Music students in Years 7-10 have taken part in the second Young Musician of the Year competition at King James.

The competition featured two categories. In the vocal round, students chose to sing live with either instrumental accompaniment or using a backing track; and in the instrumental round, students demonstrated their talent by playing along to their chosen songs. Prior to the event, Music Teachers Mr Smith and Mr Heddle, held auditions to select the performers who would compete in the final on the night, and this group performed in front of a panel of judges and invited family members. Many had never performed in front of an audience before, so this was an excellent opportunity to develop their live performance skills and to overcome nerves, which they all did extremely well.

The judging panel consisted of Charley Armstrong, who is directly involved in bringing the arts and cultural events to Bishop Auckland; David Longstaff, Deputy Headteacher, and Pheobe Hogarth, Director of Learning for Art. The winner in the vocal category was Emily W, and runners up were Lucas S and Rose R; and in the instrumental category, the winner was Noah Q and the runner up was

James B. Well done to everyone who took part.

Mr Smith would like to extend a special thanks to Andrew Loads, Co-owner of Brotherton’s Music, for loaning us an electric stage piano for the evening. Our Academy keyboards are heavy and difficult to move to our Main Hall for special events such as this, so his support was much appreciated.