Spreading joy through music

Playing music together with others, from childhood into adulthood, is a source of great joy for many people. As well as developing our playing ability as musicians, it also gives us a sense of community and purpose and an opportunity to socialise with others. Leisure time music making can also improve our mental well-being and provide personal solace during difficult times in our lives.

We believe in intergenerational participatory music making and have witnessed how much young people can benefit from playing alongside adults and vice versa. We teach the same repertoire across both our youth and adult ensembles so that we can perform together as one large intergenerational band at parades, festivals and events.

You are never too young or too old to pick up an instrument and start making music and we want to support and encourage as many people as possible to learn an instrument and experience the joy of playing together with others. We can provide instrumental tuition for complete beginners or those returning to an instrument they haven’t played for a number of years. Once you’ve mastered the basics you can then join our youth or adult street band ensemble.

It takes a lot of time and energy to learn an instrument. Even when you've started to get the hang of it there's only so much you can achieve practising at home. Lara creates a friendly supportive atmosphere where the group works on songs together. There is a wide range of abilities across brass, woodwind and percussion. No strings! We learn the tunes by ear and Lara backs this up by sending out the 'dots' (sheet music) later. People's confidence visibly improves along with the performances. We play one or two gigs a month. Even better, they're a friendly bunch!

Michael, adult band member.   Read more testimonials