7th September 2009
YMI Funding for Percussion Academy

Kingdom Brass have secured funding from the Scottish Arts Council to set up the KB Percussion Academy.

This new scheme will complement the existing Kingdom Brass Youth Initiative, allowing the organisation to teach a whole range of percussion instruments, and generate the percussion stars of the future.

Lynsey Paterson, principal percussion with Kingdom Brass, will be head percussion tutor. Recruit will be held towards the end of 2009, with lessons being given in the Co-op Hall, Cowdenbeath, on Monday evenings, and the percussionists joining in with the junior bands on a Tuesday.

Percussion workshops will be held throughout 2010 for the percussionists being taught, plus other local young percussionists. One of those will be with Simone Rebello.

16th August 2009
Kingdom Youth Appear In Anniversary Concert

Following the Youth Band's residential course, the junior Kingdom players took a starring spot at the senior band's 10th anniversary concert.

Les Neish conducted them through 'Gonna Fly Now' from Rocky, and principal conductor Anne Crookston conducted 'Wallace and Gromit'.

Both bands then appeared on stage together for the first ever time for a performance of 'The Little Mermaid', with the junior band players on samba drums.

14th August 2009
Kingdom Youth Enjoy Residential Stay

It's been a busy week for Kingdom, as a thirty strong contingent of youth band players and tutors headed to Meigle, in Perthshire, for a three day residential stay.

A variety of activities took place including individual, section and full band rehearsals, games and leisure time.

Guest tutor Les Neish travelled with the group and worked closely with the young players, while the band's principal percussionist, Lynsey Paterson, gave samba lessons in preparation for the weekend concert.

Youth Band Chairman, Lee Bathgate, said of the course; "The young players in the junior band were really looking forward to this one, and we gave them a varied programme of music and leisure activities to keep their interest up. Les was fantastic working with them, and now they’re demanding another trip next year!"

24th March 2009
New Intake For Youth Band

Kingdom Brass welcomed a new intake to the youth band, with another 10 young players joining the KBYI.

Several Kingdom players performed workshops in two local schools during February, with a parents evening held to answer any questions about the scheme.

The new intake strengthens the youth setup further, as Kingdom moves towards the target of a full youth band by 2010.

15th March 2009
James Gourlay Leads Kingdom Youth Workshop

James Gourlay, in a break from his rehearsals with Kingdom Brass for the forthcoming Scottish Championships, delivered a workshop to the youth band.

Seventeen young brass and percussion players attended the workshop and worked on various aspects of performance and technique, as well as preparing a few band pieces.

In the evening, as part of the FCBA "Night of Brass", the Kingdom Brass Youth Band was conducted by James Gourlay through those pieces prepared earlier before the Senior Band performed "Salute to Youth".

7th February 2009
Scottish Solo & Ensemble Contest

To complete their trio of solo & ensemble contests in quick succession, all the Kingdom Youth players competed in the Scottish Solo & Ensemble Contest.

Kingdom Brass Youth entered three ensembles, and one soloist, Liam Mullan, who qualified in the under 12 section.

The event, held in the Regal Theatre, Bathgate, gave the young Kingdom players some vital experience against players from all over Scotland.

24th January 2009
FCBA Solo Contest

All the young players from the KBYI competed at the FCBA Solo & Ensemble contest.

Kingdom Brass Youth entered 14 soloists and 3 ensembles in the competition, with the first area title for the Youth Band being won by trombonist Liam Mullan in the under 12 section.

In the 12 - 15 ensemble section, Kingdom Brass Youth took the runners up place, and in the under 12 ensemble section, the Youth Band took second and third places.

17th January 2009
Kingdom Brass Hold Inaugural Youth Solo Contest

Kingdom Brass celebrated the first full year of their youth development initiative by holding a solo competition for members of the Kingdom Brass Youth Band.

14 of the band's young players, aged from 8 to 12, performed to a large audience of parents, friends, supporters and members of the senior band.

Lee Bathgate, Chairman of the Kingdom Brass Youth Initiative, said of the event, "We've been planning a solo competition for our young players for a while, and felt the first anniversary of starting to teach through our youth policy was worthwhile timing. Last January all of these players were just starting to produce their first few notes, and now they're performing solos in public, it's a great achievement."

