“Music has the power to excite and enrich all our lives. It is vital that we give young people the chance to experience this magic first hand”

 David Lammy, Minister for Culture, Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

When teaching brass, guitar or drums in schools, we aim to create and support group activities. These groups could perform together on a weekly basis or performances could be reserved for special occasions like Christmas, Easter or end of the school year.

Examinations

London College of Music exams on April 14th in Dromore.

We regularly enter pupils for exams, this is not obligatory but we do encourage pupils to take advantage of the opportunity. It gives them something to work towards as well as a great sense of achievement. We use the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music, the London College of Music, Trinity Guildhall and Rockschool examinations. This provides a wide range of musical styles and offers great flexibility for our pupils.

Recent examinations proved successful yet again, with lots of pupils receiving excellent marks. In particular, Matthew Burke and Zoe Bingham achieving a Distinction at grade 2 guitar and Alice McClintock achieving Distinction at grade 5 ABRSM theory.

London College of Music Charity Concert

Each year, selected pupils perform at the LCM concert in Dromore. This year a number of pupils impressed the audience with a variety of performances. Four pianists played at the concert, Rose Gray performed a grade 1 piece, Gavotte, with great confidence and Jemma Clarke played a grade 2 piece, Ecossoise, with perfection. This was followed by a rousing performance of Cha Cha Cha by Amy Hill and the evening finished for us with Brittany Sayers and her very impressive Allegretto, a grade 6 piece. During the course of the evening the audience was also entertained by both Aaron Duggan and Christopher Sayers on Electric guitars playing along to backing tracks. A delightful change within the concert. All six pupils were great representatives for Banbridge School of Music, well done and thanks for all your hard work!

Portadown Festival/Newry Feis

A number of our pupils from Abercorn, Edenderry, Killylea and Bridge Integrated Primary School participated in Portadown Music Festival and Newry Feis on piano and brass, winning two silver medals, a bronze and five certificates of commendation.

Also in the Portadown Festival, Ballydown Primary samba band achieved third place in the open section and the school guitar group were awarded first place in the Guitar Ensemble section playing Brother Jack. Have a listen to Richie’s arrangement below. This  guitar group took part in a trip to Scotland on an Ulster-Scots exchange where they performed in a series of concerts. 

Brother Jack arrangement