The Southern Counties Youth Band has reached the end of an enjoyable and successful year and is looking forward to starting all over again in September!
Our regular monthly rehearsals from September to March included a fun open rehearsal at Christmas, conducted by tutor Ian Lanceley, where band members got the chance to play some different music alongside parents and younger siblings. This is an annual event and everyone who fancies a break from the festivities and a chance to blow away the Christmas cobwebs is very welcome to join us for the day! (The date and venue for the 2019 Open Rehearsal will be posted on this website).
April saw our annual Easter Residential course return to the wonderful Anniversary Hall at St Catherine’s school in Bramley. We had a new guest MD this year, the brilliant and inspiring Lee Skipsey from the City of Bradford Bands and InSynch Choirs.
The band had a great few days exploring new repertoire and groaning at Lee’s “conductor jokes”. During the course we also had a movie night (sing-along-a-Greatest-Showman!), a mini-concert by a quintet of Tutors (enhanced by unrehearsed additional percussion and special effects from Mr Skipsey…) and a quiz night. Band members also had the chance to experience our region’s champion band, Friary, rehearsing for the Grand Shield contest.
The course ended with our now traditional concert where the band performed a demanding and entertaining programme brilliantly to an appreciative audience of family and friends. During the concert our annual awards were presented by Lee:
Player of the Week ~ Hattie Asker and Thomas Hall
Most Improved Player (and recipient of the Norman Every Trophy) ~ Isabelle Davies-Wolfe
By popular demand, Lee has already been booked to come back and take our next course in April 2020.
In a change from the routine of previous years, SCYB met again in July for an extra rehearsal and performed as part of the Borde Hill Brass Festival, an initiative from scaba to support Youth and non-contesting bands in our region. One of 4 bands to take part, and despite missing a few of our members because of exams and holidays, the band performed wonderfully. Special mention must go to our featured soloists Hattie Asker (flugel) and Thomas Hall (euphonium), and to Liam Maton for stepping into the hot seat and playing Principal Cornet for the day. The band enjoyed themselves so much we’re looking for more opportunities to perform during the year and planning to return to #BordeHillBrassFest next July – watch this space!
SCYB gives young brass and percussion players a fabulous opportunity to develop their playing and learn new repertoire in a band full of players their own age, guided by our dedicated and experienced team of tutors.
In addition to the usual calendar of rehearsals next year, we’re also looking at opportunities for the band to perform in public more, and thanks to an incredibly generous bequest from the family of David Ruel (local conductor and former scaba Executive committee member) we are commissioning a piece of music by the fabulously talented John Barber (composer, arranger and Principal Trombone of the Foden’s Band) specially for SCYB which we will perform the World Premiere of in 2020.
You can download the SCYB Membership Pack and application form here, or contact our secretary Alex if you have any questions.