You Bring The Band

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LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
edited August 2018 in Made in the UK

I'm not really 100% sure this is a relevant business, but I'll post it and if there are any objections please feel free to take it down! I'm not a "dump and run" poster as I'm a regular here, and as many of you will know I do a lot of youth work, particularly with Children with additional needs and behavior problems. For a long time now I've done evening sessions for the local council at youth clubs and that's been going really well. I've now decided to launch my service to a wider audience and, frankly, I'm looking for a bit of help with publicity and any advice is welcome too. 

Primarily I'm aiming to roll it out in Yorkshire and the North East but anywhere I can reasonably get to is on the cards. 

At the moment all I have done is setup and Facebook page and I've got reviews incoming from the youth teams I've worked for. Here's my blurb explaining what I'm offering and a link to the page:

"We're now live, and taking bookings! 

Fun music sessions for kids of all ages. 

So how does it work? 

Give us a shout to arrange a date and then we'll help you pick a song or two. On the day, we'll arrive with all our kit and set up wherever you want. The chosen song(s) will be broken down into easy parts, enough to include every participant (even the non musical ones!) and at the end of the session the children will perform the song, with or without a little help depending on age / ability. 

We supply: 
PA system
Guitars
Bass
Keyboard
Electric Drums
Mics (plus a tablet for words / music)
Special effects for both vocals and instruments
Amps 
Various percussion instruments

Fully insured
DBS checked
References available from Councils / Schools

Why not try a party with a difference? Give us a shout!"

https://www.facebook.com/You-bring-the-band-1806216916352790/
www.youbringtheband.co.uk

Whilst this may not be directly relevant to the community, I hope to encourage many future guitarists, and am directly responsible for at least 30 guitar purchases already! 

Any shares aimed at parents / teachers / youth workers in my area would be most welcome.

Thanks
Chris

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Comments

  • AlexCAlexC Frets: 2396
    This sounds like a hugely original idea and a great project. All the best with it. Good on ya!
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    AlexC said:
    This sounds like a hugely original idea and a great project. All the best with it. Good on ya!
    Thank you muchly! It's a bit of a leap but initial interest has been very exciting! Just need to turn it into steady work :) 

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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    Website up and running, Facebook page has done some mileage already! Crossing everything :)

    http://youbringtheband.co.uk

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  • LuttiSLuttiS Frets: 2243
    Looks awesome matey, have a like on the ole fb :)

    How long are the sessions and does it take multiple sessions to do songs or are you generally able to fit a complete number in a session?
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    edited May 2018
    LuttiS said:
    Looks awesome matey, have a like on the ole fb

    How long are the sessions and does it take multiple sessions to do songs or are you generally able to fit a complete number in a session?
    The aim, which has been met every time so far, is to do it all in one session of 2-3 hours. Sometimes that means they still have my help on guitar or vocals if they're not that confident doing it on their own but usually they can manage it. 

    I use things like different coloured white board markers on the keys, cheat guitar tunings and the tablet for lyrics to help them follow a song structure. I've also been known to split the drums so one can do pedals / hi hat and someone else does toms, snare and crash/ride. That's the beauty of an electric kit, easy to move bits! 

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  • Guitar_SlingerGuitar_Slinger Frets: 1489
    Have a look at https://www.millhillmusiccomplex.co.uk/music-lessons-tuition/music-workshop/. I've seen flyers at my local rehearsal studio, although I haven't been and am nothing to do with it. Hopefully there might be ideas or words you haven't picked up on.
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    Have a look at https://www.millhillmusiccomplex.co.uk/music-lessons-tuition/music-workshop/. I've seen flyers at my local rehearsal studio, although I haven't been and am nothing to do with it. Hopefully there might be ideas or words you haven't picked up on.
    Not seen that before, although it looks more technical than what I'm doing and fixed locations. Doing whole weeks you could do a lot more definitely but tis is meant to be a taster, with a quick and positive outcome that'll hopefully encourage them to seek additional learning. 

    Thanks for the link though, it'll be useful for ideas 

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  • LuttiSLuttiS Frets: 2243
    LuttiS said:
    Looks awesome matey, have a like on the ole fb

    How long are the sessions and does it take multiple sessions to do songs or are you generally able to fit a complete number in a session?
    The aim, which has been met every time so far, is to do it all in one session of 2-3 hours. Sometimes that means they still have my help on guitar or vocals if they're not that confident doing it on their own but usually they can manage it. 

