Huntingdonshire Music School Association

Now that we’ve come over all interactive and are starting to expose our social bits (careful ) we’ve added some added a lot of capabilities that folks who register with us can make us of.

These include:-

• ability to post comments
• ability to use and post on the discussion forums
• ability to sign up for our email distribution lists so that we can keep - those that want to be - informed of what we’re up to and - occasionally - when we’re on the scrounge for help

This makes life easy for you - your sign-in works everywhere on the site and you can choose as much or as little to keep advised of. It also makes our (read ‘my’) life easier as we don’t have to maintain separate contact forms or manage email addresses - everyone looks after their own!

You don’t have to be a student or parent of a student - anyone can register with us as an ‘interested spectator’ and join in. We are a friendly bunch after all. It’s just that our students (and teachers) get to do a bit more.

Go on then - join the site

Don’t be a Vegetable - Keep Regular: An Event Shared is an Event Enjoyed

Dear Diary, sat at home today watching the paint blister on the outside porch. I wonder where the rain-water’s going…. perhaps watching the mould grow might add excitement….... I could count the bricks on the side of the garage later ...

If you want more excitement than betting on rain drops (or pooh sticks- a game, not a medical condition ) you’ve really got to get out more.

There’s no point in complaining that you "don’t know what’s going on" or "no-one ever tells me.." when you could subscribe to the music college online calendars and stimulate the grey stuff (not the mould) with live music.

Our musical director, a cross between Victor Borge and Tigger,says that anything with a pulse is good for you - and he’s not a vegetarian.[ Both will keep you regular, though - groan. ]

I do hope that he was talking about music ... oh, dear!

Overview

We have created and maintain 2 online calendars:-

• HUMS - calendar for the Huntingdonshire Music School. Terms times,concerts, exams, socials etc.
• External Events - music events accessible to all in and around Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire etc.

This has been done using the iCalendar format so that you can subscribe to the calendar(s) and will then be guaranteed the latest up to date information on your computer without having to enter anything. Any changes we make are automatically picked up by all the subscribers to our calendars.

Often there will be web pages associated with an event. Using one of these applications you can double-click on an event in the calendar and then on the web page address shown (URL) which will take you to a page providing more information.

To subscribe to our calendars you need one of the following software applications:-

• Thunderbird news/email application (Windows, Linux, Mac)
• Sunbird stand-alone calendar application (Windows, Linux, Mac)
• iCal stand-alone calendar application (Mac only)

All of these are free and can be downloaded and installed easily.

The instructions show you how to install and subscribe to our calendars together with one showing UK holidays.

The 2 basic steps are:-

1. install an application that will download and update a shareable calendar (iCalendar format)
2. get (subscribe to) one or more calendars

Thereafter, when you have the application running and it is connected to the Internet, it will check and update the calendars that you’ve loaded.

Step 1 - Installing an iCalendar-aware Application

Installing Thunderbird E-mail Application and the Lightning Calendar Add-On

• Download the Thunderbird mail application fromhttp://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
• Install
• Start Thunderbird up.
• Go to the Download/Install Lightning Calendar download page at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
• Download the version of Calendar for the Thunderbird for your computing platform (Windows /Linux /Mac)
  • If you right-mouse click on the download link you can choose where to save it - save it on your desktop.
  • the browser will ask you if you want to allow this - you need to say ‘yes’.
• After completion start the Thunderbird application and select theTools | Add-Ons (or the Tools| Extensions on the Mac version) menu item.
• Click on the Install button and point the Install file dialogue at the Lightning add-on you downloaded at step 5 (file ending with .api - should be on your desktop if you followed our advice;-) )
• Click on the Open button
• Click on the Install Now button
• Click on OK
• Quit and restart Thunderbird
• Subscribe to our calendars (below)

Installing the Sunbird Calendar Application

• Download the Sunbird calendar application from http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/
• Install
• Start Sunbird up.
• Subscribe to our calendars (below)

Step 2 - Adding Calendars

Subscribing to (Adding) Our Online Calendars to Your Application

Now that you have an application on your computer that can capture shareable calendars and display them, you need to add some calendars - ours!

• Click on the the link to subscribe to the HUMS Calendar. You can edit the name and colour used to show the events.
• Click on this link to subscribe to the External Musical Events Calendar.
• Click on this link to subscribe to the UK Holidays calendar.

Other calendars are available at iCalShare

At present, ensembles include group theory and aural lessons, 2 Orchestras, 5 Bands and 8 Ensembles. Other ensemble and group playing is encouraged and regular concerts are held in and out of College.

The current groups are:-

Ensembles

• Brass Ensemble
• Choir - Coming Soon (beginning 2010)
• Flute Choir
• Guitar Ensemble
• Intermediate Brass Ensemble
• Saxophone Ensemble
• Senior String Ensemble
• String Ensemble
• Woodwind Ensemble

Bands

• Bluegrass
• Intermediate Concert Band
• Junior Rock Band
• Preparatory Concert band
• Rock Band
• Senior Concert Band
• Big Band

Orchestras

• Junior Orchestra
• Senior Orchestra

The list is fairly fluid as we encourage those with a similar interest to start their own groups.

Students can enter for practical and theory exams from beginner to diploma lessons. Exams are held at Huntingdonshire College every term.