The Newstead Folk Group took part in the Music for Youth Regional Festival at Reigate College on Saturday 22 March. This was a great occasion and an opportunity for the group to perform on a professional stage with industry mentors assessing their performance. The feedback from the mentors was excellent:
'What a strong start to the set, thank you for creating shape and excitement straight away. Loved the use of dynamic contrasts in your first piece, swapping between smaller groups, soloists and the whole band.
Kudos to your singer for the challenging Gaelic rep. Always heartening to see young artists not be afraid to take up the space they need to make sure they can do a solid performance for everyone.
Great to see people switching around and getting a feel for the different roles in an ensemble, and letting the music dictate what it needs for each performance. Also lovely to see some smiles - this is such joyous music!
Great to see you interact and have fun as well. Bowing from your strings was all in synch, which makes such a difference to delivery.
You really served the music and made such an impact and I’m excited to see what you all do next.'
The group performed a set of traditional tunes and included our now famous audience participation section in the form of Stamping. Erin D sang the Gaelic song “Hùg air a' bhonaid mhòir”.
Newstead Folk Group have now been invited to take part in the National Festival where they will have more opportunities to perform and take part in workshops.