Youth and Beginners Brass Bands

Downshire Brass has a long history of working with young musicians in Northern Ireland and were one of the first local bands to establish a programme for young players in 1991.  Our young people gather at our rehearsal facilities in South Belfast at 6.30pm on Mondays to have fun making music together.

We operate 2 groups:
Beginners Band for those starting out on their brass playing journey. We generally recommend that children should be P4 (aged 7/8) or higher before taking up a brass instrument.

Youth Band for those with more playing experience who require less assistance in rehearsals. Typically, youth band members have achieved Grade 2 standard or been playing for 2-3 years.

Our groups perform 2 concerts per year:
The Downshire Brass Christmas Concert in December is a firm favourite on the local arts scene. It showcases the talents of our Senior, Youth and Beginners Bands and usually features a local choir to add to the festive atmosphere. Our End of Year Concert & BBQ in June is exclusively for our Beginner and Youth Bands where they show off the skills that they have developed over the year. It is a very informal affair held in our rehearsal rooms with a BBQ afterwards to thank our young people and their parents for their efforts.

There are also other public performance opportunities throughout the year such as carolling in local shopping centres and taking part in Solo & Ensemble Competitions.

We are always keen to welcome new members to our youth groups.
Instruments can be provided to band members (free of charge) subject to availability.  We do however ask for a voluntary contribution of £20 per school term to help towards the running costs of our organisation.  Additional donations are of course very welcome and will be put to good use.

If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch via the contact page on our website or email youth@downshirebrass.com

Autumn Term
Band Resumes Monday 15th September
Half Term Break Monday 27th October
Christmas Concert Saturday 6th December
Carolling TBC
Winter Break Monday 22nd / 29th December

Spring Term
Band Resumes Monday 5th January
Solos & Ensembles Competition Saturday 7th February
Half Term Break Monday 16th February
St Patrick’s Day Break** Monday 16th March
Easter Break** Monday 30th March / 6th April

Summer Term
Band Resumes Monday 13th April
Bank Holiday Monday 4th May
Bank Holiday** Monday 25th May
Summer Concert & BBQ Monday 15th June

 ** Marked Dates: We will review closer to the time. If sufficient numbers are available, we may run a rehearsal.