Updates
2019 National Youth Championships at Warwick This was it then! The milestone for the band – the Youth Champs in Wawrick! We spent the whole of the week prior in a state of high excitement, making sure everyone and everything was ready: Travel, uniforms, music (and how to play it!), safeguarding and risk assessments, contact details and medical requirements, there’s a lot to think about. Luckily our crack team - Linda, Cara and Kirstyanne - had everything in hand. On the day, every player arrived and it was lovely to meet the families. You can see the photos on our Brass of the Saff Facebook group. The band played superbly and we were very proud of how they have come on. The Brass of the Saff has attracted quite a bit of attention and we were pleased to be interviewed by 4bars rest – which is the main press outlet for brass bands. You can see the interview on our Facebook group. Thanks to our new funding, we have installed a band admin system. This means we can improve our communication with families and really look at the progress, musical and otherwise, of each of our players. Badges, awards and qualifications are the name of the game next term so there’s no slacking. We will be exploring ‘beyond the stave’ as well, and experimenting with original ideas. Exciting! Performances Catch the band playing this year at the Riverside Festival on Sunday 2nd June and at the Cosmopolitan Carnival in August. Join the Brass of the Saff If you know a young person who would like to join the band after Easter – here’s a link to book a place https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brass-of-the-saff-youth-band-tickets-59108281461 Taster sessions Groups can order a taster session from us too. We can bring up to 20 instruments and deliver an hour of introductory instrumental fun and games for groups of all ages at a cost of £200 (subsidies are available for funded groups). Contact us at [email protected]
Two days, not long to prepare and put on a concert - especially with all our visitors. Bob Sheldon and Councillors came to check out our project delivery, Jon Read (trumpet player with the Specials and top guy) and Marcus Joseph (sax player and equally top guy), Gemma Fuller (trumpet player and top lady) all came to support and inspire our players. Darren Lea from Warwick Music popped in for the concert and to interview players and families. And photographers from the Mayor's office and the Leicester Mercury swung by too. Lots happening then, and still we managed to prepare 5 pieces and 3 ensembles for the concert. Thanks to all those who came and watched! We also prepared for Music Medals and for Arts Awards. Not a moment was wasted. And this was hard work but as ever, our players rose to the challenge admirably. The best thing was the camaraderie that developed over the two days. With that concert ahead, everyone pulled together as a team. And of course we pushed the boundaries of brass. We have a dhol player, we created a rap to start our Tick Tock piece and we played a short version of John Cage's classic 4/32 silence. It was just the best 2 days ever. Thanks to the team, Linda, Cara and Melissa, thanks to the families and here's to the Summer Band Camp! Oh, and you guys paid for it so thanks to you too!
Head over to our Facebook group @brassofthesaff to see pictures of our very first Band Camp day. We welcomed some amazing musicians: @jonathanread from the Specials and @marcusjosephsax, we met the Mayor Peter Soulsby and Councillor Elly Cutkelvin, both if whom have supported the band, and we made some great music. What really bowled us over though was the focus, creativity and sheer grit of the young players, who played a challenging programme and still came out smiling! Well done Brass of the Saff!
Several adults have asked if they could learn to play one of our beautiful new instruments. The answer is... YES! Come to St Hugh's Church on Sturdee Road on a Thursday at 7.30 pm and have a go. If you like it, we run a beginner session at that time every week. It is never too late to start. We are also thrilled that the makers of our beautiful instruments, Warwick Music, are are to pay a visit to the Brass of the Saff this week. Looking forward to seeing you guys! Onwards and upwards!
The first 10 instruments are here! And we are naming each one after our wonderful donors. These two are Cara and Angela. Thanks ladies, you should have seen the band's faces when we unveiled these today! We started work on our contest pieces as well. After the first 10 minutes I felt we had set the bar too high. But after an hour I was feeling amazed at our players - underestimate the Brass of the Saff at your peril! We will keep you updated as we approach the contest on March 30th. Thanks, Julie (Drum and Brass)
Happy New Year to our supporters! We're now ready for new players (yes that includes you Kirstyanne!) as Drum and Brass has ordered the first 10 instruments using the money you all so kindly gave. We enjoyed playing carols for the community and in the Leicester City Centre over Christmas. Now it's contest time. From next Tuesday we'll be hard at work preparing for the National Youth Championships in Warwick on March 30th. So it's literally all to play for! And we'll be dressed for the part, also thanks to you, in our new uniforms. Watch this space! regards, Julie (www.drumandbrass.co.uk)
Well together we did it! This Leicester Crowdfunding campaign has been an amazing experience for the band. With your help we have made many, many new friends and more than exceeded our ambitious target. The final Community Bucket donation was the best Christmas present the band could have. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The donations will be taken from your accounts in the next couple of days. Now our journey to the National Youth Championships begins and we hope you will stick around and share our journey. I'll be posting here but also, do join our Facebook page and/or email us at [email protected]. Come and see us, we'd love to meet you and say thank you in person! The Brass of the Saff will play tonight, Thursday 13th December at Oadby (outside Subway) at 6 pm and on Saturday 22nd December at 3.30 pm outside Santa's grotto in the New Market Square or listen out for us on Radio Leicester on the breakfast show on Christmas Eve! We'll be thinking of you as we play. In the new year we shall buy our new instruments in rainbow colours. This says loud and proud that we welcome every single person in the Saffron Lane community to join us to celebrate life through music. If you know anyone who would like to join, email us! We meet every Tuesday between 3.15 and 4.45 pm at Marriott primary School, Broughton Lane, Leicester. We can loan instruments and provide music coaching, whatever your age. This is your band, come play! meanwhile on behalf of The Brass of the Saff Have a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year regards Julie and all at Brass of the Saff
