Over 80 young brass players recently walked through the doors of Evesham High School to participate in the 9th Wychavon Festival of Brass Youth Project.

Stretch

Led under the baton of Nicky Daw, MD of Worcestershire Youth Band, the young musicians performed music that was chosen to stretch their current standards.

Tutors

Tutoring the young percussion section was Steve Jones of Tredegar, whilst the tuba section was under the control of George Cullwick from University of Warwick Brass.

Flowers Andy Johnson had control of the euphoniums, trombones and baritones, whilst Naomi Daw looked after the tenor horns. David Moore and Helen Lane shared the almighty volume of the cornets between them.

Funded

This event was funded by the Wychavon Festival of Brass committee, working in partnership with Worcestershire Youth Music. It was free for all members and for the first time in the history of this event, there were two brass bands.

Whilst the more experienced pupils were being tutored, the beginners were able to show their talents with conductors Mark Oldham and Charlotte Daw.

The event is about giving the young players the opportunity of playing in an ensemble for the first time with the support from the more experienced players in the County Brass BandNicky Daw

Dream come true

Nicky Daw told 4BR: "It’s a dream come true to be able to allow the beginners access to this day.

The event is about giving the young players the opportunity of playing in an ensemble for the first time with the support from the more experienced players in the County Brass Band taking on the mentorship role for the day."

Festival composer

The Festival invites one member of the Worcestershire Youth Brass Band who is studying music GCSE or A-Level to compose a piece of music which will get a world premiere at the youth project day.

This year, Clare Jakeman (Eb Bass) composed, ‘Brassbound’ after she enjoyed playing ‘Brass on the run’ and ‘Westbound’ in previous years at this event.