Youth Band

The Triangle Youth Brass Band, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, was formed in 1997 as an expansion of the Triangle Brass Band's educational endeavors. The organization consists of two bands, the Triangle Youth Brass Band and the Triangle Youth Brass Ensemble, and nearly 80 of the Triangle’s most talented young musicians participate. The TYBB’s mission is to provide an opportunity for the finest area high school brass and percussion players to supplement their wind band experience by performing in a British-style brass band and to raise the level of brass playing in the area.

The Triangle Youth Brass Band maintains a strict instrumentation based on the British brass band tradition. B-flat and E-flat cornets, E-flat tenor horns, and B-flat baritones are used in addition to trombone, bass trombone, tuba, and percussion. In addition to contemporary pieces written for brass band, the group’s repertoire includes orchestral and band transcriptions, and students also perform chamber music in small quartets or quintets. For both ensembles, membership is by recommendation and audition, and the season lasts from November to May each year. Both bands perform at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts’ Meymandi Concert Hall in Raleigh. The TYBB program also sponsors clinics and masterclasses with guest artists and conductors.

In its first season, TYBB gave only one performance, but the program grew swiftly; Matt Edwards, Stephen Lytle, John Enloe, and Randy Guptill conducted that year. Guptill took over as director for the 1998-1999 school year and served until its current director, Tony Granados, came aboard in January 2001. In 2007, the program expanded with the formation of an additional band, the Triangle Youth Brass Ensemble. Although this ensemble does not adhere to the TYBB’s strict British instrumentation, the slightly larger TYBE is patterned after the British style. Repertoire is challenging yet appropriate to the skill level of these young musicians. This additional ensemble provides more students with the opportunity to develop their skills as musicians in a youth brass band program that has become the premiere organization of its kind in North America

As the program has flourished, so has its reputation. The Triangle Youth Brass Band often travels and performs outside the Triangle area of North Carolina. Recent tours have taken the band to the North American Brass Band Association Championships, where the band earned First Place Honors in the Youth Division in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009. The TYBB were featured performers at the Great American Brass Band Festival in 2003, visited Atlanta to perform with the Georgia Brass Band in 2005, toured Connecticut and performed with the US Coast Guard Band in 2008, and performed for the City of Greensboro’s Independence Day fireworks celebration in 2006 and 2008. The newly formed Brass Ensemble is making its mark as well, attending the NABBA Championships in the new Youth Open division and winning 1st place in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

A cornerstone of the TYBB program is its commitment to bringing first-rate musicians from all over the world to the Triangle. Guest soloists and clinicians have included: