Brass Foundations is Brass Bands England’s flagship education programme, bringing together musical partners to promote brass progression for young people in England.
Brass Bands England offers free staff support to support the delivery of brass projects that will:
- Support progression opportunities for your brass players
- Plug a gap in provision by working in partnership
- Link community ensemble opportunities to provide a broad provision for young people
We don’t deliver WCET programmes, however, we do support schools to enhance their own provision, through workshop days and events. We also don’t provide funding for instruments or venues for projects, however, where possible we’ll work together to find funding where necessary.
What does a Brass Foundations project look like?
This isn’t an out-of-the-box project - it’s a flexible bespoke approach to suit your needs. What we can deliver will depend on location, staff availability and aims. For example:
- We worked with the Warwickshire Music Hub and local brass bands to set up a new county-wide brass ensemble.
- We worked with Sheffield Music Hub, Sheffield Music Academy, Music in the Round and local brass bands to deliver workshops and live performances to inner city-children participating in brass WCET lessons
- We worked with Music Partnership North to bring 250 young musicians from across the North East to participate in workshops and perform on the main stage of The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead.
We are brass specialists, with a passion for high-quality music education and brass banding provides a unique learning context and musical heritage which is a vital part of the wider music education ecosystem.
“Our most recent Brass Foundations workshop delivered by Helen Minshall was an inspirational event. Not only were the children and young people inspired but also the tutors involved. Helen created a safe, nurturing and encouraging environment for the young people to be able to gain confidence and be inspired throughout the day. This is an invaluable and truly accessible programme that we will continue to engage with.”
Nicola Skrzypczak, St Helens Music Service
Find out more about how we can support you by contacting BBE’s Learning Manager Sheila Allen on sheila@bbe.org.uk.
Other opportunities with Brass Bands England:
- Take part in Youth Champs, the National Youth Brass Band Championships
- Take part in Youth Fest, the National Youth Brass Band Festival
- Support your staff’s development with the Brass Foundations Future Leaders’ Programme
- Join as a MusEd Safe Member to use BBE’s National BOPA to cover your groups for child performance licensing requirements