Bradnum Vocals

I’d like to wish all of my GCSE students the very best today. I hope you all get the results you were needing. You’ve all worked so hard. Sending you all lots of good wishes. 🫶🏻

It has been such a pleasure working with Jess again this year. Jess has a beautifully soulful voice and I’ve loved hearing her work on songs such as “One and Only” by Adele and “She used to be mine” from Waitress. We have been doing a lot of duet work this year, developing aural and harmony skills, working on blend, and vowel modification where necessary to achieve this. Jess and Natasha often join together for lessons so that they can work on duets and it was wonderful to see them perform at the Summer concert. We have also tackled some quite complicated vocal riffs and runs in a couple of songs this year. This has linked really well to the ongoing development of vocal flexibility and agility. Jess, it is amazing to hear your voice continue to grow and develop and I’ve loved seeing your confidence blossom too! 🫶🏻

Sunday’s concert is at the beautiful Carlisle Castle!

Next Sunday (23rd) Hot Aire! have very kindly offered to come to our site and play some music. They are a concert band based in West Yorkshire with over 40 musicians across brass, woodwind, keyboards, and percussion!

They will be on site playing a wide variety of movie themes, show tunes, pop music, and big band classics between 12:00 - 2:00pm. Tickets to the event are included with membership or our usual day tickets.

Find more information here - https://bit.ly/3SiPmbO

Really looking forward to this concert at Carlisle Cathedral on Saturday! 🎵

On Saturday 22 August, we look forward to welcoming Hot Aire to the Cathedral as part of our Free Live Music Series.

Taking their name from the River Aire, Hot Aire! is a community concert band based in Shipley, West Yorkshire. With over 35 players we have a unique sound created by an unusual combination of woodwind, brass and percussion enhanced by the addition of keyboard and electric guitars!

Previous engagements have included charity concerts in aid of BBC Children in Need, Marie Curie and for the People of Ukraine. Performances in 2025 included Bradford City of Culture events, the prestigious RHS Harrogate Flower Show and a tour of Rhineland, Germany.

They are proud to have a wide repertoire, playing music from the movies to well-loved hits from the musicals and pop from across the decades. There’s something for the whole family!

📆 Saturday 22 August
⏰ 1.30pm - 2.30pm
🪙 Retiring collection will be taken in support of the Band and the Cathedral

I’d like to wish all of my A level students the very best today. I hope you all get the results you need and want in order to begin the next part of your journey. But if you don’t, please remember that life is seldom linear and there is ALWAYS another path that will take you towards your dreams. I hope things go as hoped and that you’re able to celebrate your hard work and effort. Sending you all lots of good wishes. 🫶🏻

For the last few days we have been staying in the most beautiful cabin in the woods. When we arrived we found out from our host that these are the very woods where Vaughan Williams conceived and started to create his Pastoral Symphony (when he was based here during the war). I’ve listened to it several times whilst walking the trails.
“The symphony began to take shape in the composer’s mind while he was stationed in France. He wrote, long afterwards, “It’s really war-time music - a great deal of it incubated when I used to go up night after night with the ambulance waggon ... and we went up a steep hill and there was a wonderful Corot-like
landscape in the sunset - it’s not really lambkins frisking at all as most people take for granted”. An army bugler used to practise, and his sound “became part of that evening landscape and is the genesis of the long trumpet cadenza in the second movement of the symphony - les airs lointains d’une chanson mélancolique et tendre [the distant airs of a melancholy and tender song]”.”

Huge congratulations to Nell for getting a Distinction in her Grade 5 singing exam. Nell has worked really hard again this year. She enjoys singing a mix of pop and musical theatre repertoire and has covered a range of songs including Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Always Remember Us This Way’, and Sienna Spiro’s ‘Die on this hill’ as well as musical theatre pieces such as ‘God Help the Outcasts’ and ‘There’s a fine line’. Nell also has piano lessons with Steve and has done brilliantly at accompanying herself as she sings too! This year we have worked specifically on developing her mix and aiming for more clarity and good diction. Nell’s range has also grown this year meaning she has been able to access higher notes without tension creeping in.
Last term Nell played the role of Annie in her school’s production of ‘Annie’. She worked so hard in the lead up to the auditions, putting in lots of time within lessons to learn the songs and become more confident with the more difficult parts of the songs. Nell sang all of the songs fabulously in the show and wowed the audiences. Well done Nell!

‘Salt the Musical’ is being performed at Victoria Hall in Saltaire. Written by the wonderful Maria Mullin. There are two performances on Saturday 17th October. Get your tickets now!! https://www.ticketsource.com/show-ready/e-vgqlmk

**TICKETS NOW ON SALE**

Book now for this highly anticipated special concert showcase of Salt the musical!

We are so excited to release the tickets for this extremely special event. Join us for the concert performance of Salt the musical, a gripping new musical theatre show following the life and times of Titus Salt who built Saltaire. A story, of love, pioneering, struggle and hope in the Northern industrial revolution.

Hear our incredible cast perform this new work live at Victoria Hall in the heart of Saltaire, where we are quite literally walking in the footsteps of Titus himself.

With soaring music from composer Maria Mullin and direction from award winning Anita Adams - Artistic Director, this production from Show Ready promises to be a landmark event in the development of this brand new show as we work towards a future fully staged version.

On Saturday 17th October there will be two performances, at 2pm and 7pm.

Following a previous sell out workshop performance at Bradford Playhouse we know the excitement is building to see Salt back on stage again. We are expecting these tickets to go like hot cakes so if you'd like to be there please don't hang about!

Tell your friends and book your tickets today:

tinyurl.com/saltinconcert

Thank you for joining the Salt journey with us!

Another fond farewell goes to Rosie who is heading off to university in September. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching Rosie for the last couple of years whilst she has been in 6th Form but she has been a long standing member of our Senior Choir at since joining us 7 years ago! I have loved teaching Rosie. She’s an incredible musician and responds so well to guidance and feedback making adjustments in “realtime” as we work on technique, artistry, and performance. Her voice is stunning and it was wonderful to see her perform a solo at the Summer concert in July. We are going to miss Rosie very much at IYC. She has been an incredible role model and a wonderful leader within the Soprano 1 section.
Rosie, I know you are going to achieve amazing things! Keep taking every exciting opportunity that comes your way. I will miss you so much - please keep in touch.

I’m really looking forward to performing in these two concerts with Hot Aire! at Carlisle Cathedral and Carlisle Castle. I’ll be singing two beautiful pieces at the Cathedral - ‘May It Be’ and ‘Siúil a rúin’. It’s always such a pleasure to sing with the band! And then I’ll be playing tenor sax 🎷 for the rest of the time. We will be doing a range of fantastic music including my favourite from the film ‘How to Train Your Dragon’! If you’re in Carlisle on the 22nd and 23rd August we’d love to see you. 🎬🎭🎤🎼