time in the Lichfield Greenhill Bower. Our entry was named Bach to the Future and everyone dressed up as musicians through the ages. With a fully decorated float (aka Vijay's car) we won second prize and then walked the whole parade (over 2.5 miles) while playing our repertoire! The day was sunny, the twon was packed, it was epic!
The Baroque Rock Concert was a huge success and everyone enjoyed our renditions of Metallica, Coldplay and Green Day. We will definitely keep these pieces in our repertoire! It was a great opportunity for the kids to play different repertoire than usual and a learning curve to be accompanied by Rock Band!
We recently went to Tim Toft Violins again to purchase some more advanced instruments for some of our pupils. It is always a pleasure to be there and try the lovely violins and we came home with two beautifully sounding 4/4 violins and a fabulous 3/4 violin. We are also pleased that one 1/2 violin was passed on to another pupil to stay in the school!
NBSS had a wonderful time at Leamington Spa Music Festival, this year held at Warwick Prep School. Our ensembles won every trophy there was to win in the large group classes and chamber music classes with their beautiful performances and great team work. There were also lots of wonderful solos which got awarded numerous second and third prizes for beautiful tone and great musicianship.
"Where love is deep, much can be accomplished."
Shinichi Suzuki, Nurtured by Love: The Classic Approach to Talent Education