It is shocking to see that this practice of discouraging players from playing in brass bands is as previnent as it is! I would even go as far as to see that it is a bl***y disgrace!
Turriff Silver (my last band) have exactly the same problem. They have the disadvantage of being a small town about 40 miles from aberdeen. the head of music (a former brass band person himself) it would appear has actively discouraged people from joining the band while at school. It has now got to the point that they have had to go back to the grass roots of banding and my father-in-law now teaches at the band hall three nights of the week. In the space of a year, the Junior band has moved from a handfull of players, who could not even play, to a nice wee band who get a good crowd wherever they play. I personally think that this will help to improve turriff band over the next 5-10 years and in a country town like turriff will get a band spirit that will be hard to find, or create, anywhere else!
I think that there are times that no matter what you do with the local schools, they have the attitide that brass bands are just not worth it. One player (who is going to be a right good cornet player) also plays the cello at school. Her mum was told that there was no point in carryin on with the cornet as after she leaves school there is nowhere for her to play! Am I being a little bit stupid, but exactly how many orchestras for non school kids are there in the north east of scotland......!
Granite City Brass (my own band) now have a Community band who are a mixture of school kids and adults who have not played for a while or just do not want to contest. It has doubled in size over the last year, so we must be doing something right. Anything that ensures that people still play after they leave school is a good idea in my eyes. we are fortunate enough to have a number of school teachers in our band which helps, but not for trombonists as it would seem that they all are taught BC and not TC. Then again it is not exactly that hard to learn another clef...
Anyway, that is my rambling rant over :evil: Sorry to go on so much, I feel quite strongly about this (you may have gathered)!