A huge congratulations to S6 pupil Gregor C. who has been accepted into the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for the forthcoming session.

This is a massive achievement for Gregor to have been accepted into this prestigious ensemble and we hope he has a fantastic time in the three tours of the UK he will be embarking upon, including performances at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Well done

Huge congratulations to our two Stewarton Academy music department pupils, Gregor C. in S5 and Erin P. in S4 who have both been named winners of the Rotary District Young Musician Competition at the Scotland South District Final in Glasgow on Sunday.

Performing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Erin won the vocal category and Gregor won the instrumental category on marimba after both were winners at the Kilmarnock Rotary Club competition in November.

Both young musicians will now progress to the Scottish final in Dundee on 7th March. We wish them all the very best of luck!

Well done to our music council members Aleisha S. and Jess B. who helped fundraise over £125 at the Christmas Market by running the stall on Thursday evening.

Selling our range of Christmas baubles, cards, ceramics and wooden stars proved to be a success alongside our Guess Sparkle’s Birthday which is fast becoming a music department tradition! Well done to Mr Dodds who won the giant unicorn – we hope he enjoys it!

On Monday night, S5 pupil Gregor C. and S4 pupil Erin P. represented Stewarton Academy at the Kilmarnock and District Rotary Young Musician Competition.

Gregor performed an arrangement of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and the 4th movement of Rosauro’s Concerto for marimba.

Erin sang ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ and ‘When I Look At You’.

Gregor won the instrumental category while Erin won the vocal category. Gregor was also named overall winner and will now progress to the West of Scotland round of the competition next February. Congratulations and good luck!

S5 pupil Gregor had a fantastic trip to London recently, organised by the Scottish Young Musicians competition. The trip was his prize for winning top percussionist at the Scottish Young Musicians final earlier this year.

As part of his prize, Gregor enjoyed a trip to the percussion department at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he had a lesson with head of percussion Calum Huggan and drum-kit teacher Matt French. Gregor was also given a guided tour of the building by students and played alongside students in the percussion ensemble. This experience has given Gregor a lot to think about as he plans his future music education. Congratulations, Gregor!

Six of our senior music pupils participated in the Three Ayrshires Choral Day as part of the The Cumnock Tryst Festival last Thursday, 2nd October.

Senior Phase music pupils attended Ayr Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon for a performance by Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The event was designed to demonstrate some of the key aspects of the courses that young people are studying in class. They were treated to music by Sibelius, Beethoven and local composer Jay Capperauld. The event explored the links between colour and sound through the condition synaesthesia and certainly helped pupils to consider new and creative ways of composing their pieces of music in school this year.

Massive congratulations to Gregor C. in S4 who participated in the final of the prestigious Scottish Young Musician final at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on Sunday 25th May.

Finalists represented each of Scotland’s 32 local council areas, with Gregor representing East Ayrshire after winning the East Ayrshire Young Musician Competition last month.

Gregor performed Ney Rosauro’s marimba concerto, demonstrating the virtuosic qualities of the instrument in this jazzy, Brazilian influenced work. His performance was clearly well-received by the judges, who selected him as the winner of the percussion category. Congratulations Gregor on this wonderful achievement!