The Summer Concert was held at Stewarton Academy on Friday 18th June 2010. The concert featured the Primary 7 Band, conducted by Mr J Banes, the Jazz Band, conducted by Mrs J O'Connor and the Junior and Senior Wind Ensembles, conducted by Mr Alan Friel. Kirsten Beveridge performed a saxaphone solo and Matthew Alison performed a piano solo, before acompanying vocal soloist, Ashley Snaddon.
The raffle raised £259 towards band funds and we'd like to thank everyone who kindly donated raffle items and bought tickets.
The concert marked the end of a very successful season and we look forward to next year's events. Details will be posted on this site as soon as they become available.
The Stewarton Academy Senior Wind Ensemble won a Gold Award at the National Concert Band Festival Finals in Birmingham on 10th April. This concludes a highly successful season for the band having also secured a Gold Plus Award at the Scottish Concert Band Festival Finals on March 21st.
At both finals, the band played three pieces of music: Antares Overture for Band by Richard Saucedo, Ballad for Benny by Philip Sparke and At Dawn They Slept by Jay Bocook.
The Scottish Concert Band Festival was concieved by Mr Nigel Durno - a name familiar to many of us as he also founded the bands system at Stewarton Academy over 20 years ago and was Principal of Music and Bands Leader until his retirement in 2006.
For more information please visit www.ScottishConcertBandFestival.com
Family & Friends Appeal
We have circulated Standing Order Forms a couple of times since the summer concert. If you have intended to fill in the form but haven’t got round to it, please could you do it now. If you no longer have the form, please see below for details of how to obtain another one. If you would prefer to give a one-off donation, that would be very welcome too. So far, only one in four families with children in the bands has contributed. Without the support of parents this new system will fail. If every family gave just £5 per month our target would be achieved. We hope you would agree that what your child gets out of playing in the band makes the investment worthwhile.
Fund-Raising Committee
The next meeting will be announced soon.
Communication
The Support Group would like to be able to keep you up-to-date with news and events and we suspect that letters sent home with pupils often lie forgotten at the bottom of school bags! The school is not permitted to give out contact details relating to pupils, so we would be grateful if you could join us, or subscribe to our email list, so that we know you are being kept informed.
Any Queries?
If you have any questions or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact me or Brigid Allen.