Category: Latest News

Hopefully by now you will have heard that this year SCMT are holding their first ever Youth Music Competitions on the 15th and 16th June and also the week before this, 8th and 9th June, will be the SCMT Summer Concert. It’s going to be a busy few weeks, here at SCMT we are very excited! Just to remind you that the entry deadline for both is Friday 10th May. The competitions are open to anyone under the age of 18, all details can be found on our concert and events page. The concert is only open to SCMT students, we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this term!

The SCMT Youth Competitions are not far away so here at SCMT we thought we would give you some info on the charity we will be supporting, Belltree Music Therapy Centre, Woodingdean.

Belltree provides music therapy for people of all ages who find it difficult to use words to express themselves, mainly due to illness or disability. The majority of Belltree’s work is currently with children and young people with a learning disability or autism, many of whom are extremely emotionally isolated due to their difficulties. Music therapy gives them a meaningful way of communicating and connecting with others without words, greatly enhancing their quality of life.

Music therapy uses the qualities of music and sound as a foundation for sharing emotions and enabling communication to take place non-verbally. It is based on shared-music making in which the therapist responds to a persons’ natural rhythms and sounds and helps them to build their own musical language – they can use this to discover new things about themselves and as a bridge for sharing experiences which are difficult to describe with words.

We are raising funds to help Belltree achieve some of the following desperately needed services and equipment:

• A subsidy fund to support families in need who cannot afford the full fee.
• Free assessments to help families access funding from charities.
• A music technology station to help some of the older children with emotional issues to create and record their own music.
• Some camcorders to assist the music therapists in their work and help us share the value of music therapy to local organisations.

Exam results are in and it’s another record breaking result!

Congratulations everyone, you’ve walked away with more passes than ever, plus 11 distinctions and 15 merits!!!

Amazing, enjoy the rest of your holidays…

Here at SCMT we are very pleased to announce that the SCMT Summer Concert will be taking place on Saturday 8th June and Sunday 9th June (the week before the SCMT Youth Competition) at St Nicholas Church, Dyke Road, Brighton.

Once again the Saturday Concert will be for the adults and there will be 4 concerts on the Sunday for all of our younger students.

We will be releasing more information over the next few weeks. But for now get thinking about what pieces you might want to play, remember your tutor is always there to help.

We can’t wait to see you all there and look forward to hearing you play!!

SCMT would like to wish you all a very happy easter!!! But don’t forget about the SCMT Youth competitions. They will be taking place on the 15th and 16th of June, the deadline for entries is Friday 10th May 2013 at the latest! There are 4 categories, they are listed below:

Category 1:  Grades 1 and 2.   Maximum age 12 years.   Time limit:  3 mins.
Category 2:  Grades 3 and 4.   Maximum age 16 years. Time limit:  4 mins.
Category 3:  Grade 5.  Maximum age 16 years. Time limit:  6 mins.
Category 4:  Grade 6 and up.  Maximum age 18 years.   Time limit:  8 mins

Candidates must be enthused, inspiring, great with kids (and adults!) and be available longterm to teach flexible hours within Brighton and Hove.

If you can teach from your own premises and have a car, this would be a great help but isn’t essential.

Please contact Susanna Cassam direct on 07720 771053 or email us at [email protected].

A huge congratulations to sisters Riya and Berniya for their weekend success at the Springboard competitions (piano and strings). We were all so excited here at SCMT when we heard the news from their teacher, Emily.

Here are their results:

Berniya won:

The Christine Pembridge Cup (Junior) for the winner of age 10-14 Junior Recital Class (and was the youngest!)

The Seventh Art Sonata Cup for the highest mark (91) for both sonatina/sonata age 10-12 and 13-14 classes.

1st place in J S Bach class for age 10-12 …..with medal.

3rd place in grade 4/5 violin, viola, cello an double bass class with distinction mark (88).

Riya won:

1st place in J S Bach class (age 9 and under)

2nd place in Jazz class (age 9 and under)

PHEW! Well done girls… We can’t wait to see you again and the Summer Concerts!

Good luck to all our students taking their exams over the next couple of days.

By now all the hard work will have been done, here’s a couple of tips for the day itself. Make sure you are there with plenty of time before your exam so you can warm up. Scales are always a good warm up. Make sure you don’t forget your books and instruments. But above all remember the examiner is not your enemy, try to enjoy it as much as you can!! We look forward to seeing the results in a few weeks time!

Here at SCMT we are delighted to announce that we’re launching our ‘SCMT Youth Music Competitions’ with support form Ackerman Music. They will take place Saturday 15th June and Sunday 16th June at St Nicholas Church, Dyke Road, Brighton. It is free choice, classical or Jazz, Grades 1-8, split into 4 categories, with a maximum age of 18. It is open to everyone not just people learning with SCMT, but there will be discounted entry for our students. As well as cash prizes for winners and runners up, all entrants will receive a written evaluation and certificate, regardless of their placing!

This is a charity event with all proceeds going to Belltree Music Therapy Centre.

More information can be found on our Concerts and Events page, and watch this space for more news! The entry deadline is the Friday 10th May…….So what will you play?????

ABRSM exams take place next week and by now all our students taking exams should be well practiced and ready to go. Here at SCMT we would just like to wish them all good luck, we have our fingers crossed for you!

I think it’s safe to say this year’s Christmas Concert was a great success. We had some fantastic performances and we have posted some of them on our youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/cassammusictuition please take some time to go and watch them they are all incredibly inspiring and give you a great insight as to what the SCMT concerts are all about!

We will be posting them on our facebook page www.facebook.com/susannacassammusictuition and our twitter page @susannaCassam too!