West Lothian Schools Brass Band
West Lothian Schools Brass Band - winners of the 2007 SBBA Scottish Youth Championships pictured on stage at Perth Concert Hall (Picture by John Zurowski)
West Lothian Schools Brass Band can claim to be one of the most successful youth brass bands in the UK The band was formed in 1975 to encourage young musicians from West Lothian Council’s schools instrumental music tuition programme. In the early 1980’s, Nigel Boddice was invited as a guest conductor to lead the band for a weekend course, and this led to his appointment as musical director - a post which Nigel holds to this day.
During the intervening period the band has achieved an impressive list of results at both national and international levels. They have won the British Youth Brass Band Championship on no less than 11 occasions, including a hat trick of victories in 2003, 2004 and 2005. They are the currnet 2008 British Youth Brass Band champions, and are also 2007 Scottish Youth Brass Band champions, adding to their previous wins in 1985, 1986, 1987, 2005 and 2006. The band have also been European Youth Champions on three occasions in total. To complete this impressive list of achievements, they were also BBC Radio 2 Youth Brass Band of the Year in 1998, and were awarded a Gold Award at the Sydney International Music Festival in 1998.
Nigel Boddice enjoys a busy and impressive international conducting career and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2005 for his services to “youth music in Scotland”.
The band is supported by West Lothian Council and additional funding is provided by the Friends organisation.
We hope you enjoy exploring the rest of the site and the music samples from our “Earthrise” CD. Perhaps it will encourage you to come along and hear the band play at one of our concerts or competitions.
West Lothian Schools Brass Band News
Please note that although every effort is made to ensure that the information provided on this site is correct, it is gathered from a variety of sources, and no guarantee is given regarding it’s accuracy. Especially, please check with the individual venues to confirm times for concerts and for booking availability.
If you have any comments or additional information, please contact the webmaster.
If you wish to contact the band directly please contact our Band Coordinator.
Visits since January 2004
Last updated 16th April 2008
To read a report on the band’s performance at the West Lothian Spring Concert Series which was held in St. Margaret’s Academy, Livingston on Saturday 15th March 2008, click here. For reports on all our other concerts click here.
The band’s long awaited DVD “Friends” was finally released for sale at the Xmas Concert. The DVD was recorded in January 2006. For more details, visit our Band Cds and DVDs page. Make sure you get your copy soon.
The band are also currently recording a new CD for release later in 2008. Watch this space for more information.
The list of band personnel has been updated. Please check your name is there, and if there are any mistakes or omissions, e-mail the webmaster
The next event in the band’s schedule is the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama’s Brass Day.The event will also feature performances from current Scottish and Scottish Open Champions, Whitburn Band, The National Youth Brass Band of Scotland and from the Kirkintiloch Band.The event begins at 1:00pm on Sunday 20th April and entry is absolutely free! Visit our Events Schedule page for more details of this and other events..
The band are proud to announce that they have just been crowned British National Youth Brass Band Champions, receiving a gold award at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on Sunday 13th April 2008.
The band’s principal euphonium player, Jamie Shade, was also proud to be awarded the Best Instrumentalist in the Premier Section. Visit our Contest Report page for more details or read the 4BarsRest Retrospective.
