The Senior Band are competing in the Championship Section of the Leicester Open Brass Band contest.
Spring Festival
The senior band are back in Blackpool where they will perform the challenging “A New Jerusalem” in the Senior Cup competition.
Christmas kicked off in style.
The weekend of the 9th and 10th of December saw the Senior Band kick off Christmas in real style. First of all a small group of players headed off to Bishopthorpe Club on December 9th to play carols at the annual Lollipop Christmas Party.
Lollipop is a charity supporting d/Deaf children and their parents and offers them a social environment where they can get together. The band have joined with the NCEM I Can Play programme over the last year to offer places in Brass Roots where d/Deaf children can take up playing a brass instrument. We are so excited to be part of this initiative and many members of the band have started learinig to sign using BSL as part of this. More on that Later!
December 10th saw the senior band head to the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall at the University of York where we put on three performances of The Snowman live. We were pleased to welcome Buffy Breakwell who accompanied us on the Grand Piano and Sophie Sylvester who provided stunning vocals in the iconic Walking in the Air. Thanks also have to go to York Concerts who partnered with us on both this and the recent Cory concerts and withouth whom we would have found this much harder to do.
We couldn’t just leave things there though and we added in a couple of extra pieces, the first was Into the Unknown from the film Frozen II and then we introduced something really new for the band. As we move into 2024, we are going to build on the work we have done with Lollipop and I can play and we are making our concerts more inclusive for our d/Deaf friends. The first step here is going to be the introduction of signing at our concerts. With this in mind our Principal Cornet player Sean Chandler, who is himself d/Deaf, taught the audience the BSL words for Merry Christmas Everyone having first explained the challenges faced in selecting the correct cutlery.
The feedback we have had was that the audience participation in this number was a real highlight for everyone who was there, and Sean has confessed he was quite choked up to see the players in the band not only getting involved in the signing themselves, but also giving a round of applause using signing at the end of the piece.
Thanks to Jenni Chandler for ther video clip.
Grace Pratt Memorial Concert
As many followers of the bands will be aware, Grace Pratt passed away earleier this year.
Grace is Mikes mother and banding was in her blood from an early age. Grace was a very talented cornet player herself and after marrying Ted Pratt her family could not fail to become brass players themselves.
The whole Shepherd Group Brass Band organisation wanted to pay their own tribute to Grace, someone who supported us through the years and who was a face we all looked out for in our concerts. The best tribute we can think of is to play the music she loved while raising fund for York Against Cancer, her chosen charity.
The concert will take place at 7:30 pm on September 29th 2023 at York Salvation Army Citadel and will feature the Shepherd Group Concert Band conducted of course by her son Mike and the Shepherd Group Senior Band. The music will be a celebration of Grace’s life and a reflection on the lives of those we have lost in recent years.
Tickets for this concert are avaialble via our Eventbrite page.
Want to join our Cornet team?
If you are cornet player looking for the opportunity to join our friendly Championship Section Band, then give us a call. We have a space in the team with the position being open to discussion and negotiation. We have some great jobs in the pipeline for the next few months including collaborations with Cory Band and Grimethorpe along with a live performance of the Snowman before Christmas.
If you fancy looking into joining us and want more information, then get in touch with our MD Richard Wilton for a discussion in confidence.
York Against Cancer with Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Shepherd Group Brass Band will join forces with the World Famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band in what promises to be a phenomenal collaboration in aid of York Against Cancer.
Ticket information will be released later.
The Snowman Returns
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.
An evening with Cory Band
On October 28th, we see our friends from Wales, the Cory Band, returning to York for our very popular joint concerts. They have decided not to attend Brass In Concert this year but the event with us is one they were not prepared to miss.
The concert takes place in the Jack Lyons Concert Hall at York University and tickets will be available from 1st August through the York University online ticket system. Tickets are £21 for a standard ticket, £19 for concessions and £7 for students.
The concert starts at 7:00 pm, but for band enthusiasts, we are also offering an upgrade ticket, where for an additional £10, you will have a meet and greet session before the concert with Philip Harper and some of the soloists from Cory Band, a signed programme and a goody bag. The meet and greet will be a Q&A session and we will be providing tea and coffee on your arrival.
York Races – October Finale
The band will be back at York Races for the season finale on October 14th. Come along adn see us outside the Old Weighing Room where will be entertaining with the customary light tunes and there’s always the option of a singalong to end the day.
The Grace Pratt Memorial Concert
Sadly in 2023, we lost a great friend of the band and of course Mike, the MD of our Concert Band and a log standing stalwart of the band on Euphonium lost his mum. We thought it only right that we celebrate Grace’s life in the only way we can, with a concert.
Please join us at York Salvation Army Citadel for what is going to be a wonderful celebration of a real part of our band family.
Tickets will be available on Eventbrite from July 1st priced at £7.50
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/grace-pratt-memorial-concert-tickets-646420750867