Just a quick note to let all of our tutors, friends and pupils know that I’m expecting another baby at Christmas. A lovely surprise! Louis will just about be on his feet in time for the new arrival… gulp! Lots of love to all, Susanna.
Author: Susanna Cassam
Some thoughts from Susanna this July…
This month SCMT are going back to the classical world and will be featuring Igor Stravinsky. A Russian composer, born in 1882, Stravinsky played a huge role in the development of 20th Century music.
The great thing about Stravinsky was that he didn’t stick to one genre through his career. His first big break as a composer was writing scores for the Ballet. He then moved on to a neo classical period, where he wrote music using ideas of classical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and exploring them through his own composition. He then moved on to a more serial approach, where he was composing music using techniques and sounds never heard before. In his later life Stravinsky even turned his hand at composing for Hollywood films.
Such a broad array of musical styles and genres gets me to thinking how often do we, as musicians, explore other areas of music that may take us out of our comfort zone. We all have that safe place, some of us are more comfortable with a Mozart concerto, or maybe a Bach study. Then there are some of us that could think of nothing worse than being stuck in a strict structure and rather play the Blues or more popular music. Either way why don’t we make July the month we explore something new. There are so many different musical genres, that is what is so fantastic about this broad ranging subject. Ask your teacher to find something that puts you out of your musical comfort zone and start exploring the possibilities…
SCMT’s Composer/Musician of the Month for July is Stravinsky…
This month SCMT are going back to the classical world and will be featuring Russian composer and pianist Igor Stravinsky.
Born in 1882 Stravinsky had a huge impact on 20th century music…. watch this space for more…
Glastonbury Festival is over for another year…
Yesterday saw the last day of this year’s festival and today is also the last day of our Glastonbury month…
So what were the highlights of this year’s festival…
The biggest crowd was for country singer Dolly Parton, who performed on the Sunday afternoon.
The three headliners were Arcade Fire, Metallica and Kasabian.
175,000 people were there and tickets cost £210…. a far cry from the first Glastonbury in 1970 when tickets cost only £1!
It rained! In typical Glastonbury fashion…on the Friday there was even a lightning storm and the stages had to be closed.
That’s all from our Glstonbury month… watch this space for July’s feature!
Glastonbury in the 00s…
This years Glastonbury Festival is well underway, fingers crossed it doesn’t rain too much! So how about some more history… we’ve now made it to 1999 so what happened in the 00s….
From 2000 – 2009 the attendance went up from 100,000 to 135,000 and the ticket price went from £87 to £175.
Throughout the 00s the festival raised £1000s for Greenpeace, Oxfam, Water Aid and many more local charities.
More and more stages and fields were added, including the Dance Village and The John Peel Stage.
The festival was becoming incredibly popular, in some years the tickets sold out within 24 hours!
Once again there were a fair share of muddy festivals… particularly 2005 where 2 months of rainfall fell in only a couple of hours, flooding many areas of the festival!
Acts included: Basement Jaxx, Coldplay, Brian Wilson, Lilly Allen, Blur, Jay Z, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Oasis, Stereophonics, and 100s more!
Source: https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/history/
SCMT Youth Music Festival 2014
This Summer SCMT added extensively to our Concerts and Competitions timetable and re-named the run of events as the SCMT Youth Music Festival. It was a huge success and we would like like to thank everyone who took part!
There were our usual Summer Concerts and Competitions… AND we added some fun (and very useful) workshops and 1 on 1 sessions which were held during the May half term.
Throughout the SCMT Youth Music Festival we raised £520 for local Brighton charity ‘amaze’. ‘Amaze’ is a fantastic cause that helps support parents and families of children with special needs. Our donation will be going towards the Amaze Helpline (01273 772289) which is often the first point of call when a child is diagnosed with a special need, and is the front door to other Amaze services and impartial information. So a big thank you from everyone here at SCMT and the people at ‘amaze’ to everyone that has donated we really couldn’t be happier.
We would like to say a special thank you to Ackerman Music for sponsoring our festival…we couldn’t have done it without you!
(Photos from the Children’s Concerts 18th May 2014)
The schedule for the SCMT Youth Music Festival was as follows:
Sunday 18th May: Childrens’ Concerts.
Summer half term 1 on 1 sessions, competitions and workshops.
Tuesday 27th May.
1.30pm – 3.15pm. Mock exams. Grades 1 to 8. ABRSM and Trinity Syllabuses.
3.30pm to 5.30pm. Exam preparation (musicianship).
Weds 28th May.
2pm – 4.30pm Youth Music Competition category 1. Grades 0 – 2.
4.30pm – 5.30pm. Filmed Performances.
Thursday 29th May.
2pm – 4.30pm. Youth Music Competition category 2. Grades 3 – 4.
4.30pm – 5.30pm. Filmed Performances.
Friday 30th May.
2pm – 3.30pm: Intermediate – advanced workshop with Emily Macdonald.