Over the past year, the Kingdom Youth Band has grown from nothing to a flourishing youth band, with performances at Brass in the Park last August, and competing at the Scottish Youth Championships in Perth a few months ago. The band has also performed at several concerts recently, including a successful Christmas joint concert with the senior band, Kingdom Brass.

"We're giving our young players every opportunity to perform in their own right as a youth band, as well as appearing alongside the senior band." said Lee. "There's obviously a huge distance from youth band to the Championship Section, but we want to inspire everyone involved in our youth band to reach that level, and solo competitions are just one piece of the jigsaw as far as we're concerned."

The Kingdom Brass Youth Solo Contest was won by cornet player Abby Young, playing "One Hand, One Heart" from "West Side Story". Trombonist Liam Mullan was second with his performance of "Rule Britannia", and 9 year old horn player Claire Miller was third playing the Tom Jones piece "It's Not Unusual", which brought the house down.

Adjudicator for the event was David Neil, conductor of Dunfermline Town Band, who had this to say about the event - "It was an absolute pleasure to adjudicate the Kingdom Brass Youth Solo Contest. The 14 young lads and lassies all equipped themselves admirably and it was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into practising each of their pieces.

The job was made very difficult by way of 6 individuals standing out that wee bit more than the rest and in the end the 3 prize winners came down to a bit of personal choice of how they had delivered their solo. The overall winner provided a very mature approach to note lengths, phrasing and shaping of her solo. That for me just gave her the edge.

The level of the music chosen was just right and what was obvious from number 1 was that they all enjoyed playing in front of the audience.

The contest was relaxed and well run and a very enjoyable morning was had, especially by me."

21st December 2008
Kingdom Brass Christmas Concert

Kingdom Brass and Kingdom Brass Youth appeared together in a Christmas concert, in front of a packed Co-op Hall.

With the players of the Youth Band celebrating their first year on the instruments, they took the chance to appear as a band, as well as in various ensemble and solo items, much to the delight of the huge audience of friends, family and supporters.

With the senior band on top form as well, this looks set to become a regular fixture in both band's calanders.

30th November 2008
Kingdom Youth Compete at Scottish Youth Championships

Kingdom Brass Youth performed in the Novice section at the recent Scottish Youth Championships.

While the Senior Band had spent weeks preparing the testpiece 'St Magnus' for the Scottish Open on the Saturday, the young players of the Kingdom Youth Band had been preparing their concert programme for their first appearance at the Scottish Youth Championships.

Conducted by Lee Bathgate, the Youth Band performed in the fantastic surroundings of the Perth Concert Hall, with no signs of the impressive surroundings or large crowd affecting the young Kingdom players.

14th September 2008
YMI Funding for Kingdom Youth

Kingdom Brass Youth have secured major funding from the Youth Music Initiative.

The five figure sum from the Scottish Arts Council will allow the Youth Initiative to expand much further over the next two years, with the formation of two full youth bands to complement the training currently being given to the band's young players

The project will also cover a series of workshop weekends, over the next two years, with some of the finest brass musicians, teachers and clinicians in the country. One welcome area of development will be that of low brass, with funding made available to purchase tubas and more euphoniums for the bands.

Additionally, funding will be made available for promotional and merchandising material for the band, as well as other areas such as administration costs, tutoring and participation at events.

30th August 2008
Kingdom Brass Youth Compete at Brass in the Park

Kingdom Brass Youth took part in the 'Brass in the Park' event.

This was the band's first competition, in the 'Novice' section (players up to 14 years of age). A confident performance at the event showed exactly how far the band has come in such a short space of time, and everyone can now look forward to the Scottish Youth Championships in November.

3rd August 2008
First Concert for Kingdom Brass Youth

Kingdom Brass Youth performed their first concert, as part of the Aberdour Festival.

The youth band, conducted by Lee Bathgate, performed a short concert to open the second half of the evening, which was met with rapturous applause from the packed house inside St Fillan's Church.

