We got an extra day this February, and we made sure to pack it with even more music! --- We had two very different recitals in February! Award winning Luke Jones presented us with a selection of works for piano. His playing has been described as possessing “...extraordinary clarity and a seemingly infallible touch that revealed colours and atmospheres of the most sensitive of stylists…” (Christopher Axworthy – Co-Artistic Director of the Keyboard Trust) We then had an unusually piano free recital with local group Laiton Trumpet Quartet showcasing arrangements of well-known pieces for 4 trumpets, which is no small feat! Made ever more impressive by how pleasing they were to listen to. A wholeheartedly refreshing programme and superb musicianship blew away the audience at Forsyth - another excellent free recital! See our upcoming events here --- We shared some of our history with a couple of Throwback Thursday posts on our social media. Look at how our piano showroom has changed since the 1950s! We also shared the story of...
Sheet Music Department
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Forsyth stalwart Audrey Wilson (1947-2023) earlier this week. Audrey joined the Sheet Music Department at Forsyths in 1964 when she was 17. She'd been planning to go on to teacher training college, but found her home/calling at Forsyths and left when she reached retirement age. Forsyths is also where she met her husband Paul - at the time an RNCM student who worked part-time in the department. Audrey was head of Sheet Music from the early 70s and her 43 years of energetic knowledgeable service to Forsyths and the musical community of Manchester and beyond is legendary. Sadly Audrey's husband Paul also died earlier this year. If you would like to know the details of the funeral (on 28.11.23) please email [email protected] or phone 0161 834 3281 ext 100.
Back to School is in full swing. We're here for you during freshers and throughout the Autumn, Winter, Spring/Summer terms. Discover everything and more in store for young students embarking on their first musical adventures to intermediate & advanced students and of course not forgetting the teaching professionals! Vegan/Leather Montford Music cases are a stylish must for carrying all your Sheet Music! Available here in a range of fabulous colours. All your musical stationary is here for you in our Sheet Music Department. Shop here till your musical hearts content! There are over 30,000 Sheet Music titles available in our Sheet Music Department with access to over 100,000. Shop here to find the NEW Trinity College London Piano Exam Pieces 2023 initial to Grade 8 include the technical exercises required for the exam, which have been newly composed for the 2023 syllabus. Looking for a useful teaching aid and a valuable introduction to the experience of ensemble playing? Shop here for the popular Classroom Jam series....
Forsyths Music shop is looking for an enthusiastic musician to join its team 2 days per week (normally weekends) in its Sheet Music Department.The sheet music department provides a specialist service to musicians and non musicians alike. With well over 30,000 different titles of sheet music in stock as well as thousands of classical and jazz CDs our staff play an important role to help customers navigate the stock. Staff in this department are required to have a good musical knowledge to be able to assist in the purchase and sales of music. We also host in-store events and concerts and part of the role would be to help programme, promote and host the events.Application deadline is Monday 14th November 2022.See the job advert to find out more and how to apply.
UPDATE 13:00 - We\'re pleased to report Deansgate has been reopened and you can now use our front entrance as usualDue to a police incident on Deansgate in the early hours this morning, there is no access to our front door. You can gain access to our premises via our backdoor/goods entrance on Southgate - you are still welcome to come in and browse!We are told the police cordon is likely to be in place until 13:00 today Monday 13th December.Thank you for your understanding[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"510\" caption=\"Forsyth front entrance not accessible due to police cordon\"][/caption]
The Barber Violin Concerto is a relatively short concerto with a performance time of c.22minutes for the three movement work. A young Samuel Barber was commissioned by Samuel Simeon Fels to write a piece for his ward Iso Briselli, who - like Barber - was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. In 2010, letters between the three parties became available for public reading and revealed quite a story for the work.Barber started working on the first two movements in Switzerland during the summer of 1939. He hoped to complete the concerto in the early fall to meet the October 1st deadline but his plans were interrupted due to the impending war when all Americans were warned to leave Europe. In late August, he travelled back to the USA through Paris arriving in early September. After spending a short time with his family in West Chester, PA, he went to the Pocono Mountains to continue working on the concerto. The first two movements were presented to Briselli in mid-October and they were met with great enthusiasm and ,after suggesting a...
One of the questions we are asked most regularly by classically-trained pianists is \"how can I get into jazz?\" Someone uniquely qualified to answer that question is Tim Richards, who is not only a distinguished international jazz musician in his own right but one who, unusually, can explain his approach to the uninitiated. While many jazz musicians claim to have no idea how they do what they do, Tim runs regular jazz courses for classical pianists and piano teachers in London, examines and contributes to the syllabus for ABRSM jazz exams, and has written a number of popular and critically-acclaimed books on the subject, including Exploring Jazz Piano, winner of the prestigious Music Industries Association Award for Best Pop Publication.We were therefore very excited to welcome Tim to Forsyth for a workshop on \"Getting into Jazz, Blues and Improvisation\" (Sunday 21 July 2019). In this inspiring, free, two-hour session, Tim covered some basic harmony and showed how it can be applied to constructing bass lines and jazz chords. He also gave...
We\'re delighted to tell you about two fantastic charity lunchtime recitals coming up at Forsyth next week!On Tuesday 11 June (12.30pm), pianist Fiona Morganhauser plays a very personal selection of works by Bach, Chopin, Brahms and Debussy in memory of her mother Kathryn Whelpton, with a retiring collection for music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins. For more information and bookings, click here!On Friday 14 June (12.30pm), Alex Winkcup plays a fusion of classical and jazz piano styles, including Earl Wild\'s spectacular Gershwin arrangements, with a retiring collection for the Albert Kennedy Trust, which supports LGBTQ+ people at risk of homelessness. For more information and bookings, click here!We\'re also pleased to bring you pictures from last weekend\'s wonderful piano teacher workshop with Philippa Topham and Adult Piano Adventures (Saturday 1 June) – read more about it here!
Ahead of our free workshop with acclaimed pianist, composer, author and educator Melanie Spanswick on Saturday 26 January, we take a closer look at her new series of books, Play it again: PIANO. While it is primarily aimed at those who are returning to the piano after a break, it is also a perfect course for intermediate and advanced pianists, who have had to make do without modern, structured method books until now...FORSYTH RECOMMENDS... Play it again: PIANO by Melanie SpanswickBook 1: Grade 1 – Grade 4 (£14.99) | Book 2: Grade 5 – Grade 8 (£14.99)Not just \"the perfect way to rediscover the piano\", but also a much-needed, structured course for the intermediate and advanced pianist, for use either with or without a teacher.With so much modern piano tuition material available at the elementary levels, teachers and learners have often been surprised at the lack of similar publications for more developed pianists. Although an experienced teacher can guide a student through a suitable selection of repertoire and studies gathered from various...
A post has become available in our sheet music and recorded music department. The deadline for applications will be Friday 26th October and interviews will take place on Wednesday 31st October and Thursday 1st November.Further details about the role and how to apply can be found here.