Brass The Baton is an exciting new project for 2012 designed to increase participation in the Brass Band Music art form on an unprecedented scale never attempted before from a single event. It provides a unique opportunity for brass musicians, and conductors, of all ages, to perform a new music commission as part of a high profile, high quality, nationwide celebration of brass band music making for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Brass The Baton is basically a relay race involving 5 conductor’s batons, each representing one of the 5 Olympic rings and coloured accordingly. Starting in Europe in May at the prestigious European Brass Band Championships each of the 5 batons will be passed by participating Brass Bands / Ensembles across the UK and Internationally, until they reach their final destination:- the London 2012 Festival in July.

All Brass Bands / Ensembles can participate

Brass Bands / Ensembles will be invited to take part and 5 unique routes will be mapped out for each baton before the start. One baton will be dedicated to be passed only by youth / training / beginner bands; another could be assigned to travel through Europe and possibly around the world.

The relay race will last for at least 10 weeks providing 350 potential performance days (i.e. 5 batons x 10 weeks of 7 days) where each Brass Band / Ensemble taking part will be encouraged to find the most innovative way of performing with, and passing on, one of the 5 conductor’s baton.

A special piece of music will be commissioned entitled “Brass The Baton: Going The Distance”, it will comprise 5 parts that can be performed independently along the route of each baton. The world premiere performance of the complete piece will only occur when all 5 parts / batons / massed bands of brass musicians come together for the project finale during the London 2012 Festival in July.

London 2012 Inspire Mark

To date the creative concept has been developed by the British Federation of Brass Bands (BFBB) working in collaboration with Rambling Brass and they are extremely pleased to announce that the project has recently been granted the London 2012 Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire programme which recognises exceptional and innovative projects inspired by the 2012 Games.

Seb Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said: ’We want to use the power of the Games to inspire change. The Inspire programme is recognising the work our partners all round the UK are doing to help us achieve this vision now – one year away from the start of the Games. I congratulate everyone involved in Brass The Baton for securing the Inspire mark and wish you every success with your work.’

Partnership & Collaboration

Other project partners across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are now being contacted to ensure that all brass bands throughout the UK have the opportunity to take part in Brass The Baton.

BFBB is also in discussion with the European Brass Band Association regarding the details of the launch event for the start of the relay at the 2012 European Brass Band Championships and with London based partners regarding the staging of the world premier of “Brass The Baton” during the London 2012 Festival.

Terry Luddington, BFBB Liaison Officer, stated “Brass The Baton is designed as a collaborative project where all partners and participants will be encouraged to contribute towards the shared goal of engaging as many brass band musicians, volunteers, audience members, children and young people as possible in order to leave a lasting legacy of increased participation in Brass Band music making for the future.

Invitation

We would now like to hear from all Brass Bands / Brass Ensembles / Festivals / Contests / Venues / Conductors / Volunteers interested in getting involved in Brass The Baton. At this stage please just send an email to brassthebaton@mad4bb.com to record your interest and we’ll be in touch soon with more information.” 

Olympic founder inspires arts

The Festival of the World event – part of celebrations for the London 2012 Games – will open over the Diamond Jubilee weekend at London’s Southbank Centre.

It will run from 1 June 2012 through to the last day of the Paralympics on 9 September.

An artists’ village will be set up at the Queen Elizabeth Hall for creative people from around the world to swap stories and chat.

Major attractions include Welsh bass baritone Bryn Terfel and Senegalese singer and human rights champion Baaba Maal, while Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra headline a four-day Sounds of Venezuela event.

Please help bands to get £6k from Natwest

Please help if you can, it won’t cost anything and will take about 5 minutes of your time today.

Six BFBB member bands have been nominated for a Nat West CommunityForce award:

Deeside Silver Band

Enderby Youth Band

Gloucester Excelsior Training Band

Macclesfield Youth Brass Band

Ouston, Pelton District Community Brass Band

York RI Golden Rail Band 

There are 393 x £6k awards being made so each of our member bands has a chance of winning if we can get them enough votes. As Louise Renshaw has indicated from Macclesfield Youth Brass Band:

“We’ve had over 260 votes so far and are currently in the top 3 projects in Cheshire but with just 5 days to go, the voting is going bananas and we really need more votes to keep us in with a chance of winning one of the three cash prizes.

£6000 is a huge amount of money for any charity and our volunteers could use it wisely to teach even more youngsters to play an instrument and enjoy being able to join a band. It’s sooooo close and every single vote is important.”

Jen Prior from Gloucester Excelsior has explained the voting process below:

“To vote you need to use the following link: http://communityforce.natwest.com/

This will take you to the Nat West Communityforce website and you need to click on ‘register’ at the top right hand side of the screen.  You will then need to put in your email address and a password.  Once you have received an automated email confirming your registration you will be able to go back into the website.  To do this it is best to use the following link as this will take you directly to our cause:

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4371 - Gloucester Excelsior Training Band”

You are allowed 3 votes but can only vote once for each cause.  So please use all three votes, the links for the other bands are:

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1574 - Macclesfield Youth Brass Band

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/3933 - York RI Golden Rail Band 

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/2024 - Ouston, Pelton & District Community Brass Band

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/128 - Deeside Silver Band 

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4343 - Enderby Youth Band

If you haven’t got time to vote on-line you can vote by phone call 0800 2100 246 Lines open 24/7.

So let’s all go M.A.D. (Make A Difference) and spread the word to vote for these bands, voting closes at midday Monday 24 October.

Terry Luddington

BFBB Liaison Officer

Mobile: 07803 147101

Email: terry@bfbb.co.uk

Twitter: @tlmad4bb

Facebook: Terry Luddington

BFBB Website: www.bfbb.co.uk 

Making A Difference Website: www.mad4bb.com