Brass for all in York
The annual Christmas Gala Concerts take place on December 22nd and 23rd at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
We look forward to seeing you at this most popular event.
Tickets are available from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Box Office priced at £15.00. We will keep you posted on when these are released, don’t miss out, these concerts are always sold out.
Following the success of the live production of the Snowman last year. We will be returning to ths nightime world of snow and magic again this year. On December 10th the band will be at the Jack Lyons Concert Hall at the University of York where we will reprise the performance for a new audience. We learned last year that many more wanted to see us and therefore there will be 3 performances in the afternoon.
Tickets will be available through the York University Ticket System and once they are available we will post an update.
After spending a rather warm couple of days at All Saints School on Nunnery Lane, the senior band completed recording the music for our new Christmas CD which will be out in time for the Christmas Gala concerts in December.
Here are a few photos of what we got up to on the day. I’m sure you will agree the choreography from the percussion section is of the highest order!
Our thanks have to go out to Keith and George from Music House Productions for their work on setting up and recording, to Bronte Wilkinson, Kate Ironton, James Stockdale and of course Sharon “7 hours” Greenfield for filling in a few spaces we had.
It is a few years since the Senior Band released their last Christmas CD and we are asked at every concert when the next one is coming out. We can answer that now and our new Christmas CD will be out in time for Christmas 2023. What that means for the band is that we need to record the music and this weekend saw us head down to All Saints RC School to lay down the tracks.
We welcomed Sharon Greenfield back for the recording, Sharon was our Flugelhorn player for many years and when we asked for a horn player to cover a seat, Sharon stepped in and made the 7 hour journey up from her home in Devon to help us out. That’s dedication!
It does feel odd recording Christmas music while most of the band are sitting in shorts and T shirts, but some players really got into he spirit of the session and got out their Christmas shirts.
The first days recording went well and the work rate was extremely high.
The percussion crew figured out there was a time lapse running and set about choreographing their own little stop motion video. Such ingenuity!
Keep a look out for the details of the CD release date and also look out for the band’s earlier CD content being made available for streaming over a range of streaming platforms in the near future. In the meantime, here’s an outtake from the recording session and a short teaser of what’s coming up.
Once again, all the bands came together over 2 nights to entertain packed audiences in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. Both evenings were started off by Brass Roots who once again impressed everyone with their playing and showed the audience how well they are coming along as new players.
The Academy Band were next perform followed by the Youth Band. Both performances demonstrate that the future of the band is safe and that there is a wealth of musical talent coming along through our ranks.
Next up were the Concert Band, although Mike was not at the helm this time. Everyone will know Mike had a heart attack earlier this year and had to go up to Middlesborough for bypass surgery. He is now well on the road to recovery and we are assured his jokes will be be back and will be as bad as ever. One of the highlights of the Concert Band set had to be the superb solo played by Emerson Hampshire, they really did nail their version of Peter Grahams Away in A Manger.
The second half of the concert was over to the Senior Band and they provided an upbeat version of Christmas with a a funky big band take of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Our new Principal Cornet, Sean Chandler, gave a brilliant rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and the set was concluded with a finale recounting the story of the Christmas 1914 truce where Mike Pratt starred as the narrator, he really can’t stay away.
The finale saw all bands back on stage where we invoked the spirit of Christmas and Pantomime with “If I were not in Shepherds Band” arranged by the Concert Band Soprano Cornet player James McFadyen. I’m sure everyone who saw the finale will have loved the dancers who performed.
The Christmas concert is one of the highlights of the year and it was so good to have all bands back on stage together. We now look forward to 2023 and what it brings for us all. The band would like to wish all our friends and followers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
On December 21st, members of all our bands got together to play Christmas Carols for the residents of Amarna Care home in Macomb and Rowntree Lodge care home in New Earswick. This has become an annual event over the past few years and our players love giving something back to our local community. Of course, the mulled wine and mince pies are always make a welcome appearance.
This year we had another venue to add to our tour of York after we received an appeal to play for 99 year old Rowley from Heworth. Rowley has been a long standing fan of a Brass Band and of course we were happy to drop round on our way back to the band room. His neighbours were treated to an unexpected impromptu concert and came out to listen, his next door neighbour was very surprised on returning from her dog walk!
Merry Christmas everyone!
On December 10th, the Senior Band took on a new Christmas Challenge at St Andrews Church in Bishopthorpe when they performed the live soundtrack to a showing Raymond Briggs’ animated film “The Snowman”. This was a new experience for the band, playing film music is a very different performance to a concert performance and the build up to this has been quite intense.
The band was joined by Buffy Breakwell who played keyboards with us and Sophie Sylvester who provided the vocals for the iconic song “Walking in the Air”. Everyone in the band was really impressed with the professionalism and superb musical ability of both our guests for the day. We can only hope this will not be our last collaboration.
We could have sold the tickets for this ten times over so next year we will be back to do it all over again. Watch this space!
That wasn’t the only thing we did on the day though!
In the interval between performances, the band went along to Bishopthorpe Sports and Social Club to play Christmas Carols for the Lollipop children’s Christmas party. Lollipop is a charity for D/deaf children and their families in York and the band’s Principal Cornet player Sean Chandler is involved in making music with the children the charity works with.
When Sean asked if a few players could go, the whole band said yes. Playing “Away in a Manger” with a choir signing the words was such a powerful moment.
If you want to know more about Lollipop and want to support their work, check out their website.
The 2022 Screening of ’The Snowman’ with LIVE soundtrack from the Shepherd Group Brass Band! This is something for all the family and is not to be missed.
The show will be presented at St Andrew’s Church, Church Lane, Bishopthorpe, York, YO23 2QG
Tickets for the 6pm performance can be obtained from Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sgbb-presents-the-snowman-live-6pm-tickets-408085614057
If you were at the Christmas Concerts last year, you will remember the announcement that the band would be performing a live soundtrack along with the whole film of The Snowman. The classic Christmas story by Raymond Briggs.
Everything is in place for this now and there will be 2 performances taking place on December 10th 2022 at St Andrews Church Bishopthorpe, the first at 2pm and then a further performance at 6pm.
Do get your tickets ordered early, this is going to be a great experience for familes as well as for the band. The tickets can be bought from Eventbrite usung the following links
2 pm Performance
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sgbb-presents-the-snowman-live-2pm-tickets-408059606267
6pm Performance
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sgbb-presents-the-snowman-live-6pm-tickets-408085614057
Tickets for the Christmas Gala Concerts at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre will be on sale from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre box office from August 8th.
Don’t miss out on your chance to see this annual treat. We see every band in the organisation presenting their contributions for Christmas. How will the concert be rounded off this year? You are going to have to wait and see.
https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/concert/christmas-concert/1542/#schedules
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