3.30pm – 5.30pm. Music Theory boot-camp.
Sunday 8th June: Adults and advanced students Concert.
Sponsored by :
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Good luck to all SCMT students taking exams today!
Today is a big day for many of our students who are sitting their ABRSM exams. Here at SCMT we want to wish them good luck and just so you know we have our fingers and toes crossed for you… although we’re sure that with all the hard work you’ve put in you won’t need it!
Don’t forget, you must be there with plenty of time so that you can have a good warm up and go into the exam nice and relaxed.
We’ll look forward to getting those results….
Glastonbury in the 90s….
Well so far in our Glastonbury month we have seen it grow from the first ever festival in 1970 to 1989, but what happened in the 90s….
In 1990 it took on the name Glastonbury Festival for Contemporary Performing Arts – as it is still known today.
In 1990 there were 70,000 people at the festival and tickets were £38 in 100,500 people were there and tickets were £83.
In 1992 after the end of the cold war it was decided they would no longer give to the CND but instead raised money for Greenpeace and Oxfam. In the first year the festival raised £250,000 for charity.
1994 was a big year, it saw the iconic Pyramid stage burn down! Luckily it was replaced in time for the festival. This year was also the first year the festival was televised (by channel 4).
The end of the 90s saw a lot of mud, the 97 and 98 festival were complete mud baths…but it didn’t stop people having a great time!
Acts included: REM, Fatboy Slim, Blur, Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams, The Prodigy, Radiohead, Th Cure, Oasis, The Levellers, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream and many more!
Glastonbury Festival in the 80s….
As you may know this month SCMT are featuring Glastonbury festival. Our last blog saw the start of the festival in the 1970s… but it really started to grow in the 1908s…
During the 80s the iconic Pyramid Stage (pictured) was rebuilt (and used as a cow shed during the rest of the year!)
The attendance went from 18,000 in 1981 to a whopping in 65,000 in 1989 and the ticket price went up from £8 to £28.
1981 was the first “Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament” festival and throughout the 80s the festival made thousands of pounds for this charity.
1982 saw the first laser show… something that features heavily in today’s festival.
Throughout the 80s the organisers encountered many problems with the licensing and authorities but it managed to conquer all obstacles and continue to run!
Acts included: Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, New Order, The Cure, Madness, Simply Red, Joe Cocker, The Beat, UB40 and Curtis Mayfield.
Source: https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/history/
Great news regarding how our festival donation will be used…
Here at SCMT we received this lovely letter from ‘amaze’ the charity we have been raising money for throughout the SCMT Youth Music Festival… it’s so good to see what great things the money will be used for!
‘Dear Susanna, teachers, parents and pupils,
Please accept this letter as a sincere thank you for the generous donation of £520 for Amaze from the SCMT Youth Music Festival.
As you know, Amaze gives information, advice and support to parents of children with special needs and disabilities in Brighton and Hove. We work to empower parents to expect and get the best for their children. We support families through the emotional and practical demands of getting the right services in finance, education, health care and leisure.
The Amaze Helpline (01273 772289) is often the first point of call when a child is diagnosed with a special need, and is the front door to other Amaze services and impartial information. We deal with over 3000 telephone enquiries a year from parent carers and professionals and demand is increasing. In fact, numbers have nearly doubled over the last two years. This service is continually overstretched and underfunded.
Parents really value the helpline, for many of them it has been life changing. It gives them up to date information, practical advice and often more importantly a listening ear. The recent evaluation showed that parent satisfaction levels were over 93%. Here is a link to more information about the helpline and opening hours https://amazebrighton.org.uk/services-and-support/amaze-services/helpline/
Your donation is truly appreciated and will help us to continue to keep the Amaze Helpline running.’
SCMT ARE LOOKING FOR PIANO/SAXOPHONE/SINGING/VIOLIN TEACHERS…
Options of an immediate or September start
1 -1 instrumental lessons (no groups) in Brighton and Hove
Excellent rates of pay
Between 3 and 20 hours a week, you decide how much time you can spare
Interviews taking place throughout June and July
Own transport preferred but not essential
Contact us on 07720 771053/01273 504505 or email [email protected]
The first ever Glastonbury Festival….
Did you know that that tickets to the first Glastonbury Festival (although at that point called Pilton Pop, Blues and Folk Festival) only cost £1?! Included in the ticket price was free milk from the farm it was held on!
The First ever Glastonbury Festival was held in 1970 and attended by over 1500 people. T’Rex were the headliners. It was put on by a man named Michael Eavis and held on his farm. He still runs the festival today and it is still held on his farm.
Source: https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/history/
SCMT raises £520 for Brighton charity ‘amaze’….
Here at SCMT we are very pleased to announce that throughout the SCMT Youth Music Festival we raised £520 for local Brighton charity ‘amaze’. ‘Amaze’ is a fantastic cause that helps support parents and families with children with special needs. Thank you so much to everyone that has donated and helped to make the festival such a success. Particular thanks to Ackerman Music for sponsoring our festival, we couldn’t have done it without you!
