Friday 4th Sept 2026 (127)

Welcome to the Week 3 rundown of what has been happening at ACMS.

After an exciting weekend, preceded by two huge weeks of afternoon and evening preparation for last Sunday, we have now moved into our more ‘normal’ ACMS routine. That means back to focused personal practice, informal performances, collaborative rehearsals, music history, theory and all the good bread-and-butter ingredients of life at a specialist Music School!

A big day at Crathie and Braemar

What a memorable day for ACMS!

We were honoured to participate in Sunday morning’s service at Crathie Kirk and to contribute music to the worship. After working exceptionally hard during the first two weeks of term, our pupils sang Bach’s Komm, Jesu, komm, Palestrina’s Sicut cervus and James MacMillan’s Data est mihi omnis potestas. Heather also contributed Hasselmans’ beautiful Chanson de mai for solo harp.

The large congregation included Their Majesties The King and Queen. It was a privilege for our young musicians to take part in the service in their presence, particularly given His Majesty’s longstanding support for music and the arts. It was certainly an experience our pupils will remember for a very long time.

Following the service, we made the short journey to Braemar, where the team at St Margaret’s looked after us beautifully and provided a fabulous lunch. After a little free time to explore the village, the pupils gave a full afternoon concert for the people of Braemar.

As you will see from the photographs, our small amount of free time coincided rather impressively with some extremely heavy rain! Nothing, however, could put a dampener on what had been such a special day for us.

We are indebted to the many people at both Crathie Kirk and St Margaret’s, Braemar, whose faith in ACMS and considerable efforts made the day possible. Our sincere thanks also go to the ACMS staff and parents for their support, encouragement and commitment.

I would particularly like to mention Colin Hunter, a longstanding supporter and great friend of ACMS. Many of you will know Colin from the various concerts and projects with which he has been involved. He helped us organise our visit to Braemar a few years ago and has remained a close supporter of the school ever since. We were enormously grateful for his support and belief in us in helping to make Sunday possible.

Our thanks also go to the Reverend Kenneth MacKenzie for his help, encouragement and support, and for everything he did to ensure that the day ran so smoothly.

To achieve all of this only two weeks into the new school year was a tremendous credit to the pupils and to everyone who supported them.

A wonderful day of music, worship, community and memories.

Parents’ Committee Meeting

It was lovely to welcome both returning and new parents and families to our Parents’ Committee meeting this week.

There was a great turnout, and it provided a useful opportunity to introduce some of our newer families to the way we work at ACMS, to talk about the ethos of the school and to explain a little more about how pupils manage their days, weeks, terms and years here.

Thank you to Mrs MacKenzie, our new Chair, for running the meeting, and thank you, as always, to all our parents for their input, goodwill and continued support of ACMS.

Bat Walk

A big thank you to the boarding staff for organising an exciting evening activity on Monday.

Following our earlier finish, our boarders took part in a bat walk and wildlife observation along the River Don. The walk was led by a countryside officer from Aberdeen City Council, with pupils exploring the beautiful footpaths alongside the river and learning more about the wildlife around them.

Thank you to everyone involved in organising such an enjoyable and informative evening.

S6 Spotlight Award

We have had our second S6 Spotlight Award of the year.

Huge congratulations to Heather, who received this week’s award in recognition of her stunning harp playing and professionalism during Sunday’s events at Crathie Kirk and Braemar.

It is lovely to see our S6 pupils embracing the responsibility of identifying and acknowledging a different member of the school each week for something positive they have contributed.

Congratulations, Heather!

Ruben at the Kelty Coal Races

It was great to hear that Ruben had an extra busy musical weekend of his own. On Saturday, he was performing with the band at the Kelty Coal Races, where the day also included an impromptu collaboration with a Samba band.

It looks as though it was a lively occasion, and the combined ensemble apparently went down particularly well with the spectators.

Well done, Ruben. It's exciting to see ACMS pupils taking their music out into the wider community and making the most of opportunities to perform in different settings.

The 7.45 Informal Concerts

We talk regularly at ACMS about the importance of focused daily practice. Every musician, however, knows the curious experience of being able to play or sing something perfectly from beginning to end in a practice room, only for it to feel rather different the moment an audience appears!

Learning to manage that additional pressure is an important part of becoming a musician.

That is why our daily informal concerts are such a useful part of life at ACMS. Pupils can present a whole piece, part of a piece, or something that is still very much in development, in an environment where they are watched and supported by their peers.

Performing music with the additional pressure of people listening, and learning to respond to variables that cannot always be controlled, is an important part of musical development. I have been delighted by the extent to which the pupils have embraced this.

In fact, there hasn't actually been a night this week when the ‘7.45 concert’ has begun at 7.45! With so many pupils wanting to take part, we have moved it to 7.35, 7.30 and, on one particularly enthusiastic evening, 7.20.

As the pupils’ appetite for informal performance has grown, we have also started experimenting with the format at their suggestion. Rather than always performing in the same room under the same conditions, we have begun using different spaces, occasionally moving between several venues during one concert. We can alter the lighting and even change how close the audience sits to the performer, depending on the type of performing pressure the pupil would like to explore.

It has been fascinating for the pupils and equally impressive for the staff to see them taking such ownership of this aspect of their training.

Looking Ahead

English Language Song Concert

We are looking forward to our English Language Song Concert, which takes place next Thursday, 10 September, at 6.30 pm in the MPA.

We are grateful to Dr Milne for all the work she has been doing to prepare our singers. The programme will feature English and American songs and arias and will last approximately one hour.

Doors will open at 6.15 pm and everyone is very welcome to join us.

Performer of the Year Prize Winners’ Concert

We are also looking forward to our Performer of the Year Prize Winners’ Concert at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, on Saturday 26 September at 12 noon. Our 2025/26 Senior Prizewinner, Petra, and Junior Prizewinner, Heather, will each present a 15-minute recital as part of the Cathedral’s Recital at Noon series. Petra will perform on piano and Heather on harp. Admission is free and everyone is very welcome to come along and support them.

ACMS Open Morning

We are looking forward to welcoming prospective pupils and families to our next ACMS Open Morning on Sunday 27 September, beginning at 10.15 am. The morning will be presented in a concert-style format, giving visitors the chance to hear our pupils perform, meet staff and get a real sense of life at Aberdeen City Music School. We will also share more about the specialist musical education we offer, the opportunities available to our pupils, and our heavily subsidised weekly boarding provision. If you know a talented young musician who might benefit from what ACMS offers, please do encourage them to come along. Families who cannot make the Open Morning are also very welcome to contact us separately to arrange a visit at another time.

ACMS visits the City of Edinburgh Music School

We are excited to have been invited to visit the City of Edinburgh Music School as part of our 25th anniversary year.

Their Director, Tudor Morris, has invited the whole of ACMS to spend a day working alongside pupils and staff at one of Scotland’s other Centres of Excellence in Music. As far as I am aware, ACMS has not undertaken a visit quite like this before, so it should be a particularly valuable opportunity for our pupils to meet, rehearse and make music with young musicians from another specialist school.

Our string players will combine with the Edinburgh string players for a masterclass led by Chris Hoyle, Head of Strings at the Royal Northern College of Music. The remainder of the school will take part in collaborative vocal work.

We will travel from Dyce by coach in the morning, spend the day working at the school and finish with a short concert from 3.45 until 4.45 pm before travelling home later that evening.

There will be more information for pupils and parents to follow.

Thank you for another fantastic week.

After such a busy beginning to the term, I hope everyone manages to enjoy a calm and restful weekend. A quick glance at the forecast even suggests that some sunshine may be on the way!

Thanks,

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