Friday 22nd May 2026 (118)

Dear All,

It has been another jolly busy, exciting and productive week here at ACMS, even if the weather perhaps did not entirely reflect the energy and enthusiasm inside the building. Preparations are progressing well for our extraordinary day of music-making at Haddo House, whilst rehearsals are also well underway for our forthcoming concerts at Queen’s Cross Church and King’s Church later this term.

Alongside all of this, pupils are also busy preparing for their end-of-year assessments and, of course, our annual Leavers’ Concert on Thursday 4th June, where we formally say goodbye to our S6 leavers after many years of involvement with ACMS. It is always one of the most special and emotional evenings in the school calendar.

Specialist Weekend 8

Specialist Weekend 8 was an enormously productive and enjoyable two days here at ACMS. One of the great advantages of our specialist weekends is the flexibility they provide over rehearsal spaces, timings and organisation. It enables us not only to schedule large-scale rehearsals during the day, but also to incorporate shorter “quick-fire” rehearsals before assemblies, during breaks and around performances.

These weekends give us the opportunity to work creatively and collaboratively as a whole school community, making full use of the fact that everybody is together at the same time. It allows us to rehearse without some of the usual daily timetable constraints and provides a wonderful opportunity to focus both on upcoming performances and on longer-term musical development.

Alongside concert preparations, pupils have also been developing wider musicianship skills including aural work and sight-reading, both of which remain central to becoming confident and versatile musicians. Specialist weekends are always hard work, but they are also tremendous fun and important for morale and team spirit.

St Andrew’s Recital at Noon

Congratulations to Alexis, Sophia and Taylor on a superb performance at this week’s Recital at Noon at St Andrew’s Cathedral.

The programme showcased an impressive range of musical styles and instruments, from the grandeur of Bach to the energy and spirit of traditional piping and whistle tunes. Audiences were treated to a wonderfully varied recital full of musicality, character and poise.

Taylor performed a brilliant selection of bagpipe and whistle repertoire, including The Company’s Lament, My Land, Itchy Fingers and The South Wind.

Alexis gave a beautifully expressive performance of the Andante from J. S. Bach’s Sonata in E minor for flute, whilst Sophia performed with elegance and warmth in W. H. Squire’s Danse Rustique and Bach’s much-loved Minuet from the First Cello Suite.

A huge thank you to Sam Paul for organising the concert and to Mr Birse for his excellent accompanying throughout the recital. We are delighted that all three pupils represented Aberdeen City Music School so brilliantly.

End-of-Year Assessments

We are now looking ahead to our end-of-year assessments, which will take place in mid-June.

Pupils are currently meeting with their teachers to finalise assessment sheets, repertoire choices and technical work. It is always an exciting opportunity for pupils to perform for independent external assessors and showcase the hard work, progress and dedication they have demonstrated throughout the year.

We wish all pupils the very best with their preparation over the coming weeks.

Evensong

It is exciting that a growing number of ACMS pupils, former pupils and staff are becoming involved in the Evensong services at St Andrew’s Cathedral.

The Cathedral choir performs Evensong fortnightly and maintains an exceptionally high standard of musicianship and sight-reading, regularly working with guest conductors and tackling a wide-ranging repertoire.

Taking part in Evensong is a considerable musical challenge. It requires excellent music theory knowledge, confident singing, strong sight-reading skills and the ability to make quick and informed musical decisions during rehearsals and performances. Owing to the traditional rehearsal structure, singers are often required to prepare substantial repertoire with relatively little rehearsal time and must learn to think independently and adapt quickly.

There are very few musical experiences that provide such a strong foundation for developing musicianship, and it is wonderful to see increasing numbers of ACMS pupils engaging with music-making of this level with such enthusiasm and commitment.

We are extremely grateful to Richard Coleman, a longstanding supporter of ACMS and the St Andrew's Cathedral musicians , for continuing to welcome our pupils into the choir.

Beginners’ Dentistry for Musicians

A very big thank you to Jill Douglas for kindly coming in to speak to our boarders following the early closing on Monday evening.

Jill gave a fascinating and highly informative insight into the world of dentistry and spoke brilliantly to pupils about her career, training and experiences working in the profession. The session was extremely well received and prompted a great deal of interest and discussion afterwards.

We are always hugely grateful to parents and friends of ACMS who generously volunteer their time and expertise to enrich the experiences of our pupils and boarding community. Thank you once again to Jill for such an engaging and thoughtful session.

Dinner Entertainment

Congratulations to the pupils involved in performing at the Chief Officers’ Finance Meeting at Aberdeen Town House this week.

We were delighted to be invited to provide dinner entertainment for the event, and our pupils were exceptionally well received by all in attendance. The young musicians performed brilliantly and represented ACMS superbly throughout the evening.

Most impressively of all, we still managed to return to school in time for the daily informal concert.

Many thanks, as always, for your continued support of all things ACMS. The weather forecast for the weekend and the week ahead appears remarkably optimistic, which naturally means we are approaching it with cautious confidence.

Have a wonderful weekend.

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