SCMT Adult and Advanced Concert… what a fantastic finish to the SCMT Youth Music Festival!
Sunday saw the last event of the SCMT Youth Music Festival… and what an event it was. We had some outstanding performances, the SCMT staff were incredibly impressed… well done guys!
As we grow older it’s almost as though we learn how to be nervous, during the children’s concerts we watch them stroll up to the stage with few nerves, but it becomes a very different story as we get older. So it really was great to see so many brilliant adult and advanced students grace the stage.
That has concluded this years SCMT Youth Music Festival, we still have lots of thank you’s and an announcement on how much we raised for our chosen charity ‘amaze’, so please watch this space for more…
Some thoughts from Susanna this June…
As you know, every month at here SCMT we pick a ‘Composer/Musician of the Month’. Well this month we thought we would do something a little different! To celebrate our brilliant SCMT Youth Music Festival, the coming of summer and the live music scene this country produces we thought we would feature the Glastonbury Festival. Glastonbury takes place over the last weekend of June so throughout the month we will be featuring some of the epic performances, long history and all round summer merriment this festival has to offer.
Whenever I think of Glastonbury I am amazed at it’s size, last year over 100,000 people attended with over 2000 bands playing on over 50 stages. What’s more it plays host to comedy, art, literature, dance and more. This led me to thinking about how lucky we are to live in a country where performing arts are so popular and we can go and find live music etc so easily.
Going to watch live music, whether it be classical, pop, rock or anything in between is so important to the musical journey of any instrumental student. It inspires and motivates our young pupils especially. Let’s make June the month we buy tickets to the opera or a festival…. or even just pop down to your local church and see what’s going on there, anywhere you can find live music, take the opportunity to sit and listen.
SCMT are still raising money for Brighton charity ‘amaze’…
Throughout the SCMT Youth Music Festival we have been raising money for ‘amaze’ a local charity supporting parents and families who have children with special needs. We are still raising money for this brilliant charity so if you haven’t donated there will be another opportunity to do so at our last event (Adults and Advanced Students Concert) on Sunday. If you can’t make that please get in touch on 01273 504505 for info on donating. Any donation will be greatly received….
For more information on all the great work ‘amaze’ do please visit their website http://amazebrighton.org.uk.
What happened at last week’s SCMT Youth Music Festival events….
Last week saw a whole host of SCMT Youth Music Festival events. We had 1 on 1 sight reading and aural sessions, theory bootcamp, mock exams, filmed performances and competitions, all of which were a resounding success.
Our students taking part in the sight reading, aural and theory classes all went away with lots of new skills to put into practice and a shiny SCMT certificate. Those sitting a mock exam now know exactly what they need to work on for their upcoming exam and also have a shiny SCMT certificate. Then we saw some brilliant performances in the competiton…. and of course they all went away with a shiny SCMT certificate!
Thanks to all those who came and took part in last week’s events and don’t forgot the SCMT Youth Music Festival is not over yet…. we still have Sunday’s Adults and Advances Students Concert…. hope to see many of you there!
Throughout June SCMT will be featuring Glastonbury Festival as our Composer/Musician of the Month….
Here at SCMT we will be featuring Glastonbury Festival as our Composer/Musician of the Month… yes we know it’s neither a composer of musician but to celebrate the SCMT Youth Music Festival and all the great musicians that feature at this brilliant music festival we thought we’d do something a little different. Glastonbury Festival takes place on the last weekend of June, so throughout this month we will be featuring some of the great performances and history of this historic music festival… watch this space for more!
SCMT Youth Music Festival…Competition Success!
Last Thursday saw the SCMT Youth Music Festival grades 3-4 competition… and what a competition it was! We had some brilliant performances, it was wonderful to see how well our students are doing. We had great technique, expression, accuracy and characterisation and it was very difficult for the judges to pick a winner…But it had to be done and the following were our winners:
1st place – Dan Hutton
2nd place – Ruby O’Connell Rogers
3rd place – Jonah Mitchell
Congratulations to our winners and a massive well done to everyone who took part, you all did brilliantly, we are very proud here at SCMT.
Don’t forget throughout the SCMT Youth Music Festival we are raising money for Brighton charity ‘amaze’
Throughout our SCMT Youth Music Festival we are raising money and awareness for Brighton charity ‘amaze’. These guys do a brilliant job supporting parents and families who have children with special needs. There will be chances to donate at our 1 on 1 sessions, competitions next week and our Adults and Advanced Concert on June 6th. If you missed the opportunity to donate at our Children’s Concert or will not be attending any of the festival events please call Susanna direct on 01273 504505 for info on donating. Any donation will be greatly received….
For more information on all the great work ‘amaze’ do please visit their website http://amazebrighton.org.uk.