Music – get involved

Music can bring a lot of pleasure, whether you listen to it at home, attend concerts, sing, or play a musical instrument yourself.  If you want to get involved to listen, sing or play an instrument yourself, we have information on some of the organisations that can help you. Use the links below to jump to the sections that interest you the most.

Choirs and singing

Friendship Choir at Fawdon sing a range of music including pop, gospel, country and western and folk. Everybody welcome on Tuesdays, 6.30 pm to 8pm at Fawdon Community Centre..

Heaton Voices Choir is a community choir that is keen to perform in different places for charities and the community sector, especially in and around the Heaton area.

Jesmond Choral Group is a friendly local choir which currently meets on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm at St Hilda’s Church.

Holy Spirit Church in Denton has a choir.

The Newbiggin Hall Community Choir meets at St Wilfred’s Parish Church and provides an opportunity for all age groups to make music together and make new friends. Both Church and Choir work with local schools and care homes.

Newcastle Male Chorus meets on Wednesday evenings at 7.15pm in Cragside Primary School. New members of all abilities are welcome.

North East Gospel Choir are a mixed age choir singing mainly, but not exclusively, Gospel music. Singing for pleasure and to perform.

Online Pop up Choirs on Wednesday morning at 9am and Sundays 11 am and 6 pm. All on Zoom with Beccy Owen

Search Newcastle run a weekly choir group at Cruddas Park GP Surgery

Silverline Memories run The Silverline Singers group for people living with Dementia and their Carers to enjoy music and singing together in a warm and welcoming environment.

The Silver Programme is run by The Sage Gateshead. They provide a range of supported music workshops and events for people over the age of 50. It is open to people of all abilities and provides the opportunity to expand your skills by working with experienced tutors in workshops, performances, visits and intergenerational work.

West End Voices is a weekly community choir, open to anyone on Mondays 7 – 8.30pm at St James’ Church in Benwell. It’s donation based, so you pay what you can and you don’t need to be able to read music to get involved. Whether you’re a confident singer or an absolute beginner you’ll learn songs from around the world including folk, gospel, pop, and light classical in 3 and 4 part harmony.

Tuneless Choir – Newcastle sing purely for the pleasure of it and to feel uplifted afterwards! They meet fortnightly on Saturday’s 2-3.30pm at Brunswick Methodist Church.

Virtually Tuneless is an online ‘choir’ for people who want to ‘sing like no one is listening’, no matter how wonky their singing notes. They meet weekly online. There’s a cost for this session

Playing music

The Silver Programme is run by The Sage Gateshead. They provide a range of supported music workshops and events for people over the age of 50. It is open to people of all abilities and provides the opportunity to expand your skills by working with experienced tutors in workshops, performances, visits and inter generational work.

Wideopen Library has a regular Music group which meets every second Monday. It’s open to people with or without musical experience. This group bring their own instruments and use it as an opportunity to play together, listen to different types of music and discuss music.

Semitones are a small group of musicians of various ages and musical abilities who perform free concerts in care homes and sheltered accommodation around Newcastle.

Jamieson Music Tuition run a guitar and ukulele community class every Friday at the City Library. All ages and abilities welcome.

Making Music Together is a community project in the west end of Newcastle to provide opportunities to learn, play and listen to music.

Crossings Community Group is a music making and learning group for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and all other members of the community. Giving opportunities to learn and perform. They meet most Monday evenings. They have a choir, an open music jam session, guitar learning, violin learning and children’s choir. It is free and open to everyone.

Orchestras

Northumberland Orchestral Society regularly rehearse and perform a wide variety of orchestral music. They list their orchestra vacancies on their website.

The Cobweb Orchestra is a friendly community orchestra for players of all abilities. There are no auditions, no entry requirements, no weekly commitment, and no limit on the number of players. The emphasis of The Cobweb Orchestra is on sharing the enthusiasm for and enjoyment of music.

The Geoff Walton Orchestra is open to players of all ages, but particularly retired people. It currently meets on Friday afternoons during school terms in Heaton Community Centre from 1.30pm until 3.30pm. There are no auditions and no concerts are given.

Ukulele Groups

There are many Ukulele groups across the city:

Throckley Community Centre Ukulele group meet every Monday

Chapel House and District Community Association (CHADCA) meet every Tuesday

Search Newcastle run a group for over 50’s every Tuesday

Nunsmoor Centre run a weekly group on Tuesdays. Term time only

Jamieson Music Tuition run a guitar and ukulele community class every Friday at the City Library. All ages and abilities welcome.

Tuition and instruments

J G Windows Musical Instrument Rent to Buy Trial Scheme gives you the chance to ‘try before you buy’ before you commit to the purchase of an instrument. For a small monthly rental fee you can choose an instrument from classical guitars to violins, violas and cellos, in a range of sizes suitable for all ages; to woodwind instruments such as the flute, clarinet, and the saxophone; and the brass family from trumpets and cornets to trombones.

Northern Music Centre is a unique and dedicated establishment offering private tuition in a wide range of musical instruments, including piano, keyboard, saxophone, clarinet, flute, drums and many more. All tuition is given on a one to one basis.

The Globe is a community owned venue promoting jazz and all genres of music.  There are jazz workshops, some in association with the Sage.

Music appreciation

The Bridge Folk Club, meet and listen to a range of live folk singers from traditional to contemporary. They enjoy songs from Sweden, Germany, Spain, Japan, Australia, North America, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Everyone who comes along is encouraged, but never forced, to participate whether it be a song, poem, monologue, or just join in the choruses. The group runs every Monday night at 8pm at the Bridge Hotel pub, in Castle Square.

The Music Appreciation Group is a small group of men and women who meet for 2 hours every week to listen to a wide range of music, mainly classical. They meet on Wednesdays 1-3pm at Blackfriars Hall. People interested in finding out more are encouraged to come along to a session. New members will be given a very warm welcome. It costs £3 per session and this includes tea and biscuits.

Walkerville Community Centre run a Music Society.

Fawdon Community Centre hosts a Music Appreciation Society every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month from 1.30pm.

Bebop Spoken Here  a Jazz blog – offers previews and reviews to help you plan

Last updated: November 29, 2023