Congratulations to the following pupils on their success in their recent Associated Board and Trinity College examinations.

ABRSM

S1 pupils:  Austin Major Grade 3 violin with merit, Sofia Nielsen passed Grade 3 violin, Conor O’Shea passed Grade 3 clarinet, Grace Sloan Grade 3 clarinet with distinction

S5 pupil:  Aalia Shah Grade 8 violin with distinction

S6 pupil:  Nina Adams passed Grade 7 viola

Trinity

S2 pupil:  Sam Mcleod Grade 6 Rock & Pop Guitar with merit

We are always delighted to celebrate the talent of the pupils at Williamwood so please let Mrs Selbie know if we have missed anyone out.

Congratulations to S5 pupil Ewan who recently won the instrumental section of the Eastwood Rotary Young Musician of the Year competition.  Ewan’s accomplished performance of Presto from Mayuzumi’s Concertino on xylophone and Lipner’s Crystal Mallets on vibraphone had both the audience and adjudicators spellbound.  Ewan will now progress to the next round of the Rotary competition which is the West of Scotland round held in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in early March 2019 – giving him the chance of progressing to the Scottish final and then the British Grand Final.

Congratulations to S5 pupil Liana who won the Concerto competition at the Junior Conservatoire on Sunday 18th November.  Liana will be performing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the Junior Conservatoire orchestra at some point next year.

Tickets are now on sale for our Christmas concert which takes place on Monday 17th December at 7pm in the Ena Millar Theatre.  Tickets can be bought online through Parentpay or at the Performing Arts base at a cost of £4 or £2 concession.

Congratulations to Anna Ghiro (S4) who has gained a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Anna joins the bassoon section as their youngest player, and is really looking forward to performing with them in the UK and USA. Well done Anna!

On Tuesday 18th September a group of higher and advanced higher students attended the SCO Masterworks concert in the RSNO Centre at the Royal Concert Hall.  The theme of the concert was American Minimalism and featured music by John Adams and Steve Reich.

The final New York Information meeting of parents/carers and pupils will be held on Tuesday 25th September at 7pm in the street.  This purpose of this meeting will be to provide further information about the trip, clarify travel arrangements and complete relevant paperwork.  All pupils must bring their passports which we shall retain for safe keeping.  The Visa Waiver must be completed prior to this date and handed in to Mrs Selbie.

Congratulations to S4 rock band Vertigo who were performing last night, 16 September, at the GFT Youth Festival in Blythswood Hall at Renfield St Stephen’s in Glasgow city centre.  The band put on a fantastic performance and they all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Congratulations to Alex in S3 who was invited to perform with Neilston and District Pipe Band at the International Bagpipe Festival in Strakonice,  Czech Republic.  The band were the only Scottish band performing at the event which took place 23-26 August.  Alex was asked to perform with the band by Pipe Major Iain MacDonald who also is Alex’s teacher at the Saturday Music Centre at Williamwood.

On Tuesday 25th August the band ‘The Tailormade’ worked with the S4 music students on songwriting workshops throughout the whole day.  The session gave an introduction to song writing, where students took part in three workshops focussing on lyric writing, hooks, melody and structure.  The pupils were engaged and got a real insight on how to plan and structure a song.  A number of National 5 students have decided to work on songwriting for their composing assignment after this exciting opportunity.  The feedback from pupils and parents was very encouraging ‘my daughter loved the song writing day and came home enthused about what the groups had achieved with the band.  What a great experience!’