Lancashire Youth Concert Band (LYCB) are one of our County Ensembles and offers students the opportunity to work with inspiring leaders and professional musicians, alongside like-minded young people from across the county.
One of the main benefits of being in a band is meeting fellow music makers and working as a team to discover new music and develop your skills together. This has certainly been a challenge in the last year as everything has moved online – including our performances. We talked with some of the LYCB members about playing and rehearsing online to find out how its affected them and what they’ve learnt in the past year.
It was interesting to hear that nearly everyone enjoyed the online sessions as they found it a positive way to keep both the playing and the social side of things going.
“I think it’s just really great being part of a group of people who all enjoy playing music together. It’s also fun when we play concerts after we have been working on repertoire for the term and we get to showcase what we have been working on. I think it has improved my ensemble playing by working on listening to others and knowing where your part fits with everything else going on and my playing in general as it has challenged me to improve and learn new music. I also like the really wide variety of music we play including more classical music and modern music, including film music.” Seren, LYCB player
“I knew it would be nice to continue playing as a group throughout lockdown, especially as school music had stopped, and the video recordings we have done have made us feel like a proper band again” Summer, LYCB Player
“It is very enjoyable and a nice useful thing to do on my Saturdays” James, LYCB Player
So what’s next for LYCB and its players in 2021? We’re seeing the return of face to face rehearsals and, even though they have produced some fantastic work online, everyone is very excited to get back together again. While technology has enabled us to keep the band going and we are very proud of what we’ve achieved, it certainly can’t replace the fantastic feeling you get making music together, in real life, as a band.
LYCB welcome new members – brass players, woodwind players and percussionists, and recommend grade 3 standard or above (although you don’t need to have taken any exams).
To find out more click HERE
To hear more from the LYCB players on why you should join the band:
