This is it folks – welcome to Day & Night Festival 2020! Enjoy a sneak peek of what’s to come for the next two weeks, soundtracked by and featuring Kent Music students, staff and friends.

#StayHomeMakeMusic

Videos will be published throughout the week. Enjoy, and #StayHomeMakeMusic!

We’re proud to present ‘Dreamworld’ by Alan Vincent, performed at the former school hall at Benenden as part of the Kent Music Summer School 70th year celebrations.

The piece has been adopted as the ‘Anthem’ for the Kent Music Summer School and is performed on an annual basis to bring to a close some of the courses offered each year. This year, the summer school had to be cancelled for the first time since 1947, so we thought there would be no better way to kick off our virtual music adventure than with a piece known for bringing young musicians together.

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups

#StayHomeMakeMusic

Welcome to the start of the Day! Let’s meet your hosts for this week.

Sam, Chris, Matt and Dan have all been learning with us at Kent Music for the past few years. This week, they’ll be telling you a little more about themselves, letting you know what’s to come in the festival. They’ll also be your hosts for the Open Mic this week – tune in again this Friday at 1pm to see them again and enjoy our summer day’s open mic submissions! #StayHomeMakeMusic

We’re so excited for all our music today! We’ve got jazz on our minds today as we lead up to our Jazz Improv masterclass, so to get you in the mood, we’re featuring a day full of Jazz from the Sheppey Music Centre Ensembles.

The ensembles of the Sheppey Music Centre have gone virtual over the last few months, and have created a whole host of virtual performances.

We’re kicking off today with the Jazz ensemble, who will be playing:

00:14 Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

03:36 Peter Gunn Theme

Editing by Andy and Charlotte Friday. Find out more information about the Sheppey Music Centre here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-centres/isle-of-sheppey-music-centre/

Continuing today’s jazzy theme with the Sheppey Music Centre ensembles, please welcome the Saxophone ensemble for a lunchtime concert!

The ensemble will be serenading you with:

00:13 The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde arr. Ramskill
02:09 Lazy Coconut Tree & Yellow Bird arr. Cawkwell
04:55 Agincourt Song arr. Harvey

Editing by Andy and Charlotte Friday. Find out more information about the Sheppey Music Centre here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-centres/isle-of-sheppey-music-centre/

Rounding off our jazz performances today, we’ve got the last of our virtual concerts from the Sheppey Music Centre. Please welcome the fabulous Senior Ensemble to play you into the evening!

The ensemble will be playing:

00:12 Metrix by Sheldon
03:43 Puttin’ on the Ritz arr. Nowak
05:52 Clog Dance by Herold

Editing by Andy and Charlotte Friday. Find out more information about the Sheppey Music Centre here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-centres/isle-of-sheppey-music-centre/

Welcome to today’s Day & Night festival content, looking at our County Groups!

Kent Music Young Trustee Jessica went on her first Summer School course aged 9, and has been involved with Kent Music ever since! Now, she’s the Orchestra Manager for the London Mozart Players, and a Young Trustee for Kent Music. This past fortnight, she’s been working hard to find some of the brilliant alumni from Kent Music’s County Groups to ask them – what has your musical journey been?

First up, let’s meet Venetia. Vennie is a Civil Servant who sang in the Kent Youth Choirs before studying Geography at Oxford University with a Choral Scholarship.

Next in our day of Alumni interviews, let’s meet Lizzie! Lizzie is an Assistant Artist Manager for Rayfield Allied who sang in the Kent Youth Choirs as well as playing Percussion in the Wind Bands and KCYO.

We’re on a roll, folks! Next in our alumni lineup is Sam. Sam played Trombone in the wind bands before becoming Principal Bass Trombone in KCYO. Now, he’s working as a photographer and videographer in London after graduating from Ravensbourne University.

As we move into lunchtime, let’s say hello to Esther. Esther has just graduated from Millennium Performing Arts with a degree in Musical Theatre, and has been singing with Kent Music in different forms since she was 9.

Last up before we give you a break for lunch, say hello to Rebecca! Rebecca is a Speech and Language Therapist for the NHS who sang in the Kent Youth Choirs for 12 years, and still sings in choirs today.

Welcome back, festival-goers! Continuing our day of interviews from County Groups members, meet Mark. Mark has been involved with Kent Music for over 18 years, as a singer, tuba player, and then as a staff member. He’s now working as a civil engineer, but still wants to supervise Summer School courses!

