YRock, the Glasgow music promotions and events company are collaborating with the Rivergate Shopping Centre in Irvine to offer young musicians a chance to perform live to crowds as part of their Battle of the Bands project for the summer 2013. Great prizes are on offer, including a full studio recording package and a professional photo shoot for the winning band.

The events will take place in the Rivergate shopping centre on Saturday and 100% free entry to all people and all ages, giving young people the opportunity to perform live to a sizeable audience. The events will also be filmed, so those who get to play in the heats will get a video they can use for future promotion for their band.

Any young musicians and bands from the area can apply, to find out more and enter the competition, visit: www.rivergatecentre.com/makemefamous

The Scottish Opera are currently looking for orchestral musicians aged 14—21 years old to join their Connect Orchestra. This offers young musicians the chance to spend a year learning and playing with some of the top opera professionals in the UK and be a part of Scotland’s largest performing arts organisation.

The programme will run from September 2013—April 2014, working closely with the orchestral musicians at building up their creative skills, techniques and knowledge for performing in the art form of opera. The project provides young musicians with an opportunity to learn valuable new skills, make friends and have fun along the way. The programme also offers attendees the chance to take part in the Scottish Opera’s international project with the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Entry to the course is selected through a process of application and audition, applications are welcome from students playing at Grade 7 and above.

Auditions are to be held in Glasgow on Wednesday 12 June and Thursday 13 June 2013 and in Aberdeen on Friday 14 June. Application deadline Friday 7 June 2013.

Download an application form – www.scottishopera.org.uk/connect-orchestra

Applications should be completed and returned to: Iona Jack, Scottish Opera, 39 Elmbank Crescent, Glasgow G2 4PT.

If you have any queries please contact Iona Jack on – 0141 242 0585 or email - iona.jack@scottishopera.org.uk

New Rhythms For Glasgow (NRFG) is a community project and charity working to deliver participatory arts and music activities within communities alongside local organisations across Glasgow.

The organisation have just started their brand new project of multi-arts workshops as a ‘Way into Music, Film and Drama’ for young people aged between 7—15 years, funded by Cashback for Communities. The workshops will offer young people the opportunity to learn to write their own songs, play instruments, create their own films and much more.

Skills and activities on the course include:

• Songwriting
• Performance
• Learning Instruments
• Playing in Bands
• Animation
• Film Editing
• Drama
• Studio Recording
• and more.

There are workshop sessions available for two age groups, classes for 11—15 year olds run Tuesday nights (from Tue 14 May 2013) at Ballgrayhill Community Centre and classes for ages 7—10 year olds run at the same venue each Wednesday night (starting Wed 15 May).

To find out more about this and other courses NRFG have available, visit – www.nrfg.org.uk/NewRhythmsForGlasgow

Merchant Voices, the community choir based at the City Halls, Glasgow, is seeking a new Musical Director from September 2013.

The SATB choir has around 80 members and performs two main concerts per season in the City Halls. The current repertoire covers a wide range of music, both serious and light, and weekly rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings in the City Halls between September and June.

Choral conducting experience is essential and the successful candidate will operate on a freelance basis. Shortlisted candidates may be required to audition with the choir on Wednesday 20 or 27 June.

Applications, to include CV and covering letter, should be sent by Friday 17 May 2013 to Elaine Symington, Chairperson - eh.symington@ntlworld.com

North Glasgow Arts and Regeneration Network presents a free one day event, Creative Futures Conference, designed to explore how Arts Award could help increase the value of the arts for Glasgow’s young people. The day has also been constructed to bring artists, arts organisations, education and youth groups together to share ideas, encourage collaborations and improve access amongst young people to high quality arts activity in their local areas.

The event takes place from 9am – 3pm on Wednesday 17 April 2013 at Glasgow’s Community Central Halls in Maryhill.

To find out more about Arts Award, you should visit – www.artsaward.org.uk/about

For more information and to book your place at the Creative Futures Conference, you should visit – www.ngarn.net/creative-futures-conference

Stagesurfing works to support and facilitate musical exchanges for young musicians, encouraging local creativity to spread in a diverse manner throughout European cities by allowing these exchanges to take place. The organisation provides unsigned, up-and-coming bands with the opportunity  to leave their home town and take part in a mini tour lasting a numer of days, all completely free.

