Brass Bands England (BBE) represents 663 bands, or 523 organisations. Its membership includes town bands, youth bands, the world-famous Black Dyke Band, but also contest organisers and regional band associations. BBE started life as the British Federation of Brass Bands in the 1960s. Since then it has lived up to the Federation’s core value of encouraging bands to engage with communities and other bands.
Today, BBE is perhaps best known for the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, or Youth Champs. But it also runs a year-long course for youth band leaders; workshops as part of an education programme; a national youth brass festival; and a Proms which marries bands with local schools.
Brass Foundations workshops
BBE has five Youth Development Brass Specialists responsible for delivering its Brass Foundations education programme across England and Wales. Deirdre Waller-Box oversees London and Hertfordshire.
The New Zealand-born trombonist has an impressive record of establishing whole-class projects in Camden, and she’s blessed with an infectious enthusiasm. The biggest reward, she admits, is ‘that minute where you see a child with a shiny instrument in their hands and they get it; you know, that minute where it just clicks. Or where they pick the instrument up straight away and get a sound. It’s the best thing ever.’
Ahead of our interview, I watch a video on the BBE website to get a flavour of the workshops. Whole classes stand in formation, cornets at the ready, with students mastering single notes and rhythms. There’s plenty of movement and willing participation (even solos, in the broad sense of the word), and the children are clearly having fun. One clip shows an enlisted class teacher who explains the importance of demonstrating that teachers must learn too, and be open to new experiences. It’s a point well made.
Such projects, when run by arts organisations or performing groups, sometimes get a mixed reception from schools and parents. Well-intentioned musicians arrive for the day and make a lasting impression, but resident staff and would-be supporters struggle to capitalise on this, lacking the resources, contacts or strategy. The term ‘parachuting’ is sometimes used.
With Waller-Box, understanding the school and its needs comes first, which means acknowledging that one size doesn’t fit all. She talks of personal engagement with stakeholders and the importance of an early performance. ‘If it’s a one-day project, which my colleagues would start, we might do an hour-and-a-half activity with the school at the end. If children have instruments in their hands, they will know two or three pieces that they can play with the backing-track. We then like to do a little performance to someone in the school. Those pieces may have just one or two notes, but this is more than enough.’
It’s also enough to persuade school leaders of the longer-term impact.
Children demonstrating real commitment are also catered for, according to Waller-Box: ‘A big part of our work is signposting, finding what’s available in the local community and saying, have you thought about this? This could simply mean having a chat with the school and music hub, seeing if one-to-one lessons could be started. There are lots of different ways of making sure that the people involved in a project know what’s available.’
Youth Fest
Youth Fest (which is supported by the Foyle Foundation and Arts Council England) is a ‘celebration of everything about being a young brass musician’, according to Paul McLaughlin, another BBE Youth Development Brass Specialist. This one-day festival started in 2024 and presents an alternative to the National Youth Brass Band Championships. It’s non-competitive, with no adjudication, open to bands of all standards, and emphasises personal as well as musical progression.
Each band gives a 10- to 15-minute performance in an arena that isn’t their school, and players have an opportunity to learn from peers – a long-standing tradition in brass banding. There are options to include adult players and backing-tracks, where needed, and the free entry includes workshops. In 2025, Youth Fest will take place at the artsdepot in North Finchley, London (for more information, following the link at the end of this article).
If, as planned, the event visits a different region each year, Youth Fest will help players connect as part of a wider movement across schools and communities.
Proms in the Playground
If considering the grass roots, BBE’s Proms in the Playground is the most direct way in which it forges partnerships. The initiative is ‘really a fantastic way to involve local community bands in our schools, in such a simple way,’ says Waller-Box. ‘All the band needs is six to eight players to offer to go in and support what is happening in schools by performing live. We know how important live performances are to children. We know how expensive it can be to to see a live performance. So to have your local community band come in and perform in your playground up close is fantastic.’
For schools, there’s no fee involved, and BBE provides the necessary guidance and supporting resources (audio tracks, sheet music etc.) to enhance the learning.
Happily, the Proms are gaining traction. ‘There are so many bands that have got on board with the idea,’ Waller-Box explains, ‘and a lot of these have regular schools that they go to each year. Some started out visiting one, and now do a whole day of tripping around their local area and going into different schools.’
The bands, in return, acquire a visible role in their communities, perhaps a new purpose. And, who knows, maybe recruits at a later stage.
Luton case study
The wider impact of Proms in the Playground is clear from a recent project at Richmond Hill School, Luton, a school for children aged 4–11 with complex needs. The Expressive Arts Lead there, Emma Jackman, signed up for a Proms after speaking with Waller-Box, who approached Hitchin Band. ‘They were well up for coming, we set a date for the visit, and they brought six to eight players,’ she confirms.
The two educators worked out how the event would look in a special needs setting. ‘It was planned so that the children could get close to the band if they wanted to, or further away if they didn’t,’ says Waller-Box. ‘The band understood that things would be different from the usual concept: instead of sitting and listening, children would be dancing and running around – doing all the things that children enjoy doing when they hear music.’
After a successful Proms, Waller-Box considered how the children could access other Brass Foundations activities. She then started one-to-one and small-group lessons at the school.
Later, the band returned for a second Proms in the Playground but with a difference. Some of the children Waller-Box had been working with became more than the audience; they were able to join in thanks to the lessons.
‘There were three children who were able to buzz on the brass instruments and could, we decided, sit among the band,’ Waller-Box recalls. ‘They had an absolute ball. They hadn’t rehearsed any of the music, they weren’t reading; but they were playing along on their instrument and having a whale of a time being a musician.’
Of the other children, ‘Some are non-verbal, so they communicated with me using boards, where they pointed to what they wanted to say,’ she continued. But seeing, hearing and experiencing the brass instruments must have left a lasting impression.
Further plans are developing between the band and school. These include having ‘relaxed performances’ at a local bandstand so that families are included, not just the children, and they’re discussing putting on The Snowman, a bigger project for these children, their families and other children from the area who have additional needs. The Proms is starting to snowball.
Such wider access is, of course, central to the NPME. But so too is the partnership with Luton Music Service, which provides the instruments – namely, ‘some lovely tenor horns, which were nicely accessible for the children to be able to hold on to and learn on,’ Waller-Box explains. It’s a team effort.
Once she and BBE move on to new projects, I ask (recognising that there are just five Specialists for the country), are they confident that the collaboration and music-making in Luton will continue?
She seems confident: ‘I know the band and the school are in communication with each other, and that they will set things up for themselves, which means that the project has longevity. We don’t have to be involved at every step of the way. Events are now self-perpetuating.’
