This year two of our pupils won 2015 Awards from the national charity Awards for Young Musicians (AYM). S6 pupil and percussionist, Ethan Skuodas and S1 student and bassoonist, Jamie King. Each outstanding young Award winner receives financial help ranging from £200 up to £2,000 and they also benefit from individually tailored support, which may comprise mentoring, access to advanced skills workshops with professional musicians, master classes and opportunities to attend rehearsals with orchestras and other musical partners.

Competition for the 2015 Awards was extremely high but after careful deliberation the independent adjudication panel decided to award Ethan with a Robert Lewin Scholarship, named after the man upon whose legacy the charity was founded.

On Sunday 1st November Jamie has been invited to play in London with fellow awardees and members of the London Sinfonietta, including John Orford who is Professor of Bassoon at the Guildhall and Royal Academy of Music.

If you are interested in applying applications for awards for this year can be submitted from 1st Oct 2015, details can be found at their website www.a-y-m.org.uk.

The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland is an organisation which provides a variety of orchestras, jazz bands and training ensembles for students aged from 8 to 25 years old.   This year again we are delighted at the large number of Williamwood pupils represented in a wide variety of these ensembles.  It is also great to see past pupils still performing.  The pupils involved this year are:

NYOS Symphony Orchestra:

Past pupils

Megan Ferries  – Bassoon

Luke Maher  (Summer only) – Horn

Frances Paton  – Cello

Stuart Vettraino   – Horn

Senior Orchestra:

David Aiton S2 – Timpani/Percussion

Rhianna Christie (past pupil) – Oboe

Lucy Gibson S5 – Bassoon

Andrew FJ MacLeod S6 – Tenor Trombone

Alec Ross S5 – Horn

Andrew Vettraino S6 – Bassoon

Chrisopher Vettraino S4 – Oboe

Junior Orchestra:

David Aiton S2 – Timpani/Percussion

Sophie Boyd S4 – Violin

Eve Burgoyne S5 – Clarinet

Lindsey Cairns S3 – Violin

Ben Drake S2 – Bassoon

Chloe Ghiro S3 – Violin

Josef Heidinger S2 – Bassoon

Andrew McCroskie S5 – Clarinet

Ewan Millar S2 – Timpani/Percussion

Lorna Paton S5 – Horn

Emma A Wilson S4 – Violin

National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland:

Mark Hendry (past pupil) – Double Bass

Tom Potter S4 – Drums

Jazz Access:

Tom Potter S4 – Drums

Brass Training:

Finlay Overend S3 – Tenor Trombone

Wind Training:

Anna Ghiro S1 – Bassoon

Jamie King S1 – Bassoon

Orla Lang S2 – Oboe

Alasdair Notley S3 – Oboe

James Ross S1 – Bassoon

James Andrew Ross S1 – Bassoon

Percussion Training:

David Aiton S2 – Timpani/Percussion

James Baptie S3 – Timpani/Percussion

Ewan Millar S2 – Timpani/Percussion

Congratulations to the following pupils on their success in the summer 2015 diet of the ABRSM and Trinity examinations.

ABRSM

S1 Pupil:  Anna Ghiro Grade 4 Violin with distinction

S2 Pupil:  Liana Storey Grade 8 Piano with distinction

S3 Pupils:  Chloe Ghiro Grade 7 Violin with distinction, Daisy Major Grade 5 Cello with distinction, Lynn McKenna and Ciara O’Shea both passed Grade 5 Cello

S4 Pupils:  Eilidh Galloway Grade 7 Clarinet with distinction, Chris Vettraino Grade 6 Tuned Percussion with distinction

S5 Pupil:  Steven Clark Grade 8 Guitar with distinction

Trinity College London

S2 Pupils:  Eilidh Mathieson Grade 3 Flute with merit, David Aiton Grade 3 Tuned Percussion with distinction

S3 Pupil:  James Baptie Grade 3 Tuned Percussion with merit

S4 Pupils:  Eilidh Akilade and Freya Menzies passed Grade 6 Clarinet, Laura Beattie Grade 6 Clarinet with merit, Becky Paton Grade 8 Piano with distinction

S5 Pupil:  Sanjana Gomez Grade 4 Flute with merit

S6 Pupils:  Sammy Finnigan and Scott Logan both passed Grade 8 Clarinet with merit, Andrew Vettraino Piano Performance Diploma with distinction

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 past pupil Fiona Joice who won the Governors’ Recital Prize for Singing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on Monday 27th April.  The Governors’ competitions are some of the most prestigious in the RCS calendar and we are all delighted for Fiona as this is a wonderful way to conclude her degree at the RCS.

The music written papers take place on the following dates:

Thurs 7 May   Int 2 is 10.30-11.15am, Higher is 1-2pm and Advanced Higher is 3-4pm.

Fri 8 May        Nat 5 is 1-1.45pm

Good luck everyone!

The S3 music examination takes place on Thurs 30 April in class time.  The listening assessment will cover all topics taught this year including Scottish music, Rock and Pop, Blues and Jazz and World Music.

Click on the the following link  Young Musician 2015  to watch the video of this years excellent competition. This took place in Williamwood Parish Church on Thursday 19th March.

We have had further success at the Music Festival in the last few days.

Thursday 19th March – Woodwind Solos A class bassoonist Ben Drake S1 came second and oboist Liana Storey S1 came third.

Friday 20th March  – Woodwind and Brass Concerto class Lewis Graham S5 won on clarinet, Andrew Vettraino S5 came second on bassoon and Chris Vettraino S3 came third on oboe.  Lewis also won the Woodwind and Brass Sonata class.  S1 pupil Aalia Shah came joint second in the Violin Solos C class.  Lewis Graham and Andrew Vettraino came joint second in the Instrumental Duets class with the Williamwood Bassoon Duet.  Andrew Vettraino then went on to win the Woodwind and Brass Solos Premier class.

Saturday 21st March – S3 pupil Lukas Nielsen won the Violin Solos B class with Emma Wilson S3 coming in second.

At the last night of the festival Andrew Vettraino won the Ailie Cullen Memorial Prize, which is the award given to the performer or group of performers who, in the opinion of the adjudicators, gives the most outstanding performance of the Festival.

On Thursday 19th March we held our annual Young Musician of the Year competition in the lovely acoustic setting of Williamwood Parish Church. The standard of performance was exceptionally high giving the judges a real challenge on the night.  Congratulations to all pupils involved.  The Junior winner was bassoonist Campbell Lang S3, with joint runners up, pianist Liana Storey S1 and oboist Chris Vettraino S3. The Senior winner was clarinettist Lewis Graham S5 with bassoonist Andrew Vettraino S5 as the runner up.

Congratulations to S3 pupil Sophie Boyd who won the Violin Solos A class on Tuesday 10 March.

We have had more success this week with the Senior Concert band winning their class School Concert Bands A on Sunday 15 March.  On Tuesday the Junior Cello Quartet won their class Chamber Music B and the Senior Girls Vocal Ensemble came second in their class Intermediate Vocal Ensembles.

This morning Lewis Graham S5 won the class Modern Woodwind and Brass Solos with Chris Vettraino S3 coming second.  Andrew Vettraino S5 won the Woodwind Solos – Open class with Chris Vettraino coming second.

Please let Mrs Selbie know of any other success which you would like to celebrate on the website.