Stagesurfing provide emerging bands and artists with a valuable chance to expand their fan base, play to new audiences and meet other musicians outside if their local scene. Based on a social and collaborative economy, the organisation are now specifically developing an exchange between French town Rouen and Glasgow.

To find out full details and how to get involved, you can visit – www.stagesurfing.fr

Since 2002, the NYCoS National Boys Choir has been working to provide boys with a unique and valuable chance to sing with children the same age at a professional standard. The choir is open to singers between the age of 10 – 16 years old who are born, studying or a resident in Scotland. In 2012, the national choir performed at some huge events, including the Edinburgh International Festival, BBC Proms in the Park and much more.

After much training and rehearsals, the NYCoS National Boys Choir returns to Glasgow’s much-celebrated City Halls venue this Thursday 4 April 2013. The choir comprises 140 of Scotland’s finest young male voices, all prepared to deliver a stunning night of vocal repetoire, tickets now available online.

To find out more and/or book tickets, you can visit – www.glasgowconcerthalls.com/NYCoS-National-Boys-Choir

The Red Note Ensemble, Scotland’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, are calling for submissions of original scores for their upcoming ‘Noisy Nights‘ events taking place in April 2013.

The first call for submissions comes ahead of the Noisy Night event taking place in the bar of City Halls, Glasgow on Monday 15 April. This will involve an ensemble of viola, alto flute and double bass (or any combination of the three). The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Monday 8 April and all scores should be emailed to – john@rednoteensemble.com

The second call for scores is for a Noisy Night event taking place at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Monday 29 April. This will involve an ensemble of Electric Guitar, Bass Trombone and Drumkit (or any combination of the three). The deadline for submissions has been set for Monday 15 April, and all scores should be emailed to – john@rednoteensemble.com

For full details and conditions of submissions, you should visit – www.rednoteensemble.com/CallforScores

The European Music Council’s Youth Committee have announced a special Youth Day in the frame of this year’s European Forum on Music in Glasgow from Thursday 18 – 21 April 2013.

On Thursday 18 April, young people from across Europe will have the chance to come together and discuss issues on the topic of “Bridging the gap from education and training to employment”.

There will be a range of guest speakers delivering workshops and presentations on the key challenges facing young people in the sector today. This is an opportunity to learn new skills, gain advice on ways forward in the sector and meet like-minded young people from across Europe. The event is open to young people under the age of 30 active in all aspects of European music life from administration through to music education, music creation and performing.

There is also a special youth rate for people wishing to stay on for the full Forum, during which the next Youth Committee elections will be held. If you’d like to become more active in lobbying for change in the music sector today then why not get involved in the Youth Committee and have your voice heard across Europe.

Apply for a travel grant to attend the Youth Day and Forum by visiting Youth Day website – www.emc-imc.org/efm/youth-day

Music Made Easy (MME) works to provide professional CPD training in a wide range of Music Technology subjects, all designed for teachers and tutors to get the most out of their music software in the most efficient way. The organisation have just released a new series of training courses as well as announcing their new teaching venue in Glasgow.

As composition skills take much more of a prevalence in the new National 4 & 5 music course, MME have released a course ‘Teaching Composition with Sibelius‘ to enable users to teach composition using Sibelius, Pro Tools or Cubase, and/or a combination of the three.

Music Made Easy also offer tuition courses on video editing software for teaching young people, using Pinnacle Studio software to take teachers through steps of making professional videos.

In addition to Parklands Country Club in Glasgow’s south side, the organisation have just announced their new training venue, encompassing some of their courses. Think Different Events Ltd have a software training suite situated in St Enoch Square, in the heart of the City of Glasgow, being put to use for these courses. This makes transport to and from our training easy for everyone in Scotland, as St Enoch’s is less than a 10 minute walk from Glasgow Central and Queen Street train stations, and Buchanan Street bus station.

To find out more on the company and their individual courses, you can visit – www.martin-thomson.co.uk/courses