Music badges

There's a big issue for young musicians. The first time you hold an instrument, make a sound and feel that sense of amazement, is wonderful. Then comes the bad news. It takes a long time to get any good. And being good at playing the instrument is the only thing that matters, right? Well if you want to be a soloist, it is. But bands, orchestras and music groups around the country are keen for players who don't covert the top spot. They welcome instrumentalists who can put their part in, work with others and maybe help with the running of the group. And those players are getting fewer as the myth of the 'naturally talented musician' creates an elistist envrionment which welcomes only the privileged and the driven. That is not healthy.

At Brass of the Saff we welcome any player who wants to play. We see a band as a small enterprise which requires many different skills, of which instrumental playing is just one. We have unpicked the whole matter of playing in and running a band in order to develop not just musicians but also team players, managers and leaders. We have developed a progression programme of badges, Awts Awards and ABRSM Music Medals for beginners to intermediate players which acknowleges small but significant progession steps across a broader range of activities.

We are using the "Online Scout Manager" programme to administer the band and our badge systems owes a great deal to the scout and guide movement. The programme also enables us to collect  evaluation datawhich is extremely important in tracking the progress of the band and which can also be fed back to Youth Music.

Our players have taken to the badge booklets well and although it is early days, we can see that players are motivated to come to band to be part of that progression programme. Ultimately the badges etc will provide them with evidence for their UCAS applications or CVs. We hope other music groups might be interested in helping us expand this programme as it develops and we would welcome comments and collaborations in this area as it will help more young people enjoy the early years of instrumental playing and hopefully stick with it.