Our penultimate interviewee of the day is Lizzy. Lizzy sang in the Kent Youth Choirs for 14 years, and is currently in her 5th year studying Medicine at St George’s, University of London.

Last but not least, say good evening to Owen. Owen played Saxophone in the wind bands and KYWO, and his time with Kent Music encouraged him to go on to study music at Durham.

We’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Jessica for all her hard work in putting these interviews together for our festival, as well as all our fantastic interviewees. We loved sharing these memories with you today!

Join Dan for this tutorial on how to get started with improvising on your instrument, exploring new techniques and ways to create your own melodies and solos. You’ll be composing a classic in no time!

Don’t forget, you can sign up for music lessons with Dan and all our other Kent Music teachers now. Find out more and register here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-lessons/

We know practising can be hard to keep fresh sometimes, especially at the moment when it’s unlikely you’ve had in-person lessons or performances in some time. But don’t worry – Lindsay is here to help! Join Lindsay as she runs you through 5 ways to boost the energy in your practice sessions.

Don’t forget, you can sign up for music lessons with Lindsay and all our other Kent Music teachers now. Find out more and register here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-lessons/

Welcome back, festival-goers, and what a Thursday we’ve got planned for you! In honour of today’s DJing masterclass at midday, we’ve got a day full of electronic music from the talented minds of young people from Kent Music and our partners.

First up we’ve a brilliant indie-pop style piece, ‘Make A Change’ from the Disquiet Project, which Kent Music proudly supported in partnership with IdeasTest in Sittingbourne throughout 2018/19.

Find out more about IdeasTest here: https://ideastest.org.uk/

Find out about this and other Kent Music projects here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/our-projects/

Photography by Rikard Österlund

In our second piece today from the Disquiet Project, ‘Chillin’ On A Hammock’, things get a little more electronic!

Based out of Ideas Test HQ in Sittingbourne High Street, groups of young people at Disquiet were able to form their own bands, write original material and learn a series of popular songs from the world of Rock and Pop to develop skills in song writing and performance under the supervision of the experienced industry professionals of Kent Music. Learning these important skills developed not only musical talents but also relationships; a key ingredient in musical success.

Find out more about IdeasTest here: https://ideastest.org.uk/

Find out about this and other Kent Music projects here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/our-projects/

Photography by Rikard Österlund

To finish off today’s musical journey, come with us to Kent Music’s own Maidstone Music Lab, which ran earlier this year in partnership with our friends at infozone as we present the original piece, ‘Ghosty G’

Music Labs are Kent Music’s creative space for young people aged 8-19 to work on band development, music technology and production, singing and instrumental skills, song writing and more. Supported by our awesome Lab leaders, the young people taking part in Maidstone Music Lab expanded their musical talents, learning to play and sing a number of different pieces and jamming together each week.

Find out more about our Music Labs here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-labs/

It’s nearly been a whole week of the festival, and what a fantastic week it’s been!

To send us off into the weekend with a bang, we’re delighted to present our the top picks from your Open Mic submissions for the week, form your young hosts Chris, Matt, Dan and Sam. We were all so impressed with all the submissions received, so it was not an easy decision to pick five top ones. In fact, it was such a hard decision, that we decided to feature some of our favourites with honourable mentions shortly after this – stay tuned!

A huge thanks to our wonderful hosts this week – we hope you enjoyed taking part as much as we’ve enjoyed seeing you. Now, with no further ado, please welcome your hosts to tell you all about this week’s submissions…

#StayHomeMakeMusic

We had so many wonderful submissions for this week’s sunny day themed Open Mic, so we’d be remiss not to show you a few more! There’s such amazing talent out there in you young musicians – every single person who submitted a piece should be incredibly proud of themselves. With that in mind, enjoy some snippets of brilliant performances from the Open Mic, and #StayHomeMakeMusic!

00:00 = Falling – Sammy
00:45 = Summertime – Bobby*
01:29 – Prelude – Oscar and Edward
02:11 = Anyway – Rowan and Freddie
02:57 = I’m Low on Gas and I Need a Jacket – Harvey
03:44 = Let’s Go Fly a Kite – Merryn
04:30 = Moderato Grazioso – Nicholas
05:13 = 633 Squadron – Dominic
05:57 – Tom’s Finished Song – Tom

*we apologise for the error in the video, Bobby!

Welcome to #SingingSaturday, festival-goers! We’ve got a brilliant choral lineup for you today, supporting our two fantastic singing masterclasses. First up we’ve got another performance from the Maidstone Music Lab, run with our friends at Infozone.

