Everyone in brass banding says the same thing: no kids are coming through. It's dying. There's nothing we can do. Chris disagrees. And he's got the numbers to prove it.

In three years his brass tuition business, Bandstars, has delivered over 900 free trial lessons in Devon primary schools. The sign-up rate? 85-90%. That's taken 775 children from zero to playing a brass instrument.

In this episode, Chris breaks down exactly how he built that pipeline. The school assembly demo that hooks kids in 20 minutes. The "Frankenstein" instrument sourcing strategy that keeps costs low. The group-lesson model that makes it affordable. His take is simple: the real crisis isn't a lack of interest. It's a lack of marketing, mindset, and joined-up thinking between school tuition and local bands.

We also dig into regional contest data that challenges the doom-and-gloom narrative. Why the bottom of the banding pyramid, not the top, is where the real work needs to happen. And where AI fits, and doesn't fit, into the future of brass composition.

After COVID, one brass band was down to seven people with no clear way forward. This episode is the story of how Julie Hoggarth changed that. And what she built to make sure it couldn't happen again.

GUEST

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Julie Hoggarth is the founder of Drum and Brass, a Community Interest Company based in Cumbria set up to bring communities together through music. When a local band she was involved with shrank to near collapse post-COVID, she used Drum and Brass to secure funding, build a training programme, and bring in new players, growing the band to over 37 members and establishing local learner groups that have introduced more than 50 new people to banding in recent years.

WHAT'S COVERED

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- How Drum and Brass rebuilt a band from near-collapse

- Why the all-volunteer model lets bands down and what to do instead

- Funding routes: Arts Council grants, council funding, community schemes, crowdfunding and your local MP

- Getting into schools through Music Education Hubs

- Digitising your sheet music library and documenting roles properly

- Rethinking repertoire and instrumentation to reach new audiences

LINKS

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Drum and Brass: https://www.drumandbrass.co.uk

ABOUT THE SHOW

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The Future of Brass is a podcast from the Flixton Band organisation. Honest conversations about where brass banding goes from here. No script, just real talk about something worth saving.