Time for a new pencil?

Whether you’re playing in one of our groups or taking one-to-one lessons, one tool is essential: the pencil. Without it, how will you remember the valuable information your group leader or conductor has given you, or the suggestions your teacher has made? And in your own private practice sessions, when you work out the solution to a problem, do you make a note?

Whether it’s fingerings, bowings, breathing, or sticking, sometimes we just have to make our own marks on the printed music. Without them, you could earn the (dubious) distinction of being the person who plays that big chord as a solo — while everyone else is silent!

And if you need a pencil, you also need an eraser, because your first idea (or the conductor’s first idea) might not be the one that works. It’s much easier if that eraser is on the end of the pencil and not somewhere else (in your instrument case/music folder/coat pocket).

When it comes to the eternal question ‘2B or not 2B’, it probably doesn’t matter that much, but a soft dark pencil (which makes a legible mark without pressing hard and leaving an indentation) is better than a medium HB or hard pencil. Remember, unless it’s your own part, someone else might want to remove your markings when you’re finished with it.

We now have good quality 4B pencils, which are ideal for marking up music, for sale at our desk, with or without removable eraser caps.

Soloists concert Saturday 9 February

Come and join us for our soloists’ concert on Saturday 9 February at St John’s Church, The Walks, King’s Lynn. This is a short, informal afternoon concert, with a wide range of music played by young (and some not so young!) soloists.

We run these concerts to give amateur players a chance to share their love of music with others, and they are open to musicians of any age, working at any exam grade or none.

Free entry for all, refreshments will be available.

If you want to play but you’ve missed out this time, contact us and sign up for our next concert in May.

Get ready for next term!

Well done to all who played in our December concert on Saturday. Finland (and seasonal trips to Lapland) may be short of snow this year, but we had both Sibelius’s Finlandia and an abundance of seasonal cheer this weekend.

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Amongst settings of Christmas favourites, we also heard Elizabethan music set for wind band, young singers, a bassoon solo and Mozart from our string players.

Before the music, Certificates were awarded to our exam candidates for their outstanding performance last term: 14 exams entered, 4 passed with distinction and 9 with merit. Don’t forget that we offer exam candidates the chance to play at our open concerts in February and May at the exam centre — and that members and non-members are welcome to take part in these concerts too.

Although our term is now finished, come along to see us play and sing (or to join in) at Tesco Hardwick, King’s Lynn, on Saturday afternoon, 8 December!

11 November: NSO Remembrance Day concert

Norfolk Symphony Orchestra’s afternoon concert on 11 November, with King’s Lynn Festival Chorus, is based around the themes of remembrance and hope:

“During the past four years, as Centenaries have passed, we have had to endure the horrific memories of the Great War. In November this year, we mark the Armistice – but do we celebrate an ending or mourn the terrible consequences? In the first part of our final Remembrance programme, which includes the music of two brilliant young composers killed in the trenches, we experience a journey through the emotions of the time. Beginning in the beauty of the English countryside, we move to the feeling of national pride, through excitement, terror, violence, bleak despair and, finally, desperate heartbreak. In the second part of the concert, moving towards Hope, we are joined by soloists from English National Opera and the King’s Lynn Festival Chorus in perhaps the most inspiring music ever written. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony shows us how we can, with fortitude, courage and brotherhood, win our way from darkness and despair to triumph and hope. In Beethoven’s world, if we all just pull together, the human spirit can conquer all.”

Book tickets in advance at King’s Lynn Corn Exchange box office, and don’t forget that a number of free tickets are allocated for young concertgoers (when accompanied by a paying adult).


Opportunity for cellists: this Friday, 27 July

Taking place this Friday, King’s Lynn Festival has announced an extra event with artist in residence, cellist Marcin Zdunik. Aimed at anyone who is learning to play cello or is interested in doing so, this event is an informal and flexible 50-minute session, in workshop format, with a Q&A session.

The event is at St George’s Guildhall, King’s Lynn, at 3pm on Friday. Full details are available here.