We think you’ll love the group’s rendition of Freedom as heard in the film Pitch Perfect 3. Katy, Natalie, Izzie and Jack provided vocals for the track, whilst Josh and Amy played drums and keys for the accompaniment. Have a listen to the amazing finished product below!

Find out more about our Music Labs here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-labs/ #StayHomeMakeMusic

It may be the middle of summer right now, but for this next piece, cast your mind to the howling winds of Autumn with Orchestra ONE…The 21st Orchestra ONE project was entitled ‘Halloween’.

The course, which ran in Autumn 2018, challenged young people to use their voices and instruments to create spooky sounds inspired by Halloween and all things scary.

Orchestra ONE is a large ensemble for young musicians between the ages of 8 and 18. Members of Orchestra ONE come from a wide range of musical backgrounds and create their own original music during each four day project. Every project offers a new experience influenced by changing themes, collaborations and specialist tutor teams but most importantly by the young musicians’ own interests, styles and instrumentation.

Find out more about Orchestra ONE here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/groups/orchestra-one/ #StayHomeMakeMusic

To round off the day today, we’ve got a performance from just over a year ago! In July 2019, 86 primary school children joined Kent Music for the annual Maidstone Primary Orchestra and Choir Day. The day brought together singers and instrumentalists covering all orchestral families, and the evening concert covered a range of musical styles.

Here you can hear the children performing ‘Wouldn’t Want It Any Other Way’, an original composition and arrangement by their Musical Director, Ross Power.

Find out more about the day here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/news/maidstone-primary-orchestra-and-choir-day/ #StayHomeMakeMusic

Can you believe it’s been a whole week of the Day & Night Festival so far? We’ve loved our sunny content last week in Day, and now we’re heading into Night. That means, it’s time to meet this week’s hosts!

Meet Alex, Jasmine, Harvey and Ewan, some of Kent Music’s own students and enthusiastic Open Mic-appreciators! Listen in as they tell you a little more about themselves and what we’ve got lined up for you in the festival this week.

They’ll also be your hosts for the Open Mic this week – tune in again this Friday at 1pm to see them again and find out more about the top summer night themed open mic submissions! Until then, we’ll leave you in this foursome’s capable hands.

Stay cool, and #StayHomeMakeMusic!

Good morning festival folks, and welcome to the start of our second week of the Day & Night Festival! We’re feeling the beat today with our bass masterclass at midday, and we’ve got plenty of brilliant performances for you to back that up.

Opening today’s virtual show we’ve got a brilliant performance from 2017. Kent Music worked with the Sheppey Matters Friday Night Youth Club for young people with additional needs, enabling the participants to try out a selection of instruments, play a chord sequence in a band and write and record their own song. In the final week of the project, the group played a track composed by themselves to their parents and staff, taking home a CD. We’re delighted to present that performance, ‘Life That’s Free’, for you today!

Find out more about Sheppey Matters here: https://www.sheppeymatters.org.uk/

Find out more about this and our other projects here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/our-projects/

Next on our summer evening journey, we’re off to the coast with performances from the Folkestone Music Lab. This afternoon, we’ve got the brilliant D&B mix of ‘Star’, written, performed and produced by members of the Lab.

The Folkestone Music Lab launched in 2017 as a collaboration between Kent Music and Creative Folkestone, and has been a centre for youth creativity in their weekly sessions since then!

Find out more about the Lab here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-centres/folkestone-music-lab/

Find out more about Creative Folkestone here: https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/

Our last performance of the day is another FML performance, and we think you’ll love it. ‘No One Can Hold Me Down’ was written and performed by Music Lab students, bringing together a whole band’s worth of talent.

The Folkestone Music Lab is a creative space for young people aged 11-19 to work on band development, music technology and production, singing and instrumental skills, song writing and more, guided by experienced tutors. The Lab is committed to Youth Voice and we want our members to have a big say in how it develops and what it does each week. The Lab launched in 2017 as a collaboration between Kent Music and Creative Folkestone.

Find out more about the Lab here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-centres/folkestone-music-lab/
Find out more about Creative Folkestone here: https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/

Good morning folks, and welcome to a day full of performances and messages from County Groups members, both old favourites and those made recently! Kicking off the day is a short message from Phill Hyde (and dogs Wellington and Humphrey!) recorded on site at Benenden School this year (by kind permission of the school).

