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Enormous congratulations to our Principal Euphonium, Idris, who absolutely smashed his Grade 8 exam achieving a distinction! Idris first joined Lydney Training Band in 2014 and over the last eleven years he has become an integral part of the Lydney Band organisation, moving upto the Town Band in 2019 at the age of 13 before taking on his current position in 2022. It has been a pleasure for us to see Idris develop from a precocious young player to a superbly talented musician, who we have no doubt has an incredible musical career ahead of him! Shout out to our Youth Development Officer Kerry, who has guided Idris through his grades and musical journey from the beginning!  We’re very late in celebrating this but back in November, Etta and Jess took their Grade One (Cornet) and Grade Five (Horn) exams, respectively. We’re absolutely delighted to say that they both smashed it and achieved distinctions!  Enormous congratulations to Gail who passed her grade two on cornet with a whacking great distinction!  Congratulations to our latest cohort of young musicians who passed their grade exams earlier this month: Jonah and Wren (Grade 1), Sadie (Grade 3), Millie (Grade 4), Herbie and George (Grade 5).  Our development programme for young players is thriving and reaping many rewards for the individuals involved. In the last fortnight, six Training Band members took exams ranging from grade one to five! We're happy to report that all six passed with flying colours! Well done to Wren and Jonah (both: grade 1), Sadie (grade 3), Millie (grade 4), and Herbie and George (both: grade 5). We're very proud of you all!
Looking forward to the next few months, Youth Development Officer, Kerry Ford, said: "The place to start is with ‘learners’ and this spring we are taking our Starter Group out three times to perform concerts at our local residential homes. Here they play their solos and ensembles to willing ears, learning essential life skills about preparation, self discipline, confidence and team work." Our grateful thanks to Ken & Roger Powell, Kevin & Kerry Ford for their dedication and patience to make the magic happen. We're really excited to share an update about two members of the Band who are at very different points of their musical journey and have recently both celebrated a fantastic achievement! We believe that music should be fun and that individuals should be rewarded and recognised for their achievements. The development programme for our players produces well rounded performers including Alasdair and Rhys! Alasdair, who we recently we bade a fond farewell to as he headed to University, has just achieved a Grade 8 Distinction on his Trombone! He has been a member of the Band since he was just eight years old and over time has become a superb and well rounded musician. Just at the very start of his musical journey, we have Rhys, who is the youngest member of the Training Band. He recently received his Silver Achievement Award from the Band and this weekend, he will be taking part in his first contest alongside his mum and sister who also play in the Training Band! Success involves time and effort and we are so proud of these two young people and can't wait to see what they achieve next   Last Friday, four members of the band - Dougie, Herbie and Sadie from the Training Band, and Ian from the Town Band, took grade exams. Under the tuition and guidance of Kerry Ford, they had been working for months to prepare pieces, learn scales, hone their understanding of music. We're really pleased to announce that they all passed: Sadie - Grade Two, Herbie - Grade Four, Dougie - Grade Five, Ian - Grade Eight.  Congratulations to Jess and George from Lydney Training Band who passed their Grade 3 and 4 exams, respectively, both with a distinction!  Huge congratulations to three of our brilliant Training Band players: Idris, Samuel and Herbie who recently passed their latest music grades. Lydney Training Band welcomes any and all aspiring musicians, regardless of previous experience. If you’d like to find out more about learning a brass instrument, please get in touch!  Congratulations to Dougie, George and Luna who recently passed their ABRSM grades 4, 3 & 5 respectively! A huge well done from all at Lydney Town and Training Bands.  If any of you are thinking…. ‘I can’t do a music exam’ then look to this band member who started to play the cornet under 7 years ago achieved a Merit at Grade 7 in December 2021! Ian joined us in 2015 having previously played the piano for many years. His interest in brass has grown into a great hobby and no doubt he will tell you that he loves it. As well as learning new skills, Ian has challenged himself as an adult to take music exams, which can be quite a tense experience. Ian adopted a systematic approach to practice through lockdown to get himself exam ready. Its amazing what a bit of dedication can do. Well done Ian. We’re so proud of you. Kerry Ford – Brass Tutor, Lydney Town Band  |
