Andy\'s Blawg! No1
Maestro Camp
This month we held our 2012 SBBA Conductor's Workshop Weekend. We had 27 conductors take part in a very busy weekend of learning with classes taking place in conducting technique, repertoire choices, band motivation, writing for lower section bands and an excellent workshop given by Lynsey Paterson explaining percussion instruments being played by young and inexperienced players, and generally went some way towards demystifying the ‘Shed-builders section' - her words, not mine!
The hugely successful and hugely talented Alan Withington led the 10 ‘senior band' conductors who worked with the Co-op Band, and our own Scottish based talents of Alan Fernie and Nigel Boddice worked with the ‘lower section/youth band' conductors.
Conductors and tutors at the SBBA Conductor's Workshop Weekend.
The feedback from the conductors themselves has been extremely positive, and we will certainly be planning to run another Conductor's Weekend next year when we want even more conductors to take part.
This event is very important in SBBA's activities as conducting is a skill that needs to be learned and needs to be worked at and the quality of our conductors directly affects the quality of our bands. SBBA's success in founding new youth bands is well documented. When my predecessor Alan Edmond, began working for SBBA in the Development Officer role in 2006 there were only 6 youth bands in Scotland. Today there are 60 youth bands, and we have a target to have 75 youth bands throughout Scotland by 2016.
When someone decides to become a conductor they are taking on a role which is not just about beating time, although that is obviously a very important part of the job. Many other issues such as personnel-management, organising rehearsals, picking programmes, inspiring confidence, interpreting scores, understanding and achieving a good balance and good intonation from the band are all part of being a good brass band conductor. SBBA has a responsibility not just to create new bands but also to create new opportunities for our conductors to learn these skills. This cannot of course be done in a single weekend, but for the conductors who took part last weekend the issues discussed will have a long lasting and thought provoking influence on their conducting and musical direction in the future, and that is surely a good thing for all involved with brass bands in Scotland.
Tutor's Camp
Our next weekend workshop will be for the tutors and teachers involved in our youth bands. We estimate that there are over 150 people involved with this task, an average of 3 per band. These people range from professional teachers to adult players who have had no formal musical training, who together volunteer their time and pass on their knowledge to help the children in our youth bands learn to play.
Our planned Tutor's Workshop Weekend will deal with all aspects of tuition for children including training for the tutors on the individual instruments in the brass band, the essential ingredients needed for good teaching, motivation skills, warm-up options for band, child protection legislation, funding options for youth bands, as well as many other subjects.
The plan is to hold the weekend in the late autumn. More news will be given as more detailed plans are made, but if you want to register an interest to attend the weekend then please email me at andrewduncan@sbba.org.uk and I'll keep you informed of all progress.
Scottish Success in Manchester
Man congratulations to Mike Robertson and his Carnoustie and District Band on winning the Championship Section at the (UK) National Youth Championships in Manchester retaining their title from the previous year. Also, congratulations to the band's bass trombonist Josiah Walters for winning the ‘Best Instrumentalist' award at the contest.
Also, congratulations to Dalmelington Junior Band and their MD Ian Taylor on winning a Silver Award in the Intermediate Section.
Full results from the contest are here - https://www.sbba.org.uk/index.php?section=2&id=605
