27 Mar 2025
Tabitha reports on a great performance in Northampton
On Saturday 22nd March, Wantage Youth Brass, supported by a large contingent of followers, participated in the Music for Youth Festival in Northampton. We all made our way in cars except for Lewis, who came on the train via Coventry!
We all arrived on time at Northampton School for Boys – even the Rogers’ family, who had stopped at Stowe on the way for a picnic. We gathered in the atrium before being shown to the green room and then into the amazing Cripps Hall.
Music for Youth celebrates all music-making for young people. In our section, we listened to Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra’s amazing rendition of Star Wars, a very well-rehearsed KS2 choir and a talented brass quintet before heading to our warm-up room.
Sara ran a warm-up, which mainly included scales and enthusiastic shouting (used in one of our pieces!). By the time we took to the stage, we felt fully prepared to give our best performance and do Sara and WSB proud!
Our programme began with Alan Fernie’s ‘Starlight’, an incredible concert opener, which was praised for the quality of our repeated quavers. A slow piece followed, Amazing Grace, which highlighted our control, listening and developing use of dynamics. We finished with the rousing ‘Thriftshop’ which included lots of audience participation and was loved by the adjudicators. This even had an improvised section where Josh, Rosie, Ellie and Imogen confidently showed their skills. Holly B was our representative and went on stage to collect our certificate. We are currently waiting with anticipation for our full feedback and result.
Thank you to all our supporters, players and helpers, and a special thankyou to our wonderful MD Sara for all her hard work and support in making our band amazing.
Tabitha
Solo Trombone, Wantage Youth Brass