Leading figures from the British Army visit National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain’s summer course

Captain Stuart Marsh Adjutant of the Headquarters Household Divisions Band and the Director of Music of the Welsh Guards Band, Major Stewart Halliday, are just two of the many high-profile guests due to call in on the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain’s (NYBBGB) forthcoming virtual Summer course later this month.

Captain Marsh is to give a behind the scenes presentation on this year’s special Queen’s Birthday Tribute, held last month at Windsor Castle in lieu of the cancellation of Trooping of the Colour. Major Halliday will then feature alongside colleagues from the Household Division.

The special presentation – part of the NYBBGB’s National Youth at Home interactive initiative – will focus on key elements including preparing for the day, the choice of music, the challenges of socially distanced marching, and recreating the traditional military drill, the spin-wheel. Captain Marsh will guide the viewers through a mix of recordings, performances, imagery and interviews with key personalities of the musical delivery of the Queen’s Birthday Parade.

Described by BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell as “a birthday parade for changed times”, this year was the first time that the tribute has been staged at Windsor since 1895, when a ceremony was held in honour of Queen Victoria.

Major Stewart Halliday, who took over the King’s Division Brass Band in June 2015, said: “I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to be part of a talk to the youngsters during their annual Summer course. With numerous former members of the NYBBGB going on to become military musicians, I’m hoping the talk will give a real insight into life of a musician in the armed forces. With the traditional trooping of the colour ceremony, which normally features hundreds of servicemen and women and thousands of spectators, being ruled out because of the threat of coronavirus, I’ll be part of a talk youngsters about us having only left 10 days for us to prepare for the new look Trooping of the Colour, and what we did to achieve it.”

The National Youth Brass Band online course will be between 27 and 30 July. This will follow the National Children’s Brass Band online course, which was held between 19 and 21 July. The joint end of course concert for both bands is due to be broadcast on YouTube and Facebook Live at 7pm on 7th August.

Find the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (funded by Arts Council England and the Department for Education) on Facebook and via Twitter @nybbgb or via www.nybbgb.com.

For more information about a musical career in the Army search ‘Army Musician.’

National Youth and National Children’s Brass Bands of Great Britain to hold interactive virtual open day for brass & percussion players aged eight to eighteen

Funded by Arts Council England and the Department for Education, the National Youth (NYBB) and National Children’s (NCBB) Brass Bands of Great Britain (NYBBGB) are to hold an interactive virtual open day for young brass and percussion players on Tuesday 28th July.

The workshop – part of the NYBBGB’s National Youth at Home initiative – will give brass and percussion players, aged eight to 18, the chance to join a sectional and full-band band rehearsal.

Participants will also get the chance to ask questions to the NYBB’s artistic director, principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey, Music Director of the NCBB, Professor Nicholas Childs, Musical Director of Black Dyke Band, senior house tutors of both the NCBB and NYBB as well as members of the band’s leading team of tutors. These include Kate Moore (cornet), Tracey Redfern (cornet), Paul Young (cornet), Siobhan Bates (horns), David Childs (baritones & euphoniums), Carol Jarvis (trombones), Nick Etheridge (tubas), and Mark Landon (percussion.)

Alun Williams, the NYBBGB’s interim administrator, said: “The open day has proven a welcome innovation in recent years to the residential courses, and are always a great opportunity for children and young brass and percussion players to come together and experience a flavour of what to expect in being part of the NYBB or the NCBB. Not only will this be the first-time that the organisation has held its courses virtually, but it will be the first- time that the band’s open day has moved online.”

Alumni of the two bands include Philip Cobb (London Symphony Orchestra), Mark Wilkinson (Fodens Band) and David Childs (euphonium soloist.)

The Open day will be held between 10am and 1pm. To register your interest and be a part of this exciting open day please register on Eventbrite by searching for National Youth at Home Open Day or via https://bit.ly./NYatHomeOpenDay2020.

Find the organisation on Facebook and via Twitter @nybbgb or via www.nybbgb.com.

The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBB) & National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain (NCBB) unveil plans for their joint innovative Summer National Youth at Home courses & concert

The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBB) and the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain (NCBB) – made up of 140 of the UK’s most young talented brass and percussion players – are to perform a joint virtual concert on Friday 7 August.

The concert – the first time the two bands have performed together – will be the culmination of two innovative back-to-back virtual courses, the first time the organisation has replaced its residential courses with online courses since the NYBB was founded in 1952. The NCBB course will be held between 19 and 21 July, and the NYBB course will be between 27 and 30 July.

The NYBB will be led by Artistic Director, the Grammy and Juno award-winning conductor and composer Bramwell Tovey, Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra; and the NCBB will be led by Artistic Director Professor Nicholas Childs, Musical Director of the Black Dyke Band. The concert will feature guest soloists, David Childs (euphonium) and Brett Baker (trombone.) The two courses will also premiere two new compositions for virtual brass band, Bramwell Tovey’s Madrigali for Brass Band and Percussion and Peter Graham’s Strange New World.

The technical delivery of the course will be led by NYBB and NCBB alumni Ben Stratford of Mango Design, who was also commissioned to create a new brand identity for the two course under the theme National Youth at Home.

Dr Robert Childs, the Chairman of the NYBB and NCBB, said: “We’re really excited about our forthcoming virtual courses and end of courses joint concert. This will the first time that the two bands have performed together in concert, the first time that we’ve gone online, a necessary move during the current pandemic, and the first time that the two bands have gone under the same banner.”

“Although we will never be able to replace the physical courses we are known for, our two artistic directors, the trustees and I really felt that the young musicians shouldn’t miss out. We are therefore, delighted to have created two courses which will offer something really special for the children and young musicians, something we’d like to think, aren’t offered elsewhere.”

More details of the two courses and the end of courses concert will be announced soon. Find the organisation on Facebook, via Twitter @nybbgb or via www.nybbgb.com

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