Monthly Archives: January 2021

Royal Marines Band Service – virtual work experience

Virtual look at life course- 15th/16th February 2021. Perform virtually with the Royal Marines Band! CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS – 1st Feb!!!!!!!!!!!

As part of the virtual work experience course taking place in February, you get the exciting opportunity to virtually perform alongside the Royal Marines Band!

Open to all young musicians aged 14+, those who attend will be given a behind the scenes tour of The Royal Marines School of Music and the opportunity to pose live questions to musicians currently in training. There will also be a discussion with the Director of Music (Training) on the application and audition process and how to best present yourself at each stage. Each day the group will also split into breakout rooms for their choice of “My Career” presentation; an opportunity to hear from a musician or bugler about their background, time in training and career so far, with time available for questions and discussion at the end.

All those attending will be given an insight into the fitness requirements to join, all of the RMBS #MoreThanMusic opportunities and will also be given the option to play alongside the Royal Marines Band Service in a collaborative project. The course is designed to give young people a taste of what life is like in the RMBS and to get the most out of the experience musicians should be approximately grade 5 or above.

Virtual look at life course- 15th/16th February 2021

There is a very tight turnaround for this – closing on 1st February.

Please email careers@royalmarinesbands.co.uk to find out more or to apply now!

#MoreThanMusic#MusicExperience#WorkExperience#MusicCareer#MusicJob#MusicMark20#CanDoMusic#MusicCollege#Virtual#VirtualPerformance#Perform#MusicCollaboration

BlueJam Arts


BlueJam Arts are based in Penrith and our hub partner who leads our jazz strategy. Since the first national Lockdown in March they have successfully moved their courses, workshops and teaching online. The advantage is that their work is now accessible to everyone in Cumbria!

Check out their website for events, details about weekly groups and to view their jazz teaching videos: http://www.bluejamarts.org/

National Youth Jazz Orchestra – Cumbria Academy


Our NYJO Cumbria Academy continues online, led by Joe Brown. This is a fantastic opportunity for any student who is interested in jazz and improvisation to have a go in the comfort of their own home! If you have any students who would like to take part please forward them the link above to register. The sessions are fully funded so no cost to students.

Date: Saturday 30th January 2021
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Join here: https://surveyhero.com/c/Jan2021

Next half term session will be on 13th March.

Share Sound Project


For Secondary School students
This creative project will explore the possibilities of digital working and co-creation of new music. Young people aged from Year 7 upwards are invited to form a virtual ensemble. Players of any instrument or voice including acoustic, electronic and digital instruments and any genre are welcome.


How it works:
• 5 sessions to create and explore new music with musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and composer James Redwood,
who will arrange the piece. The sessions will take place via Zoom and hosted by the RPO
• 2 additional sessions with local music leaders
• 4 rehearsals to learn your part so you can record it for the performance video
• Grand Virtual Finale with other Share Sound ensembles from across the UK in July
• Live performance in Carlisle, July 2021 (to be confirmed)


Find out more at: https://cumbriamusichub.com/share-sound/

Happy New Year (a little late)

Hello everyone, and a very belated HNY to everyone. Life has changed dramatically and the ‘new norm’, without rehearsals or concerts, has led me to get rather behind in communicating with you all.

Obviously, online teaching has resulted in many changes to the way in which we are all working and living, but you should all have had communication from our instrumental teachers about online music lessons, and these should be running smoothly – if this has not happened and you want lessons, please get in touch with me as soon as possible (rbu@uvhs.uk).

I will be sending out several more posts straight after this with links to existing and new musical initiatives being provided through the Cumbria Music Hub – if you would like your child to get involved in any then please contact the relevant people/organisations on each post. I really would recommend that students consider this – as and when we are allowed rehearsals again in school it will be a huge ‘shock to the system’, so any involvement in online music-making and learning will be positive.

As said, please read each of the posts and consider getting involved.