Young musicians can now enjoy free music making with brand new instruments and much more thanks to the successful crowdfunding from Essex Music Services in partnership with Colchester Townhouse Music Session. 

Funds were gratefully received from thirty-nine backers and will ensure young musicians have a place to practice and perform for free at Colchester's Townhouse Sessions.  Find out more about how funds will support and develop young musicians.

Are you looking to review your music provision in light of the New Ofsted Framework?  If so, a MIDAS visit maybe worth considering.

Find out about our Music Improvement, Development And Support in-school meetings and our future plans to give you the MIDAS touch in your school.

New funding for Essex Music Services ensures we can continue to develop and broaden our work for music education both in schools and the wider community within Essex.

Last month the Government confirmed funding for the 2020/21 financial year ensuring Music Hubs can continue to deliver the National Plan for Music 

The funding allocation for the next financial year is £79M which is a slightly higher investment in Music Hubs than in previous years. Further information on the funding news is available.

Beverley Heard, Essex Music Services, manages our thirteen Essex Community Music Centres. Each centre presented its end of term concert last December :- “It was fantastic to see so many children enjoying music-making.. Performances ranged from those making their concert debut to confident recitals from students who have been taught by our expert tutors for a number of years.  As always, it confirms that music is such a great way for young people to express themselves, make friends and build life skills.”

Find out more about the December 2019 concerts and also new and innovative opportunities for young musicians available in 2020.

Essex Youth Choir and the recently formed Essex Youth Consort performed at Chelmsford Cathedral. 

Beverley Heard, Music Ensembles Lead Officer said: “These young people, aged 13 to 19, come from across Essex to perform together in these high level concerts. For some, it is the pleasure of singing such great music, giving them live performance skills and building life-long friendships and for others, it inspires them to become the choral singers of the future.”

Find out more about the concert and how to join

Preparing for an Ofsted Deep Dive in Music for Primary Schools. 

After a term of inspection under the new Ofsted framework, we now have a better understanding of what some schools have been asked and how Music Leaders and Schools can prepare for a Deep Dive into music.

Find out about free CPD twilight workshops in :-

• Colchester on 23 January
• Chelmsford on 27 January
• Rayleigh on 28 January
• Saffron Walden on 25 February 2020.

Practical skill progression - a free twilight CPD taking place in Benfleet on 2 March 2020. Focusing on practical skills in assisting to perform, explore and create music with pupils.

Charanga and O-Generator CPD Training - these are free to all schools who have a current subscription to our E-Learning Package.

Our first free CPD course -  Teaching the Recorder One Step Ahead of the Pupils - took place last December and was led by Sarah Goldsmith, Schools Curriculum Support Officer. Sarah recorded her thoughts and her future plans and these can be found here.

Secondary School Network Meetings - a good way to meet other professionals, be kept up to date by guest speakers, have access to the latest Music Education developments and the opportunity to share ideas.

Next meeting for the Mid-Quadrant Secondary School Network is on 14 January 2020 in Chelmsford and the South Quadrant Secondary School Network Meeting takes place in Rayleigh on 3 February 2020.

Essex Symphony Orchestra invites young musicians to workshops playing side-by-side with its experienced players under the directorship of its new professional conductor, Robert Hodge.

Woven Sound - Knitted Community Composer Mike Roberts will be working in partnership with the National Trust, Essex Cultural Diversity Project and local communities to create a work reflecting the history of Coggeshall and its association with Gustav Holst.

Youth Folk Opportunities Find out about regional and national opportunities for young people who play or are interested in exploring folk and traditional music

Young Composers Award 2020  The National Centre for Early Music Award is now open to young composers up to the age of 25. Composers are invited to create a new polyphonic work for an unaccompanied choir.

The Song Academy are calling young people aged 8 - 18 who are already writing their own songs and young people who are creative and musical and would like the challenge of writing their first song.  Find out more about this opportunity and also the Young Songwriter 2020 competition.

Perform your study pieces before taking your Summer ABRSM Grade Exams at Colchester's Rotary Club Festival of Music & Dance  Find out how you can register and perform at this festival taking place on 29 March 2020.