Bring Back the Brass: BBE are here to help you re-engage your youth band online

Brass Bands England are helping youth bands across the country re-engage their members with their newly launched Brass Foundations programme.

The next stage of the programme, which launched in January, will be a free webinar (£5 for non-members) featuring three of BBE’s Youth Development Brass Specialists. Taking place on Thursday 4 March at 7pm, experts Paul Fisher, Deirdre Waller-Box and Helen Minshall will explore the challenges and the potential of working with young people online.

Across the last year, many youth bands and ensembles have ventured into the unknown and taken their rehearsals online. For those who haven’t taken the leap, this interactive session should provide you with the tools you need to get started. It will cover the complexities of playing together virtually, help you to prepare for an online rehearsal, and explain how BBE can help you further develop your online offer.

BBE’s Education and Development Manager Sarah Baumann commented:

“BBE Brass Foundations launched a month ago and our five new Youth Development Brass Specialists have been doing incredible work despite being limited by COVID-19 restrictions.

One area that many leaders of Youth Bands have requested support for is running online rehearsals, in particular from bands who haven’t been running regular sessions throughout the last year.

In this webinar we want to empower youth band leaders who haven’t ventured online yet to re-engage with the young people in their band before we return to in-person rehearsals.”

The BBE team are also collecting data on the needs and aspirations of those already running or looking to set up a youth band. You can take part by completing their three-minute Brass Foundations survey, sharing information on what support you might need for your future youth work.

You can book a place on the Brass Foundations webinar via the BBE website.