The Day & Night Festival isn’t just about hearing from us at Kent Music! Summer days, nights and music are for everyone, so we want to hear from you.   

We’re inviting all interested young musicians to take part in the Day & Night festival in our virtual Open Mic. Each week of the festival will be hosted by different faces from the Kent Music family, inviting you to share your music with us, and then presenting our favourites at the end of each week.

The Open Mic is open to all under 18s, whether you’ve played with Kent Music before, or are just picking up an instrument for the first time on the other side of the world!

From classical pieces to summer pop classics to original compositions,  friend or sibling groups, or just some really creative music making we invite you to submit your music in response to the themes of the festival; summer days and nights. 

We won’t just be looking for the most practically perfect pieces, as great music making isn’t always about the perfect notes! Maybe you can play a killer drum beat on a saucepan, or you’ve got some tech up your sleeve that makes beautiful music. A confident performance, excitement about music, and that true summer’s day and summer’s night spirit is what we’re looking for.

You might be able to create something new for this project, or it might be that you have some previous recordings up your sleeve; either option is brilliant! Plus, since the music is the most important bit, you can submit either video or audio – whatever works best for you.

So, what are the themes?

The themes for the open mic have been chosen to give you a little direction if you need it, but not to be restricting! If you feel you’ve got an excellent tune which deserves to be shared, send it our way. We’ll love it.

25th July – 2nd August: Summer Days

What do you think of when you think of a summer’s day? Is it having fun with your friends visiting outside places like the beach? Is it ice cream vans with their jaunty jingles? Does it make you think of a brilliant classical piece, or perhaps a song to belt out in the car on a summer road trip?

Our top submissions for the Day themes will be published on Friday 31st July.

3rd August – 8th August: Summer Nights

What about summer nights? Outside of the classic Grease song, there’s plenty to be inspired by in a summer’s night. Perhaps it’s sitting around a bonfire late into the evening, or looking up at the stars in the clear night sky? Does the thought of a summer’s night make you excited for the possibilities to come, or perhaps calm you down like nothing else?

Our top submissions for the Night themes will be published on Friday 7th August.

Whatever these themes inspire in you, we want to hear the music that comes out of it. You can play as a group or individually in person or even recorded over an online chat whatever works for you. 

Please find full details below on the type of content we’re looking for as well as deadlines and how to submit it. We can’t wait to hear your brilliant performances! 

How to submit

Submissions are now open!

Submissions to this festival are open to all young people up to the age of 18. Submissions will be open until midnight on the 22nd July 2020.

When submitting your video or audio recording, please make sure you have attached the privacy form below to the WeTransfer email with your video, otherwise we can’t accept it. You will also find a document with the specifications for recording your video, if you are submitting video, for example what format it should be in when you send it to us. Please read this carefully before you start creating your video. 

On the privacy form, along with your details we will need the title of your video or audio recording, the name of the file, which week’s theme you are responding to with this piece, and a sentence or two on why you chose that particular music. 

When you have filled in the data form and recorded your masterpiece, please click the WeTransfer link below, upload both the video and consent form, and send them both to us at projects@kent-music.com.  

Please note that videos submitted without the data form will not be considered. We will also be unable to consider any videos containing strong language as part of the festival.  

Good luck, and happy music making!