Category: News

Musical Heritage

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‘An observation of our past and our future.’ An overview of the presentation made by Sheila Allen at the Brass Bands England (BBE) Conference October 2022. Sheila grew up in the heart of brass banding country in Yorkshire, learning to play the cornet (and the clarinet!) through the free provision offered at her middle school. After a family move to the midlands, she returned to her roots to study Music at the University of Huddersfield as a student of Phillip McCann. On her return to the midlands, she went on to build a successful private music teaching practice and later completed her Secondary Music Teaching Qualification, spending 14 years leading music, and later performing arts, in a local secondary school. […]

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Recruiting and Retaining Members

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At a recent Sheffield Brass Network online networking meeting we were really pleased to have Stephen McNally, Making Music UK Manager based in Northern Ireland, speak about recruiting and retaining members. On behalf of Making Music Stephen undertakes campaigning and advocacy for members of the leisure-time music community in general. Stephen’s presentation drew on research undertaken by Xenia Davis in 2016 for Making Music UK. This research suggests that ‘there is a drop-off in young people’s participation in music groups post-15, and that many don’t rediscover music making, if at all, until they are over 35.’ ‘Under-35s, at a potentially unsettled and sometimes difficult period in their lives (moving out of education and parental homes, starting out on a career, […]

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Sheffield Region Brass Network – About Us:

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The Sheffield Region Brass Network is a not-for-profit organisation originally established in 2013 by Rachel Veitch-Straw, David Morris and Stuart Young to increase the profile and visibility of brass bands in the Sheffield City Region UK through Information, Education and Advocacy by facilitating regular networking meetings and providing relevant online support where available. The Sheffield Region Brass Network is now administered by Joy Newbould, Stuart Young and Sophie Anderson. Joy Newbould BA PGCE – Chair Joy began her banding career aged 10 in Carlton Silver Band (Nottinghamshire); her highlight there, winning 3rd Section (1978) in London. Joy studied for a music degree at Bretton Hall College. Whilst there, Joy played with several Yorkshire bands under such luminaries as Peter Kitson, Ray […]

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Audience development

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At the recent Sheffield Brass Network event, “Better contact with the media and your audience”, Dr Sarah Price was invited to give a presentation on ‘Understanding audiences for the contemporary arts’. Dr Sarah Price is an audience researcher and member of the Sheffield Performer and Audience Research Centre (SPARC), a Research Associate for the AHRC-funded project ‘Understanding Audiences for the Contemporary Arts’, and, at the time of her presentation, had just reached the culmination of a 2½ year study working with arts organisations in Birmingham, London, Liverpool, Bristol and Sheffield to explore how people engage with contemporary dance, theatre, music, visual art and everything in between to develop strategies for recruiting and retaining new audiences. Sarah took the opportunity at […]

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Effective Social Media and blogging for bands

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At the recent Sheffield Brass Network event, “Better contact with the media and your audience”, Alex Burns was invited to give a presentation on ‘Effective Social Media and blogging for bands’. Alex has a music performance degree at the University of Sheffield, an MA in Musicology, works alongside several local music organisations and currently holds a trumpet residency with the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as playing cornet with the Yorkshire Championship Section Old Silkstone Band. Alex also administrates the award-winning Classicalexburns classical music blog. Here’s a synopsis of what Alex revealed about social media at the event: What can social media do for my band? – Reach new audiences – Keep your already engaged audiences up to date with […]

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8 Hints and tips for photographing live music ensembles

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As a lifelong player in Brass Bands, Joy Newbould, tenor horn player with Chapeltown Silver Prize Band as well as a professional Photographer, has put together a list of useful guidelines to follow when trying to capture live music ensembles with your camera. 1 Avoid being intrusive – Images of individuals in action within music groups will require a lens of 150mm minimum in order for you to stand back and zoom in. This will ensure the players are not put off by your presence, which will inevitably upset both them and their conductors! Remember why they are there – it isn’t to smile or look down your lens! 2 Look for expressions on the faces of the players to […]

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Wellbeing in Brass Bands

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A new research article authored by Dr Victoria J. Williamson and Dr Michael Bonshor, of the Department of Music, University of Sheffield, UK, published by ‘Frontiers in Psychology Journal’ reports on ‘Wellbeing in Brass Bands: The Benefits and Challenges of Group Music Making’. This original research began life a couple of years ago with a survey distributed with the assistance of Brass Bands England. Recent studies by others have focussed upon the apparent benefits of singing in choral situations, however, in this new study by Drs Williamson and Bonshor they have, ‘identified wellbeing themes that are less common in choral research; impacts relating to the brass bands’ physical demands, competitive tradition, community roles, and cross-generational social structures.’ The anonymous survey […]

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How To Write A Press Release

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Every brass band could have a marketing officer, or, at the very least, someone who is good with words and can turn their hand to preparing a page of text from time to time. In this digital age it is even more important to have someone in your organisation who can craft a quality sentence, with correct and concise grammar, and exemplify your band’s exploits in your chosen media as often as possible. Whether your band sends press releases to the media, sticks them on your website or simply uses them to ensure a consistent message across your social media outlets, a well-written press release is still one of the most useful communication tools. First of all, it’s important to […]

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Funding Advice Seminar Review

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After several months of organisation and liaison, we were pleased to be able to facilitate a funding advice seminar on Wednesday 6th February. Stuart Young introduced the Sheffield Brass Network (SBN) event and thanked Chris Palmer and Sam Craggs of SoundBytes Media for hosting it at The Foundry Studio in Sheffield. Presentations followed by Richard Brown of Arts Council England, Peter Foyle of the South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau (SYFAB), and Rachel Veitch-Straw of Key Fund, with over 30 attendees present from all corners of the Sheffield City Region and beyond, including Lincolnshire, North Nottinghamshire, Doncaster and Chesterfield. Ensembles other than brass bands had been invited to take part in the event and we were pleased to welcome representatives from local choirs and orchestra. […]

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A brass band at Christmastime

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The tradition of singing Local Carols in the villages to the North West of Sheffield goes back to at least the late Eighteenth Century; the Local Carols were generally composed by local musicians, organists or choirmasters and the carols were often given local names. Originally this is thought to have been a reaction against the banning of many carols by both the Church and the State. Some Carols caused controversy and it is known that ‘While Shepherds Watched’ had to be cleaned up by the Victorians for being too crude. There is also strong evidence that ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ was a call to 18th Century Jacobites to rebel [1]. Examples of locally written tunes are, ‘Bright and Joyful’ […]

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