    I use things like different coloured white board markers on the keys, cheat guitar tunings and the tablet for lyrics to help them follow a song structure. I've also been known to split the drums so one can do pedals / hi hat and someone else does toms, snare and crash/ride. That's the beauty of an electric kit, easy to move bits! 
    Cool! What kind of songs do you do?
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    Pretty much whatever they want. Recent picks include These Days (Rudimental), This is me from the Greatest Showman, The Climb (Miley Cyrus), Zombie (Cranberries) and Somebody that I used to know. 

    Most modern stuff has a simple chord progression underneath it, so once that's down we just add some flavour! 

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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    This is a brilliant idea, what do you do if none of the kids can play anything (unlikely if people are booking this I realise!)
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    edited May 2018
    munckee said:
    This is a brilliant idea, what do you do if none of the kids can play anything (unlikely if people are booking this I realise!)
    I've had a few sessions where the desire is there but the ability just won't come! In that scenario, I tend to use the trio+ to provide the chords and beat, which makes it easier for them to follow along on keys, vocals and small percussion like tambourine and shakers. I put the keyboard on chord accompaniment mode then put coloured dots on the keys they need to press, so that it plays the whole chord with one finger!

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  • LuttiSLuttiS Frets: 2243
    munckee said:
    This is a brilliant idea, what do you do if none of the kids can play anything (unlikely if people are booking this I realise!)
    I've had a few sessions where the desire is there but the ability just won't come! In that scenario, I tend to use the trio+ to provide the chords and beat, which makes it easier for them to follow along on keys, vocals and small percussion like tambourine and shakers. I put the keyboard on chord accompaniment mode then put coloured dots on the keys they need to press, so that it plays the whole chord with one finger!
    Klevur!

    What kind of age ranges do you get?
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    edited May 2018
    It varies from about 7 to 16 at the moment. Can't imagine it'll be much different going forward.

    In other exciting news, I've finally signed up to Twitter after resisting it for years. 

    Take a look at You Bring The Band (@YouBringTheBand): https://twitter.com/YouBringTheBand?s=09

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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    Phew! Busy busy day building more of the website today, but had lots of likes and shares, and starting to get a few enquiries filtering through. 

    To do list: 

    Better photos
    Privacy Policy before the GDPR police get me
    More photos
    Testimonials
    Multimedia stuff of sessions 
    Apparently I have to do a profile of me for the website ...with pictures. I can't write anything nice about myself! :/

    If anyone is good at this kind of stuff feel free to critique the website

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  • hywelghywelg Frets: 4302
    Get a mate to come to take photos for you, you'll have your hands full. And maybe video if the participants are good enough and parents happy for you to do it. 
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    Phew! Busy busy day building more of the website today, but had lots of likes and shares, and starting to get a few enquiries filtering through. 

    To do list: 

    Better photos
    Privacy Policy before the GDPR police get me
    More photos
    Testimonials
    Multimedia stuff of sessions 
    Apparently I have to do a profile of me for the website ...with pictures. I can't write anything nice about myself! :/

    If anyone is good at this kind of stuff feel free to critique the website
    If you don't want to write a profile interview yourself. Write a list of questions, what did you want to be as a kid, favourite album, what super power etc and then answer them. 
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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    edited June 2018
    The pitfalls of digital age business.

    I applied for the trademark registration a while back, and I immediately received a warning from the IP office about unsolicited mailings from scam companies, including WOTR (World Organisation for Trademarks). 

    I'm glad I actually took the time to read all this carefully, as this morning I received an "invoice" from those very people, for £985 to complete the global registration of my trademark. (Or, list it on their completely meaningless website!). 

    The bareface cheek of some people! 

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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    Presenting my new logo!

    Exciting times!

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  • LegionreturnsLegionreturns Frets: 7965
    Excitingly, I won my first block booking since launching as YBTB today. A 24 week contract for a SEN user group, running sessions at an arts centre. 

    I am a happy bunny! Things are starting to happen! :)

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  • robwrightrobwright Frets: 736
    Looks brilliant! I work for a mental health charity in Bristol, running Wellbeing courses and this would be brilliant for that! Tap up your local mental health organisations and offer it as a Wellbeing activity!



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