Black Cat at ISM’s Going for Gold conference

Alice Dagger at the ISM conference.

Martin Loft on the Black Cat stand at the ISM 'Going for Gold' Conference.

The Black Cat team exhibited at the ISM 'Going for Gold' Conference 2012 showcasing some exciting new products and offering a special discount on Black Cat products to ISM delegates. 

Martin Loft (pictured on the Black Cat stand) congratulated the organisers on an interesting conference programme including some great live music. 

This year's annual conference held at LSO St Luke's and Guildhall School of Music & Drama (13 and 14 April) was described as “a hugely enjoyable event with performance at its heart.” 

The ISM holds a unique position, with its membership reflecting the broad spectrum of activity in professional music making, composing and performing, along with those directly involved in music education at all levels, from nursery to conservatoire and university. The ISM conference is an essential calendar event. 

This year's conference celebrated aspiration and achievement through a wide variety of thought-provoking talks, debate and live music, including legendary conductor Sir Colin Davis in conversation with journalist and writer Richard Morrison, a concert celebrating 100 years of jazz composer/arranger Gil Evans by the Guildhall Jazz Band, Professor John Irving’s talk on Mozart and a masterclass with Guildhall students led by soprano Amanda Roocroft. 

Additional discount on Classic 50 music stands

During April, Black Cat Music is offering an additional 5 per cent discount on their best selling Classic 50 music stands. Quantity discount breaks allow purchase prices as low as £38.00. Schools and colleges looking to equip with new music stands designed for robust and regular handling can take advantage of this great offer throughout April. 

Already a top seller, the popular Classic 50 Music Stand is 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. 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.comFor full details on the April offer can be found on the Black Cat Music web site. 

Music Practice Rooms are ‘spot on’ for Lancaster and Morecambe College

Lancaster and Morecambe College discovered that by installing three Music Practice Rooms, the college not only made more effective use of available space, but was able to reach out to support musicians in the local community. 

Head of Music at Lancaster and Morecambe College, Pete French explained that “this is only the third year we have been running this course and we required proper facilities. There was a need for music practice rooms because we had facilities that were a little bit outdated and we wanted something new to accommodate the new course that we are building on.” Describing the new suite of music practice rooms supplied and installed by Black Cat Music he said, “the facility used to be a lecture theatre, it was just one space we could use, fortunately now we've got three spaces. The music practice rooms are being used every day with all three year groups time tabled in, so they are getting maximum use. We also have some work with an outside community organisation called ‘More Music in Morecambe’ who are now hiring them out on a Tuesday night, so we are getting use in the evenings as well, not just in the daytimes.” The opportunity for other local musicians to hire the facilities is also important for the college within the community. 

The rooms, from MusicPracticeRooms.com , use a prefabricated panel design that is affordable, easy to install and allows rooms to be custom configured to suit available space. “We are very happy having them here,” continued Pete French. “After the college had planned how we were going to use the existing space they built in the floor plinth in what was the old lecture theatre and got the maximum use of space available. Black Cat Music then came up and erected the music practice rooms in a pretty short period of time, last summer. The service we got from Black Cat was absolutely spot on,” said Pete. “The music practice rooms have changed the whole nature of the course, because they are so sound-proofed. Before we had a big echoing lecture theatre, now we have three contained spaces. The students love them and yes, they work very effectively.” 

“We found out about MusicPracticeRoms.com on the Internet. We got prices from several other possibilities, some of which were a lot more than Black Cat Music, which came out the best in terms of overall cost.” Information and technical specifications for Music Practice Rooms can be found at MusicPracticeRooms.com or by contacting MPR on 0844 846 9740 for a free consultation. 

Lana is Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year 2012

Judge Ruth Gerald, third place winner Kristina
Greally, winner Lana Trimmer, runner up
Laure Chan and judge William Bruce.

Black Cat Music would like to congratulate Lana Trimmer for winning the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year competition 2012.  Lana is a highly talented violinist from Clifton College, Bristol.  Our congratulations also to all the competitors, who achieved a superb standard of performance in the competition.


Fifteen year old Lana began learning the violin with Bristol Suzuki at the age of 3 and, at 7, won a place at the RCM Junior Department to study with Marius Bedeschi, and did very well in the Hugh Bean Competition. Continuing studies at Guildhall SMD, Lana also gained success in a competition in Italy. At Clifton College she obtained Grade 8 Distinction aged 10 but then changed to viola! In 2009 Lana took up the violin again, with Mr Bedeschi and has enjoyed successes - winning the King Thelma Award at Bath, the ‘overall best performer’ in South Glamorgan and in 2011 winning both the Bristol Rotary and Bath Young Musician of the Year competitions. She loves fashion and shopping!

Haydn's Scherzandi & Notturni is much enjoyed

Black Cat Music enjoyed listening to the Haydn's Society's rendition of Haydn's Scherzandi & Notturni. 

Sevenoaks Young Musician event is on Sunday

Black Cat Music and MusicPracticeRooms.com are looking forward with anticipation to the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year Competition 2012 which takes place this Sunday 11th March at The Stag Community Theatre in Sevenoaks. The event starts at 10.30 am, concluding with Presentations at about 5.45 pm. 

Marketing Manager, Alice Dagger said, “ We are delighted to have the opportunity to be involved with the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year Competition and wish all the participants the very best of luck for what we a sure will be a wonderful musical occasion for both performers and audience.” 

Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year is a competition open to instrumentalists aged 21 years and under and with a minimum Grade 8. The final heats of the competition take place on Sunday when the Sevenoaks District Arts Council presents the winner with a Silver Memorial Medal in memory of June Clements who founded the competition in 1995. 

Tonbridge based Black Cat Music supplies a comprehensive range of equipment for music, performance, practice and theatre including music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders. In addition there is a range of theatre products embracing staging, tiered audience seating, make-up stations, costume racks and instrument storage cabinets. MusicPracticeRooms.com supplies sound-isolating, modular Music Practice Rooms for schools, recording studios and for home use. MusicPracticeRooms.com is proud to offer superb acoustic performance at an affordable price, enabling musicians to rehearse and perform in controlled acoustic environments. 

New brighter music stand lights from Black Cat Music

During March Black Cat Music is offering an additional 5% discount on the top selling Mighty Bright Duet 2 music stand lights. Dual LEDs provide smooth illumination across two sheets of music and the good news is these light bulbs never need replacement. Cool to touch and battery powered with no trailing wires, they are very safe to use. 

Utilising two fully adjustable LED head units, the Duet 2 can evenly light two pages of music thanks to optical grade lenses that avoid any hot spots. The new Duet 2 is twice as bright as the previous model and offers four selectable light levels. Sensor switch operation allows, one, or both LEDs to be turned on with just a gentle tap. An extra strong clip attaches the Duet 2 to any music stand and with two flexible arms, the lighting heads can be fully adjusted as required, or bent to a compact position for ease of storage. 

Three AAA size batteries offer up to 20 hours continuous operation. Alternatively an optional AC adaptor additionally allows a series of Duet 2 units to be connected together for lighting control for band or orchestral users. 

Full details of this offer are published on the Black Cat Music web site.