We aim to have 2 student concerts each year which take place in Southport. We try to encourage all of our students to partake in these bi-annual performances. We also seek to find many opportunities throughout the year for our students to play / sing or play another instrument in front of an audience.  We regularly take our students to play in local care, rest, nursing & dementia homes, Queenscourt hospice, public events, schools open evenings, local restaurants and bars such as The Grand where we were asked to perform for our local MP, for example.

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Please scroll down to see some photos of our concerts!

 

We believe that playing music in public is an important part of growing and developing as a musician. It is a great practice incentive and a confidence booster. It is necessary to play in front of an examiner when taking a music exam so we feel that our public performances are good preparation for this! Watching other students play or sing play another instrument is often inspiring for the children, and gives them a higher level of skill to work towards when they see more advanced students play. 

 

We also love to encourage the pupils to showcase any other talents they have whilst they have an audience . It is great to see them perform with their other skills and also makes the concert more of a variety show! We have had students perform professional ballroom dancing, competition-level gymnastics and comedy sketches for example in our summer variety shows over the past ten years!

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Our concerts have proved to be very popular with our families and friends. Parents just love to watch their child taking part!

 

Our practice bear, Frederic is also always at the front of every concert to make children feel more at ease! (He has probably already visited their home and they know him!) See more about Freddie The Bear  

 

The other benefit of doing regular performances is that our students feel part of a team, getting to know each other and making friends who also play the piano, sing or play another instrument.

 

It is an opportunity for the children to learn about people in need when we do a charity concert and use their talent to help raise money for others less fortunate than themselves.

 

All of our concerts have been non-profit making with all proceeds going to various charities. To date we have raised over £14,000 from our performances, combined with our sponsored practices.

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We have also held raffles at some of our concerts to boost money for the chosen charities.This has been a chance to join and network with local businesses in the area. Some of the businesses we have worked with, to name a few are: 

Birkdale Antiques, Four Seasons Garden Centre, Sally Bee (Gift Shop Birkdale), Hoarder Bella Hoy, Pottery Classes Southport, Amanda Neale Singing Academy, The Dutch Bakery, Happy Baby Yoga, Conserve-a-Treat Nails, Dream Days Jemma’s Parties, Dobbies, Eden Salon.

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At our summer variety show there is a musical quiz for tables, this is filled in during the concert by the various teams - often family teams. This is always a lot of fun and many of our teachers showcase their professional musical talents too.

 

Below are some of our previous concerts/ performances we have done:

 

• Student Practicathon - 2012 - raising £500 for cancer research

• Oxjam - April 2013 - Raised towards mosquito nets for Africa - Is a yearly event that Oxfam run where musicians perform inside various Oxfam shops - Raising £80

• Dobbies Winter Concert - 22nd December 2013 - Raised for Make A Wish Foundation - Raising £110

• Summer Concert - 29th June 2014 - Little Theatre Southport - Raised for The Chance For Yasmin Appeal. - Raising £830

• Autumn Keyboard performance Southport Indoor Market - Raised for Cancer Research - Raising £20

• Christmas Performance at Four Seasons Garden Centre - 6th December 2014

• Dobbies Winter Concert - 13th December 2014 - Raised for Together For Short Lives charity - Raising £450.

• Christ Church Mid-Week Music Performance - 20th May 2015 - Raised for Christ Church Charity - Raising £80.

• Southport Talent Show (in collaboration with Amanda Neale Singing Academy & Southport Youth Drama Academy) - Raised for Southport Food Bank & Cancer Research - Raising £300

• Southport Music Festival - 11th October 2015 - Students' performance 

• Dobbies Winter Concert - 6th December 2015 - Raising £560 towards The Teenage Cancer Trust.

• Queenscourt Hospice performance - 16th February 2016

• Musical Variety Evening in aid of neurofibromatosis charity  - 19th August 2016 - Raising £675

• Dobbies Winter Concert - 11th December 2016 - Raising £824

• Dobbies Winter Concert - 2nd December 2017 - Raising £636 for Well Child and Action for Children

• Musical Variety Evening  - 14th June 2018 - Raising £400 for Queenscourt Hospice

• Dobbies Winter Concert - 19th December 2018 - Raising £700 for Teenage Cancer Trust

• Southport Nursing Home Performance by Students - March 2019

• Musical Variety Evening - 20th July 2019 - Raising £500 for The Neema Trust

• Christmas Concert 2nd December2019 - Raising £500 for Queenscourt Hospice

• Liverpool Rd Methodist Church Senior Citizen's Piano Recital - 21st Jan 2020

• Formby Methodist Church - Young Musician Competition - 13th Feb 2020

• Lockdown concert 2020 on YouTube - 20th June 2020

• Virtual Christmas Concert 2020 on YouTube - December 2020

• Facebook live piano concert by our teacher Jon Taylor - January 2021

• Nursing home performance (for dementia) - October 2021

• Winter Concert - December 2021 - raising £500 for Teenage Cancer Trust

• Queen's Jubilee Performance at Liverpool Road Methodist Church

• Variety Concert - July 2022 - raising £800 for Make a Change for Botanic

• Sponsored Practice for Local Southport radio presenter, Cassie James, for life saving cancer treatment, raising £350

• Performance by students at ‘The Grand’ on Lord Street for our local MP, making news headlines & promoting the need and awareness nationally for music education to submit to parliament, through the MP.

• Winter Concert - Dec 2022 - raising £500 towards Music for Dementia work

• Summer concert 2023 - Ten year anniversary showcase of musical talent, for the Mayor of Sefton, celebrating our 14K raised for local charities to date.

• Winter Concert - December 2023 - raising £600 towards Southport MacMillan Information and Support Centre