On October 3rd we held our autumn concert for preparatory pupils. We hired the local masonic hall and instead of paying a room hire we tuned the two pianos we wished to use. All the pupils who participated in the concert sat on four big round tables at the front whilst parents and relations made the audience in rows of seats. By seperating the performers from the parents we ensured that they didnt suffer from their parents nerves and subsequently enjoyed themselves.

Each table covered a different standard. Therefore evenings performances started with pupils playing The train from John Thompson 1 and going north from ministeps 1 followed by pupils who could read one and then two octaves. At this stage we had a twenty minute interval where family members could view the stall and purchase raffle tickets. Two family friends were judging the preparatory art competition... but more about these later. After the interval the top players in the preparatory stages reading four octaves rounded the evening off. All performers had a bag of sweets which they were told could eat after they had played... this was to avoid sticky fingers on the keys. After everyone had played the presentations began.

First off were the raffle prizes. Two knitted dolls, four mini bottles of wine and two boxes of chocolate. Each prize had with it a bendy balloon animal for the pupil who chose the winning ticket. The eight youngest pupils were brought out to the front and the folded raffle tickets spread on the floor for them to choose one each, they then had to say the number as loud as possible into the microphone. One of the girls who chose a knitted doll named it dawn after her teacher. The money raised on the raffle went to a local charity after the cost had been covered. Each strip of raffle tickets were sold at 50p per strip.

Then came the art competition. We had split it into three age groups 5,6 and 7 years; 8 and 9 years and 10, 11 and 12 years. The age groups were decided on how many pupils we had at each age. Most preparatory pupils at the moment begin at 8 or 9 years old. In each age group a runner up and winner were chosen. The runner up prizes were treble clef shaped pencils and the winners received a quaver pencil and box of chocolates.

Next came the presentations

Most pupils had received all the marks and stars over the last 6 months and therefore received the star award certificates. Those who had lost just one or two marks received the certificate of musical ability for a good terms work.

Seventeen '1st music concert' rosettes were presented to pupils varying in age and the number of lessons had before the concert. The youngest was 5 years old and had a total of five lessons before playing in his 1st concert.

(It appears that he wore his rosette to school all week, as he was so proud of himself(!)

The assesment rosettes were next and the pupils that recived them took a bow before returning to their seats. All that was left was for me to say thankyou to parents and pupils for all their hardwork.

To make the concert a little more special we placed an advertisement in the free local paper with the concert awards listed.

It is interesting to note that putting the add under 'education' costs double the price as it would if you were to put it under 'congratulations'.

All the costs from the concert were covered by the ticket price.