Be Positive For Youth!

[madandcrazytromboneguy]

Fleetwood gave me a small taste of some of the youth bands who are in force right now and 2 great performances from astley and st helens really showed that some of the players coming through should be nurtured and gradually brought into our senior bands

if theres any youth or junior bands that you've had the chance to be involved with at some point then give them a mention in this thread!

Lets see how healthy the band movement really is!

HEBDEN BRIDGE JUNIOR BAND
ELLAND SILVER YOUTH
HUDDERSFIELD YOUTH BAND

 

[lloydmcwalters]

woooo wigan youth band all the way , mfy national champions 2005 woo

 

[super_sop]

Wem Jubilee Youth Band conducted by li'l ol' me.

really doing well at the moment

Age range from 7-14 at the moment.

Almost a full band

Enjoying getting out and about performing at fetes throughout the summer, aswell as our own Christmas concert. Also involving the beginers band.

We also have a thriving beginers section.

its safe to say things are looking good at the moment.

 

[Brassy Lady]

Silver Sounds Band

Silver Sounds Band!!!:clap: :clap: :clap:

A newly resurrected youth band based near Lincoln, ages 7-15, but most under 9!!). We seem to be a bit unique as we are not attached to a senior band; makes things a little difficult with recruitment, help, etc; but we now have a group of 10 who are able to play out at fetes and give concerts (with a little 'help' from some supportive oldies). Just had an influx of new beginners so hoping they will get into the band soon.

 

[matt_BBb_bass]

Camborne youth band we are triple national champs of great britain 2004, 2005 and 2006!!!!

and i play for cornwall youth brass band

 

[toby hobson]

Fleetwood gave me a small taste of some of the youth bands who are in force right now and 2 great performances from astley and st helens really showed that some of the players coming through should be nurtured and gradually brought into our senior bands

if theres any youth or junior bands that you've had the chance to be involved with at some point then give them a mention in this thread!

Lets see how healthy the band movement really is!

HEBDEN BRIDGE JUNIOR BAND
ELLAND SILVER YOUTH
HUDDERSFIELD YOUTH BAND

Well as someone who is involved with Astley i can say indeed the future is potentially bright, if that is younger players are given the opportunity, time and guidance at senior level to learn there trade. It seems to me a number of stunning youth players have fallen by the way side over the years, lower section bands should be looking to get these players and nurture them accepting they may well move onto bigger and better things in a few years, while also knowing there will be new players to fill the place if the band is welcoming, friendly and accessible.

 

[Lauradoll]

The only youth band I've been in is the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland...an introduction to the finer points of banding such as......playing whilst hungover, playing whilst laughing at the same time, playijng after being up all night drinking and also introducing me to like minded people. The music wasn't bad either mind....

 

[Kiz7]

In the Forest of Dean there are 5 local bands with a youth or training section, all in varying stages of their development.

The most established band are Lydbrook Training band who regularly compete in the youth/unregistered sections of contests such as the GBBA contest, Crosskeys Contest and Pheonix Brass Contest in Hungerford. 5 graduates of their training band recently competed with the main band in the first section at the national finals and came 5th.

Next come Lydney and Drybrook who have been running for aound 18 months to 2 years. Both of these bands have seen a handful of their more established players move into their main bands since their conception.

Recently started up are the "learners" at Pillowell band and the "academy" at Cinderford band - both of whom are proud to boast numbers of 15 or more (I think)

Also, in the Forest is the Forest of Dean Area Wind band who cater for brass, woodwind and percussion players aged 8 - 18 and have got over 25 brass players (there are 52 in the band). The playing standard of the brass players in this young band ranges from not yet Grade 1 up to Grade 8.

Given that all of the bands are all within a 10 mile radius of each other, I think it is fair to say that youth is definitely the way forward for the Forest of Dean.

Well done, one and all! Long may it continue

 

[HUDDSBASSBONE]

I started playing with a band called Scissett Youth Band, back in the 80's. They were started in the 70's and are still going strong!

Also, there;s our own youth band at Sellers, and the training band as well, so the movement should be alive and kicking in the Huddersfield area for some time to come!

 

[tubafran]

Killamarsh Training Band, ages 8 to 14 plus a mum, total of 18 players at moment - 2 euphs, 1 trom, 3 horns, 1 flugel and loads of cornets. They were only formed in September 2005 and have done 3 performances in our local village with the main band plus one school fete in the summer so far (main band couldn't/wouldn't do it 'cos of low fee).

Their next concert will be on the 29/10/2006 with the main band and then they have their own engagement to perform at the turning on of our village Christmas lights on the 17th November (how early is that?). Just got them some Christmas books called Simply Christmas with all the popular carols and some Christmas tunes and songs too.

Great news is that we can now let the training band do all the jobs that the main band arn't that keen on doing and they get to earn some fees on their own account.