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

Next today we have a very moving and emotional piece performed by members of the Kent County Youth Orchestra brass and percussion sections. The performance features three soloists (all former KCYO Principal Trumpet players):

Paul Beniston – Kent County Youth Orchestra trumpet tutor. Currently Principal Trumpet of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Samuel Lewis – Professional Freelance trumpet player.
Emily Bristow – Currently studying a Masters at Royal College of Music

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

Our next performance today is Hymn to The Fallen by John Williams arranged by Phil White. A beautiful arrangement of this piece performed by Kent County Youth Orchestra – arranged by former principal trombone player and now member of the Philharmonia Orchestra as well KCYO lower brass tutor.

The arrangement is a first for KCYO as the choir is made up solely from musicians in the orchestra. The arrangement is for brass, harps and percussion and choir.

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

Performed by the Kent Youth Choir in the school theatre at Benenden during the Kent Music Summer School in 2019. Conducted by Ben Rous this was an extremely emotive and passionate performance for all to enjoy.

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

To bring us into lunchtime, we’ve got a lockdown performance from County Groups member Sam Rawlins! He performs an impressive piece on the marimba demonstrating the elegance and artistry possible on such an instrument.

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

As we move into the evening today, we’re in a gaming mood! Let’s Ninten-Go for it…

Sam is a trombone player that has progressed through the Kent Music progressive pathway including Music Centre, Half term Courses, Kent Music Summer School, Kent Youth Wind Orchestra and Kent County Youth Orchestra. Sam is currently a member of the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra and Kent County Youth Orchestra. He is playing his own arrangement of Super Mario Galaxy for trombones.

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

Let’s finish off this evening with a bang, as we get a bit funky with a performance from two County Groups members created during lockdown. Two members of the Kent County Youth Orchestra show how versatile they really are!

This is a typical item that would have been performed at a Music @ Night concert on any of the Kent Music County Courses – Music @ Night concerts provide opportunities for students to perform music they are not studying on course at that time in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

NB: there is a ‘secret’ message to a Kent Music staff member in the piece…see if you can spot it!

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups #StayHomeMakeMusic

Welcome to another day of #WednesdayWisdom as we hear from Kent Music tutors with mini tutorials for you.

Scales aren’t just for starters. Watch tutor and ensemble leader Lori as she takes you through some new ways to make scales more fun for strings!

Don’t forget, you can sign up for music lessons with Lori and all our other Kent Music teachers now. Find out more and register here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-lessons/

This afternoon, Kent Music tutor Dan brings us the second part of his series of tutorials in improvisation, this time for more advanced players.

Dan will get you improvising on your instrument, exploring new techniques and ways to create your own melodies and solos. You’ll be composing a classic in no time!

Don’t forget, you can sign up for music lessons with Dan and all our other Kent Music teachers now. Find out more and register here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-lessons/

You can see the Dan’s video on improvising for beginners here: https://youtu.be/FHlsyc1OiIM

Good morning all, and welcome to this Thursday’s performances. Today we have our final masterclass, Brass and Woodwind for Songwriters, at midday, so the performances we’ve got from Kent Music groups for you will have a distinctly brassy feel.

First up this morning, we’ve got a brand new piece from the Dartford Orchestra for Young People, ‘Sounds of Lockdown’ which was created just a few weeks ago. As lockdown began, we moved many of our ensembles online, using these new circumstances to find innovative ways to continue to collaborate and make music.

With musical direction by Jo D’Amiral, the young people have created a ‘sounds of lockdown’ piece. They were first encouraged to record or recreate sounds from their homes or local area which you can hear in the first two sections. We then lamented about being in lockdown, with disjointed sounds and melodies to reflect their reality, before modulating into the relative major key and ‘into the light’ as lockdown was slowly lifted.

This is the first time the students have used a DAW as part of the ensemble, and they have learned some valuable music tech and creative skills as well as enjoyed continuing to meet during lockdown.

You can find out more about the Dartford Orchestra for Young People here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/groups/dartford-orchestra-young-people/

Continuing today’s brassy tunes, we’ve got a wonderful performance from Orchestra ONE. The 19th Orchestra ONE project was entitled ‘War and Peace’. The course, which ran in 2018, commemorated the centenary of the end of World War 1. Students created and performed pieces influenced by the sounds and experiences of wartime.

Orchestra ONE is a large ensemble for young musicians between the ages of 8 and 18. Members of Orchestra ONE come from a wide range of musical backgrounds and create their own original music during each four day project. Every project offers a new experience influenced by changing themes, collaborations and specialist tutor teams but most importantly by the young musicians’ own interests, styles and instrumentation.

