Meets every Thursday 6 – 7 p.m.
The Bandroom, Mill Lane (off Mellbecks) Riverside, Kirkby Stephen, CA17 4SA
No Apologies Brass is a brass band with a difference. Our female only group was established recently in Kirkby Stephen when local women expressed a desire for a place where we could get together and challenge ourselves to do music a little differently to what we are used. The group is small at present and many of our members have spent the last couple of years in a more traditional brass band setting, so the idea behind this is to challenge these traditions and create something with a fresh feel, somewhere welcoming that will foster creativity and a new way of learning.
We chose the name because all too often women feel the need to apologise. Research has shown we do it way more than men, and we wanted our group to be a place where apologies are not necessary, where we own our mistakes and appreciate them as being part of the creative learning process. We are group with people of all abilities, ages and backgrounds. We are different, we aren’t perfect, we have fun. We are what we are and we make no apologies for that either.
It’s often a challenge getting a new group off the ground but the early days for No Apologies have proved promising. We have brought together trumpets, horns, trombones, drums and saxophones and have been working on some lively pieces. It was in our plans from the start that we wanted to play music that was easy to learn, that was high energy with repeating riffs that would allow us to step out from behind our music stands and really connect with each other rather than being focused on ‘reading the dots’. We take great inspiration from Penrith based samba group Street Beats, of which one of our players is a member, and they have been a great support to us by loaning us music and we plan to collaborate with them going forward by providing them with more brass players for their performances.
Ultimately we want to empower women of all kinds to build confidence through music. When we are ready we want to take our music to the streets, with busking style performances rather than the more formal brass concerts we are used to playing. If we can create a place where women of all backgrounds can come together and build each other up then we will have achieved a great deal. We think we can do this by getting out there on the streets and presenting the more fun and relaxed face of brass playing.
The project may be in its early days but we are enthusiastic and committed and we hope we can welcome more women to the group and really get this off the ground. Stay tuned.
This is an inclusive group for female/female-identifying players