A week of learning, music making and fun – that’s NYBBS summer school!
For the young musicians travelling to Saturday’s NYBBS (National Youth Brass Band of Scotland) summer school in Forgandenny, Perthshire – the country’s biggest ‘band camp’ – the emphasis will be on having fun.
While the auditions, sectional practice sessions, master classes and full band rehearsals will provide the opportunity for some serious music making for more than 170 student instrumentalists, the ‘extra curricular’ events will bring a more lively element to the course.
The week-long NYBBS 2025 residential summer course is taking place at the Strathallan School for brass and percussion players aged from nine to 22, split into three bands – Children’s, Reserve and Senior.
Outdoor and leisure activities will include movie nights, a ceilidh, ‘NYBBS Got Talent!’ show, solo competitions and a silent disco.
In addition, special guest will be renowned composer and musical director Paul Lovatt-Cooper who will have a busy few days talking about his musical journey, participating in a Trinity Arts Awards scheme to enhance the young people’s experiences and understanding of the arts, and adjudicating the coveted Richard Evans Senior Solo competition.
The NYBBS summer course is supported with funding from Creative Scotland through its Youth Music Initiative.
The musical directors of the three NYBBS bands – Alan Fernie (Children’s), John Boax (Reserve) and Ian Porthouse (Senior) – have each prepared a music repertoire to showcase the talents of their young players and the programmes will be performed at two concerts in Perth Concert Hall next Friday (25 July).
The Children’s band concert will be at 3pm and the Reserve/Senior band concert will be at 6.30pm. Tickets for both events can be purchased at Ticket Source.
Supporting the music and social activities is a dedicated volunteer team of tutors, house and pastoral staff:
Children’s Band tutors
Caroline Farren (CPO), Rebecca Wilson Paterson, Stuart Black, Gary Williams, Mark Bell, Iona Robinson
Reserve Band tutors
Gareth Bowman (project officer), Phillippa MacDougall, Chris Shanks, Charlie Farren, Cameron Shanks
Senior Band tutors
Richard Poole, Leanne Porthouse, Ailsa Russell, Sion Rhys Jones, Ryan Richards, Les Neish, Mark Landon
Pastoral staff
Alisa Bell, Danielle Bruce, Jennifer Cook, Karen Cooper, Lesley Crumlish, Hayley Dickson, Lynsay Dunn, Carol Moore, Jordan Dickson, Reece Gordon, Gavin Johnson, James McGoldrick (social media), Damian Martin, Jim Milligan (librarian), Scott Renwick, Tom Allan (CPO).
Carol Mason is the course medic and Carole Ednie the Trinity Arts Awards champion.
Course coordinator and SBBA president Carrie Boax commented: “It is really uplifting to know that, at the end of the week, our musical directors, tutors and pastoral staff will have made a significant and positive difference to the musical journey of every student who attends our summer school and helped them make memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.”