Find out more about Orchestra ONE here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/groups/orchestra-one/

We’re rounding up the performances today with a medley from the Dartford Music Lab! All these pieces were both written and performed by the talented young people at the Lab.

00:00 ‘Untitled’ by Annie
03:27 ‘Gimmi That’ by Ben
06:55 ‘Untitled’ by Tom

Dartford Music Lab is a creative space for young people aged 8-19 to work on band development, music technology and production, singing and instrumental skills, songwriting and more. The Lab would usually meet at the ‘Bridge 4 Young People’ (Dartford Youth Hub), a purpose built youth facility that provides a range of equipment and great spaces for young people to make music and explore their interests.

Find out more about the Lab here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/groups/dartford-music-lab/

Happy Friday, festival folks – we can’t believe we’re nearly at the end of the festival! We’ve got such a treat for you today, as we introduce your excellent hosts for this week to give you the lowdown on the top Open Mic submissions on the theme of ‘Summer Nights’.

Once again, it was a difficult task for Alex, Jasmine, Harvey and Ewan to choose their top picks of the week – we had so many excellent submissions! However, we’re certain you’ll love these pieces as much as they did. Do stay tuned, though – we’ll have some honourable mentions for you in half an hour.

Many thanks to all our performers. and especially our hosts this week. We just loved hearing from you all!

#StayHomeMakeMusic

Has our open mic got you inspired to pick up an instrument or warm up your voice? Then sign up for online music lessons with us now! find out more here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-lessons/

It’s no surprise to us that there were far too many excellent submissions to the Open Mic this week to have in just one video. So, rather than deprive you of fantastic music today, we’re going to treat you to a whole host of honourable mentions!

Well done to all those who submitted music to our open mic for the festival. It takes some guts to put yourself out there in any scenario, so you should all be incredibly proud of your achievements! We so enjoyed listening to all your music, and can’t wait to hear more from you all soon.

00:04 Ballerina by P. Schlomovitz, performed by Freija
00:48 James Bond Theme by Monty Newman, performed by Bobby
01:38 Autumn Leaves by Joseph Kosma, performed by Luke
02:31 Jazz Sonatine No.1 by Teppa Hauta-aho, performed by Noah
03:28 The Acrobat by J.A. Greenwood, performed by Sami
04:16 Stitches by Shawn Mendes, performed by Seb

Has our open mic got you inspired to pick up an instrument or warm up your voice? Then sign up for online music lessons with us now! find out more here: https://www.kent-music.com/wp/music-lessons/

The interviews with County Groups alumni were such a hit last week, that the fantastic Jess did some more for you! As we lead up to the grand finale at 1pm today, enjoy hearing more from some of our fab students.

Meet Emily! She’s going into her 4 th year at Birmingham Conservatoire as a harpist studying with Rita Schindler. Her time at KCYO inspired her to continue her musical development with a focus in education.

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups

For our second interview today, meet Flynn. Flynn is an energetic musical director, piano accompanist and vocal coach, who played Oboe in the Kent County Youth Orchestra, and had one of his compositions played by the Orchestra!

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups

Our last interview today is with Rachel. Rachel is studying Marine Geography in Cardiff, where she plays oboe in the university orchestras, something she wouldn’t have done without her Kent Music experience.

We hope you enjoyed hearing from our alumni as much as we did. Now sit back and relax, and we’ll see you at 1pm for the grand finale!

Click here if you are interested in finding out more about our County Groups and Summer School. A member of the team will contact you once the festival has ended with more information! https://tinyurl.com/joincountygroups

We’re here at the end of the festival, and what a fortnight it’s been! From masterclasses to interviews, performances and the open mic, we’ve had the best time sharing and making music with you this summer.

So, how do we end this extended musical Day & Night together? Well, by wishing you a Lovely Day, of course.

Featuring more than 80 Kent Music students and staff from across the county, we’ve created a huge virtual band to perform Bill Withers’ classic tune. From students as young as 8 through to adult learners, along with tutors and support staff, our virtual band represents the whole Kent Music family! The video was recorded at home using nothing but a click-track, their mobile phones and of course some summer festival themed props.

The performance is dedicated to the memory of the great Bill Withers, and to everyone who’s making, creating or enjoying music in these strange times. We hope that watching it brings you as much joy as we had creating it.

So, from all of us at Kent Music; have a Lovely Day.

#StayHomeMakeMusic
www.kent-music.com/day-night-festival-2020/