This October Brass Bands England (BBE) is delighted to present a hybrid conference on Saturday 22 October in Sale and online. Packed with exciting workshops, talks and presentations on the theme of ‘Banding for Life’.
Keynote Speaker - Ian Bousfield
One of the most influential brass players of our time, now a soloist, conductor and pedagogue, Ian Bousfield has been at the top of his profession for many years. With a solid background in brass banding and demonstrated expertise in music education he has also held positions including principal trombone of the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist he has appeared with, amongst others, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner and Kent Nagano. Ian’s Keynote speech will focus on this year’s conference theme of ‘Banding for Life’.
Workshops, Discussions and Presentations
After an open call for contributors, BBE is proud to present a fantastic range of speakers presenting on an array of topics.
Sean Chandler, PGCE, BA(Hons), is a DeaF professional musician, Teacher of the Deaf, freelance workshop leader, educator and consultant for D/deaf/F children and young people. He is passionate about D/deaf/F children and young people being proud of their deafness and encouraging them on their own journey to finding their D/deaf/F identity. His presentation will focus on the pedagogy behind teaching D/deaf children and young people to play.
Kate Lock is equally passionate about tackling climate change and breathing new life into brass bands, so her discussion session on why bands should engage with the climate crisis has finally brought her day job and hobby together. Her work at the University of Leeds involves communicating climate change and helping to drive climate action at the local level and she is part of the secretariat for the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission. A euphonium player, Kate plays with the York RI Golden Rail Band and Shepherd Group Concert Brass Band. As well as co-founding all-women brass band project Femmes Fortissimo, she has run brass band festivals and hosted her own brass music radio show.
Bollywood Brass Band is the UK’s pioneering Indian-style wedding band, playing great tunes and compulsively danceable rhythms of bollywood. Kay Charlton has been playing with the Bollywood Brass Band since its formation in 1992. She composes and arranges music for the band and leads on their education work. Kay has many years’ experience of teaching brass, WCET and KS2 music. Her presentation (delivered digitally) will focus on Bollywood Brass’ journey, and Kays’ wealth of experience and research into Whole Class Instrumental Teaching.
Chair and Vice-Chair of the UniBrass Foundation Thomas Hicken and Abi Groocock. Outside of UniBrass, Abi is a Projects Manager for the orchestral and classical music programme at Sage Gateshead, having previously worked in marketing, and Thomas is a Postdoctoral Physicist at Royal Holloway University of London. In this presentation, they will showcase the work of UniBrass in providing ‘the missing link’ between youth and adult/community banding.
Kerry Baldwin has 25 years’ experience as a brass teacher in a range of education settings including MMU and the RNCM Juniors as well as in private practice. She completed a BA and MA in music at MMU before undertaking a PhD in trombone performance at the RNCM. Based in the North West, Kerry learned through the local youth bands including Lions Youth Brass and is a former member of the Leyland brass band. Since 2018, Kerry has taken the role of Regional Development Executive at ABRSM, developing meaningful and long lasting relationships with key teachers and music organisations across the North West. Her session will focus on the refreshed ABRSM Brass Syllabus.
As well as independent speakers, a number of Brass Bands England staff members will be presenting on their fields of expertise, including audience development expert Pamela Johnson, and Brass Foundations youth experts Sheila Allen and Helen Minshall. Find out more about their contributions.
Book your tickets
Tickets for the Brass Band Conference are incredible value for money.
BBE Members - £10
BBE Non-Members - £20
Students - Free
Ticket price includes lunch and refreshments for the full day, printed programme and access to session recordings after the conference day.
Digital Pass (online only) - £5
A Digital Pass ticket provides access to the live-stream of the Main Hall provided by BrassPass and session recordings after the conference day.
To find out more about The Brass Band Conference 2022 and to book your place go to bbconf.uk/tickets. Please note that booking in advance for this event is essential, with online registration closing at 5pm on Monday 17 October.
BBE is grateful to rooms4groups for sponsoring this year’s event, ABRSM and Geneva Instruments for sponsoring workshop breakout rooms, and World of Brass for supporting the conference performance by players from Wardle Academy.