The Vale Supports St John’s Band Mossley

The Vale is proud to be able to support St John’s Band (Mossley) with some free rehearsal room hire for their new programme of one to one tuition.

Following a successful funding application St John’s band is now spending every Tuesday evening up-skilling their young players with some additional one to one tuition outside of their regular band rehearsals.

We enjoyed listening to their Brassy tones last Tuesday and their musical skills helped our office team speed through the last hour of their day.

The Vale is now working closely with St Johns Band (Mossley) and St Pauls Brass Group (Stalybridge) to explore new ways of working with and recruiting younger players into their groups and the local brass band scene.

In partnership with Bangdrum CIC (a social enterprise based at The Vale) and over £25,000 of investment from The National Foundation for Youth Music we have developed a new programme of fun and friendly brass sessions that offer 7-12 year old’s in the local area a unique way into brass.

The project was developed in response to the difficulties that many Brass Bands in the UK are facing when raising new funds and recruiting young people.

A senior Liaison officer from Brass Band England said  ‘’Every band we speak to and connect with has [identified] either finding players, growing income, or growing their audience as a priority. From Oct 2014 to Sept 2015, as the sole Liaison Officer from England, I directly supported 73 bands via telephone or face to face, and all of them have those as a key priority’’.

Eraldo Marques, a Director of Bangdrum CIC added ” As a social enterprise we are always trying to investigate new ways of supporting our local community and those in need. As a creative organisation we love to work with other artistic groups and organisations. The clear need of support for local brass bands in the area has shaped our thinking around our latest initiative ‘The Incredible Plastic Street Band

The project has been developed as part of The Vale’s Youth Music offer. In 2015 Bangdrum CIC and The Vale established Tameside’s first cross genre, youth music orchestra ‘The Vale Music Ensemble‘. The project brought together over 50 young people from Greater Manchester to write, develop, produce and perform a new piece of music. The project culminated in a youth music celebration at The Band on The Wall in Manchester, where the ensemble performed their new composition along side a host if other youth music groups and bands after recording a new CD.

The second phase of The Vale Music Ensemble is the development of ‘The Incredible Plastic Street Band‘. The project will introduce over 500 young people in Tameside to brass in an fun friendly and accessible way. In addition to the hands on sessions with young people, the project will also work closely with local tutors, bands and youth music specialists to offer funding support, training and development to help local bands develop and sustain their youth offer.

To find out more about the Incredible Plastic Street Band visit www.vale-music.co.uk