Music for Youth (MFY) is a national music education charity which allows young, aspiring musicians across the UK, free access to performance and audience opportunities. Last month MFY held its national festival in Birmingham Symphony Hall and it was great to see pBone alongside its sister instrument - pTrumpet - for the first time.
The week-long festival featured a variety of musical performances from classical and jazz all the way through to pop and rock as thousands of talented young musicians, aged 5-21, took to the stage at Symphony Hall, Town Hall and Birmingham Conservatoire venues.
This year the MFY National Festival celebrated its 10th year in Birmingham and to mark the occasion MFY included a range of special activities and events such as satellite stages, professional performances and a Festival Fringe with an interactive zone and a family experience.
The Normans Make Some Noise zone gave young musicians a chance to try a whole range of musical instruments including pBone and pTrumpet.
The festival was made even more exciting, for us, as we were able to see pBones and pTrumpets being played together in a series of education workshops across the week. The workshops gave young children the opportunity to learn how to play their first notes on brass instruments.
We were delighted to see the enthusiasm from all those who took part in the festival and workshops. Enthusiasm which was expressed when the Normans Make Some Noise zone was treated to a spontaneous performance by a group of friends, started by a young boy on one of our very own pBones.
You can read more about the Music for Youth Festival here.
Chris Fower
As an undergraduate Chris studied Jazz at Leeds College of Music and then became a member of the Advanced Studies, post-graduate performers course at the Royal Academy of Music and Principal Bass Trombone with the European Community Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. He then spent 25 years as a busy freelance performer based in both London and the North of England working with a wide variety of ensembles and artists, including being a member of Grimethorpe Colliery Band, The British Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Shirley Bassey’s Orchestra and the Creative Jazz Orchestra.
Alongside this Chris has worked extensively in all areas of music education, latterly as a leading deliverer and trainer in informal, large group practice. This included roles as Leader in Wider Opportunities at Hertfordshire Music Service, Leader of Instrumental Development for Derbyshire City and County Music Partnership and as a face to face trainer on the Trinity Guildhall/Open University “Whole Class Instrumental Learning” national training program.
He became a key member of the team that created pBone, the plastic trombone in 2011/12 and has been involved with pBone Music in various roles since then. Chris is currently the Director of Creativity and Innovation for the company, a role that includes overseeing product development and improvement, quality and education.
