Summer Festival 2024

The Oldham Music Centre held its annual Summer Music Festival on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th July. The event was a wonderful celebration of the skill, talent, creativity and dedication of the Music Centre’s hundreds of members, featuring bands, choirs, orchestras, musical theatre, rock and pop and even a Teddy Bears’ Picnic!

The Festival demonstrated just how much progress Oldham’s musicians have made since the COVID pandemic and how the many thousands of hours of personal practise and collective rehearsal have resulted in an astonishing return to the high standards that have, for generations, been a hallmark of Oldham Music Centre and its members.  You can see photos from the event here and posts from those attending on our Facebook page.

Congratulations and sincere thanks to all the exceptionally talented performers and teachers that made the event possible.

Music Centre Awards 2024

Every year at the Summer Festival the Music Centre acknowledges the extraordinary commitment and success of certain members with a pair of very special awards.  The first of these is the Gerald Pritchett Award which is given to the student or students who, in the opinion of the Music Centre teachers, have made an outstanding contribution to the Music Centre and its many groups.

The other award is the Lyceum Award  which is presented for the highest mark in either Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) or Trinity College music examinations.

This year there were many nominatons for the Gerald Pritchett Award but in the end the nominations were whittled down to two outstanding students that were impossible to separate.  Therefore, the award for 2024 will be shared between Abby Brown and Freddie Meaden.

Also, we were in the unusual position of having two students that gained exactly the same overall mark at Grade 8, both achieving distinction with identical percentages.  These were Freya Lyles (Bassoon) and George Ayres (Trombone).

The Music Centre would like to congratulate all of the recipients for their marvellous achievements as well as all those not named above who also made enormous contributions during their time as members.

Music Notes – Spring 2024

The most recent edition of our regular round up of what’s been happening at the Music Centre is now available to download here.

National Youth Brass Band Championship 2024

During the weekend of 23rd and 24th March, the Oldham Music Centre Youth Brass Band had a very busy time in Cheltenham, taking part in the National Championships on Saturday and then giving concerts on the Sunday. The band performed fantastically well, competing against bands from large shire counties and cities in the top section. Helen Varley, the adjudicator, wrote this about their performance, “what a great show! A superbly crafted presentation, I really liked the concept of how the pieces were delivered and the transitions. In terms of entertainment  and presentation, you were the best we had all day. A highly enjoyable performance”. As a result the band were awarded Silver.

On Sunday they performed an open-air concert in the morning at Sudeley Castle, where they met and played Happy Birthday to Lady Ashcombe and then in the afternoon, they gave a concert to an amazed audience in St. Peter’s Parish Church in Winchcombe. The listeners were blown away by what the band could do. Jonathan Leedale, the band conductor said, “we have had a great weekend, we played very well and got a fantastic result and then on Sunday, the sun shone on us and we got the full “Cotswolds experience”.

Free Starter Strings Group

Give your child a fantastic start in the wonderful world of music.  Oldham Music Service is offering a free opportunity for children in school years 3 to 6 to learn the violin.

Of course, there are lots of potential benefits for participants, some of which include,

• the opportunity to develop a lifelong love of music
• learning to collaborate with others effectively
• taking part in concerts
• developing enhanced cognitive skills

Classes take place from 12th September on Tuesdays at 4pm at the Music Centre’s Lyceum Building.

For more information email musicservice@oldham.gov.uk

To apply for your child to take part please complete the online form at www.oldham.gov.uk/music_centre_application and select the option for ‘Starter String Group’.  No prior experience is required and an instrument will be provided free of charge for the duration of the course

All are Welcome!

As well as our bands, choirs and orchestras, we also offer exceptional pre-school music classes for babies, toddlers and other children up to school age, various activities for young people that have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), a choir and bands for adults and very successful guitar groups for musicians of all ages.
Please help us to spread the word about these and all of our activities to anyone that might be interested in joining our musical community.
To find out more, please contact the Music Centre admin team by clicking here, by calling 0161 770 5660 or by taking a look at our Community Music page for details.

About the Music Service

The Oldham Council Music Service is committed to supporting and fulfilling the musical aspirations of all young people living in the borough (in and out of school), and engaging people of all ages in a variety of exciting musical activities.

If you sing or play an instrument you should be a part of the amazing Oldham Music Centre.

We have award winning groups for all abilities and all ages – bands, orchestras, choirs, rock and pop, folk music are just a few examples.  There are also classes for infants right through to senior citizens as well as special music support groups for Looked after Children or those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Membership works out at less than £5 per week and, for school-aged pupils, this enables musicians to join as many relevant groups as they wish.  Bursaries and financial assistance are also available to support young people that might not otherwise be able to take part.

It’s our ambition to ensure that every resident in Oldham who wants to make music has an opportunity to do so with us or one of our partners, so get in touch today to see how you can become part of our musical community.

Oldham Music Service is also proud to be a founder member of the GM Music Hub, which is an exciting and innovative music education partnership. We are committed to providing the highest quality music education and the best expertise which the region has to offer.

Music can transform children’s lives and we want to work with local families, schools and other organisations to make sure that all children get the chance to play music, achieve great things and inspire others.

Find out more about the work of the GM Music Hub.