29th June 2008
Kingdom Brass Youth Support FY:NG Workshop

The young Kingdom Brass players took part in their first FY:NG workshop.

17 players from Kingdom Brass attend the Fife Youth:Next Generation workshops, forming the bulk of the Fife Youth 'C' Band.

Conducted by Alan Fernie, the young players enjoyed their day and performed in the short concert given by the three regional bands to assemble parents and tutors at the end of the day.

8th April 2008
Kingdom Brass Youth Registered with SBBA

"Kingdom Brass Youth" is now officially registered with the Scottish Brass Band Association (SBBA).

The young players receiving weekly lessons have progressed so much in only 4 months that they're now performing together as an ensemble, so the natural next step is to develop that ensemble into a small youth band.

It's hoped to now enter that ensemble into some of the youth events which take place in Scotland.

23rd January 2008
Financial Support for KBYI

The Youth Initiative has been boosted by a fantastic donation from Aegon UK, as well as grant aid from Fife Council.

With our allocation of instruments for Year 1 of the KBYI completed after the recent workshops, we're now looking to raise funds for the next intake after the summer holidays, and the next set of instruments needed for that.

This financial support will go a long way to financing those instruments, but much work is still needed to be done to meet our targets for Year 2.

12th December 2007
Horn Star Pays Visit

Tenor horn star Melvyn Bathgate, solo horn with the world famous Brighouse & Rastrick Band, payed a visit to the young Kingdom players, lending his support to the Youth Initiative.

Melvyn's nephew, Lee Bathgate, is of course one of the Principal Tutors with the KBYI, and Lee was thrilled when his Uncle Melvyn decided to pay a vist. "Youth Development is so important for the future.", said Lee. "It's great to see established players supporting schemes like this, and giving up their time to lend a hand."

29th November 2007
KBYI Holds Parents Evening

The first Parents Evening for the KBYI has been held in the Co-op Hall, Cowdenbeath.

The parents and children from St Brides and Lumphinnans Primary Schools were treated to an informative presentation from one of the KBYI tutors, John Hamilton, supported by Alan Edmond (Youth Development Officer for the Scottish Brass Band Association), as well as Alison Hall, Lee Bathgate and Lynsey Paterson (principal KBYI tutors) and Gillian Garvie (Child Protection Officer for the KBYI).

Kingdom Brass then entertained all the attendees, performing three pieces of music from their concert repertoire.

Following that entertainment, and the buffet which was on offer, the parents and young people had a chance to look at the instruments which are on offer to the students.

2nd November 2007
Youth Masterclasses Held

Members of Kingdom Brass delivered two masterclasses today, in Lumphinnans Primary School and St. Brides Primary.

The masterclasses were a fantastic success, with over 300 children watching the small group of players perform.

Alan Edmond, Youth Development Officer for SBBA, was there to oversee the masterclasses, and provided an insight into each of the instruments being used.

The enthusiastic response from the children was fantastic, and the future for brass playing in the region looks very bright indeed.

September 2007
Grant Funding Awarded

The Kingdom Brass Youth Initiative has been awarded a grant from the Scottish Arts Council "Awards For All" fund. This award will enable the KBYI to purchase the inital instruments - cornets, horns and trombones - and begin to tutor locally in the Cowdenbeath area.

April 2007
5 Year Plan Put Forward

The Committee of the Kingdom Brass Youth Initiative have finalised the direction of the band's youth development for the next 5 years.

The proposals include the formation of a tiered development structure, as well as a full youth band. The funding requirements for this are very ambitious, with ?100,000 the target amount required.

February 2007
Kingdom Brass Youth Initiative Proposed

A meeting has taken place between Alan Edmond (Youth Development Office for the Scottish Brass Band Association) and members of Kingdom Brass to come up with a proposal to develop the band's youth policy.

The meeting identified the need for a major investment in youth, and the benefits local children will receive from brass tuition.

An initial Committee was formed with the purpose of developing the idea further, putting together short and long term goals, and seeking funding for the project. Lee Bathgate was appointed Chairman, with Bill Sandell as Vice Chairman. Alison Hall was appointed Secretary, with John Todd Treasurer.

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