 

[Hollso]

We've got quite a few great young players in our junior band. Of course ol' John Clay will always remind me how long his little favourite's been playing and how he can do things I can't... ¬¬

But we're going pretty strong, and have a learners group too. We've held the Robertshaw Music Festival trophy for the last 9 years. Or is it 10 now? Beating adult wind bands and Huddersfield Brass Youth...
The kids that have joined encourage their parent's to come along and start playing anew/again. My mum included. We're such a family oriented band now.

Clifton and Lightcliffe Juniors!

 

[HCookiemonster]

Our Training Band (Tewkesbury Town) has gone from strength to strength over the past 5 years or so. It started with a group of 8 and has developed into a 40 strong outfit with a Beginners Band and an Intermediate Band.

It is not strictly all youth since we do not discourage anyone from learning (and many parents have taken up the gauntlet of following their children as brass players!). The Intermediate Band has been doing engagements of its own for the past two years, has its own Christmas and Summer Cabaret Concerts, and has even gone on tour to meet Sidmouth Town Youth Band during the last two summers.

Several of the youngsters are now playing with the Senior Band and its great! Long may it last....even if it requires a lot of time and input from my wife, myself and the other helpers!

 

[bignige]

We have an active Training Band at Verwood for over 30 years. They are able to perform their own events and always play at concerts we produce in the "village" (well, its a town now) including a Christmas musical panto. Used to be a junior band but parents wanted to play so that's why it's a training band. For that reason contesting is not viable.

It's good to produce our own players as there is not much brass teaching in schools down here. We had ten "products" of the training band when we played at the Nationals in the last two years.

Good luck to all training bands and their conductors.

 

[Anno Draconis]

I started playing in Northop Youth round about 1981 - ohmigod that's a quarter of a century ago

In the late 80s we had a pretty classy band and I think they've got a good band now; AFAIK they also have a training band. It wouldn't be much of an overstatement to say that I owe much of who/what I am now to the love of music that first formed playing for Northop Youth and I owe people like Bernie Thelwell, Stuart Thelwell, and Anne Hughes a lot. To them and everyone up and down the country who gives up their free time to teach kids how to play brass band instruments.....Thanks, guys.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

EDIT: PS I should also mention the sterling work done by the buys/gals who run the Middleton and Heywood Youth Band - including tMPs very own CrazySop!

 

[euphfanhan]

Red Rose Youth was my first band...I had 3 years of fun! No one's heard of them which is a real shame as they've introduced so many players into the brass band world. I never realised how much work Robert Nelson, the conductor, did until I left and realised that in my new band, and many others, that the conductor gets paid for turning up to a rehearsal, conducting and going home! The comittee do the rest apparantly. Robert organised all the music, programmes, the concerts, contests, applying for lottery grants etc, coach/minibus hire, purchase of instruments, uniforms, music, the band's CD library, and even gave various members of the band lifts home, sometimes having to return to the bandroom up to 4 times due to the number of people needing transport! He didn't get paid a penny, in fact he must have lost out on a fair amount of money from petrol and the likes. Amazing bloke! Rant over now!
Lancashire Youth Band can also be a lot of fun, I don't think I've ever played anything I haven't enjoyed yet!

 

[bandcampgal]

Fleetwood gave me a small taste of some of the youth bands who are in force right now and 2 great performances from astley and st helens really showed that some of the players coming through should be nurtured and gradually brought into our senior bands

I've been a member of Pemberton Youth Band since it formed in 1996 (now a tutor). We also played great on sunday. Especially as for many of the players it was their 1st contest experience.

 

[BeatTheSheep]

Chorley Silver band are still going strong despite my illness. Thanks to dave chadwick of valley brass for all his help!

Picked up best unregistered march at hardrow scar at first attempt against adults this month, and will be entering natioanl youth in april. All without me. doh.

New news! got a transplant date in november. may well be back to fitness next year, hurrah!

 

[becks164]

well i played with sellers youth and i wouldnt have gone any where else. i had the best five years at this band, shame i had to go to uni far away and leave them!!!

 

[jim]

I was a member of a band called chepstow town band which was very much a youth band then also the greater gwent youth band and finnaly the nybbw.

 

[madandcrazytromboneguy]

This is the point i'm making

So far this thread has only been up a few days and we've already had a fair few youth junior training and learner bands mentioned, and with the number of TMP'rs there are on here, it wouldn't suprize me to see some more being mentioned

All this rubbish about brass banding going downhill, yeah fair enough we have to encourage these young players to carry on into adult bands but the point is, theres gonna be less bands folding and less vacancies in bands if we can get these young players coming through into the senior level

Brass banding is still on the up in my opinion, and if everyone was to get behind the movement insted of putting it down for all its faults then we'd be progressing even faster. Remember everything has faults, whether it be music, sport, arts, ologies, whatever!, and its easy to bring them up all the time, so lets do something thats just as easy and give banding the full support it needs from EVERYONE!

Lets keep seeing all these other bands being mentioned, its been a good list so far, lets make it even bigger, maybe we can have every single youth and junior band in the country mentioned on here, bet it can be done!