Calais based customer Monique Stern was not only delighted with her new Wenger Nota conBRIO chair, but fully apppreciated the total buying experience from Black Cat Music. Monique says, “I have now had my chair for a couple of weeks and it really is above my expectations. It is very comfortable and compliments my interior design. I am thoroughly pleased with my purchase.” She added, “I particularly would like you to know how much I appreciated your patience and availability in answering all my questions and queries and the general good customer care you showed to my regard.” The Wenger Nota conBRIO chair available from Black Cat Music is built on a dynamic, flexible frame that encourages and supports a musician’s natural movement. It was developed following years of discussions with educators and musicians who were looking to progress the functionality of existing music posture chairs. The dynamic frame encourages and supports the musician’s natural movement and promotes the engagement of the musician’s entire body in the musical performance. It also further enhances the chair’s ability to mimic a standing posture - the posture that is the strongest and most supportive - when in a seated position.
A new web site just launched by Black Cat Acoustics provides authorative guidance to steer anyone experiencing noise problems quickly towards pin-pointing a solution.
The web site has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible. There is a section which deals with common noise problems and their solutions, and includes some useful illustrative diagrams. But most important of all you are just one click away from expert help. Because schools can be particularly prone to acoustic problems, the new web site dedicates a section offering helpful information and a “speak to the experts” button.
If preventing noise related nuisance is the issue, then sound isolated music practice rooms can provide the answer. And while visiting that part of the site check out the videos to discover the other benefits these custom built self-contained, air-conditioned acoustic spaces provide for the musicians, not to mention the improved utilisation of space.
For stages and concert halls where the challenge is to improve the acoustics within the auditorium, then the Wenger range of acoustic shells will probably fit the bill.
Packed with useful information, example case studies, video demonstrations and user testimonials www.blackcatacoustics.co.uk is a ‘must bookmark’ web site for anyone with noise problems or seeking a better acoustc environment.
New from Black Cat Music this month is a dual-headed, bright white LED light that simply clips on to any music stand to provide even illumination of sheet music. The adjustable twin goose-neck lighting heads pack the illuminating power of 4 bright white LEDs that thanks to economic operation give extra long battery life. Supplied complete with 3 x AAA batteries the stand light is ready to use straight out of the box. And there is also the alternative option of using the included USB power cable supplied in the pack. Normally sold at £11.99 plus VAT, as a special introductory offer and for November only, Black Cat Music currently has the new LED music stand lights on offer at just £9.99 plus VAT and delivery. A great time to brighten up the orchestra at an affordable price before the Christmas shows season.
Black Cat Music will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of equipment for professional orchestras at the German Orchestra Day (Deutscher Orchestertag) taking place at the Umweltforum Berlin Auferstehungskirche, 4th and 5th November. Deutscher Orchestertag is the annual conference for German orchestra managers and Dirk Rueter and Dietmar Auris will be attending the event representing Black Cat Music. Dirk said “I look forward to going to Deutscher Orchestertag once again this year. It will be a pleasure to see some familiar faces and to sit in on the conference, which is always informative and enjoyable. We will again be demonstrating our superb quality music performance equipment and representing the world-renowned Wenger brand.” Examples of performance equipment from the range of music stands, orchestral chairs, staging, choral risers, conductor’s equipment and music folders will be on show. In addition Black Cat Music offers 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. Also being presented 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 professional musicians to rehearse within a controlled environment that minimises the acoustic impact upon those around them. The flexibility of the modular design permits Music Practice Rooms to be configured to fit available spaces. Dirk Rueter and Dietmar Auris 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.
The Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the inaugural Music Teacher Awards & Gala evening, will be sponsored by Black Cat Music and partner company MusicPracticeRooms.com Announcing the sponsorship tie in, Black Cat Music’s marketing manager Alice Dagger said, “We are delighted to be involved with this exciting new event and providing the Lifetime Achievement Award, in addition to being Platinum Sponsors of the associated Music Education Expo 2013 event at London’s Barbican venue on 20/21 March 2013.” The Music Education Awards & Gala dinner is organized by the publishers of Music Teachermagazine to celebrate excellence within the UK’s music education scene and takes place on the evening of the 20th March in the Barbican’s Conservatory and Garden Room. The event organisers will be seeking award nominations from the national music education sector. A carefully selected and impartial judging panel will manage the judging process for the awards, selecting finalists and winners from all the nominations submitted for the categories that have been identified by the Awards team, with each recognising exceptional achievement within its own particular arena.
Black Cat Music has recently installed a music practice room at Trent College for use as a dedicated percussion room in their existing music school. This new facility now allows the percussion teacher to hold lessons without disturbing other music lessons taking place in the rest of the music building.
Director of Music, Steven Henderson said, “Music at Trent College is growing and changing quickly. Arriving as Director of Music this year, I have brought a new approach to Ensembles and to the organisation of the Music School. Our percussion department have ambition but were held back by how much their ensemble rehearsals affected everyone else. Our new dedicated percussion room from Black Cat Music was assembled quickly and fitted within our existing building, so the percussionists were soon able to start more demanding work in a space all of their own. The previous problems of rehearsal space and sound disruption were improved straight away.”
Trent College is delighted with the sound isolating qualities of the new room, a view shared by many others who have invested in music practice rooms. At 6m x 4.8m the new structure is the largest single sound isolation room Black Cat Music has installed so far in what has become a rapidly expanding estate that already spans the length and breadth of the country. In the North West, Lancaster and Morecambe College discovered that by installing three music practice rooms, the college was able to make much more effective use of the space available to the music department. Head of Music Pete French explained, “The music practice rooms are being used every day. We are very happy having them.” Meanwhile, on the South coast, Youth Development Worker James Brill was delighted with the two music practice rooms that were installed at Hollington Youth Centre, Hastings, East Sussex. “We offer young people the chance to engage in music. My main concern was noise pollution and complaints from the neighbours and community.” James added, “Now we have absolutely no problems with the sound. The sound-proofing is absolutely second to none – fantastic.”
Black Cat Music’s sound-isolating music practice rooms offer a solution that controls noise at source, providing an ideal rehearsal space for musicians and singers. The modular design allows for a wide range of sizes to accommodate musicians from a solo singer to a choir or a band. The rooms can be relocated, if and when major changes in use and allocation of space are planned. For comfort and to create a pleasant environment, the rooms are supplied fitted with integral lighting and fan-assisted ventilation. Thanks to balanced internal acoustics they also make excellent recording studios with high sound quality. Teachers and students can now practise within controlled conditions whilst minimising the impact upon those going about their day-to-day activities.
Returning from the NAME National Conference 2012 at Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire last weekend, marketing manager Alice Dagger said, "It was great to meet some familiar and some new faces in music education. I managed to attend a couple of talks and learnt a lot about how music educationalists are working together nationwide to give young people the best possible musical education." Black Cat Music’s Brigitte Downs added, "We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Many thanks to all who were involved in organising the conference."
The NAME National Conference 2012, “Crossing Frontiers in Music Education” aimed at music teaching professionals, opened Friday 5th October at Yarnfield Park Conference Centre, Stone, Staffordshire. Training, development and critical debate were on the agenda at a time the organisers describe as one of “dramatic change.”
