Atherstone Youth Marching Band

File:Fieldcommanderaymb.jpg  **Atherstone Youth Marching Band** is a marching show band based in Warwickshire, UK and currently compete with BYBA. Their primary focus is to entertain, not only the audience but the members as well, in any ways neccesary! AYMB have made 3 appearances at the Kendall Torchlight Parade, winning the award 'Best Marching Band' 3 times, Best in Parade once and Best Newcomer once.

They use Dynasty and Premier percussion, Yamaha and Dynasty brass/woodwind and Premier pit equipment.

## History

AYMB was born in the year 2002, attracting many members from the disbanded Atherstone Scout Band. At the start, we struggled through stages of shortage of instruments, shortage of instructors, not enough time to get the show finished but after a year or so, things started to fall into place.

In 2004, Atherstone Youth Marching Band put out their first show entitled 'A Close Encounter'. This show was based around the theme of space with music such as 'Close Encounters', 'War of the Worlds' and 'ET' along with the TV show theme to 'Star Trek' and the theme to the legendary Star Wars series. Competing at the World Championships in Bournemouth for the first time, Atherstone came away with a Bronze Medal. As a band we felt this was a very successful opening year. The team went out and performed a complete show (despite the time set given to learn and rehearse the show) accomplishing target scores at each competition with the help of their new brass instructor, formerly of Statesmen (UK).

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Within the space of a few weeks after the closure of the BYBA 2004 season, Atherstone Youth Marching Band were ready and raring to go for the new show for 2005. The 2005 show was based on the theme of Movie Heroes taking such themes as 'Raiders of the Lost Arc', 'Batman' and 'Back to the Future' in it's stride. The new musical director Paul Clayton gave the band a real boost and took them on leaps and bounds. By the first band camp in January 2005, we had our first rough but ready run through of 'Raiders of the lost Arc'. The 2005 season saw AYMB climb the division 3 table further and scoring well into the 700's by the end of the season.

The 2006 season contained a show entitled 'All That Jazz', a collection of the member's favourite musicals, featuring 'All The Jazz' from Chicago, 'Macavity' from Cats, 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' from Phantom of the Opera, and 'One (Singular Sensation)' from A Chorus Line. This year, a few members visited Pontins Festival of Fun and Music for the first time and were greatly inspired by the talent there. This was the first year with our new drill writer who had marched DCI with Suncoast Sound and many other reputable bands. The expertise of the new drill writer was evident in the high demand and skill needed in the show.

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The end of the season brought a respectable 4th place at finals, and a 5th in the league. The band is looking forward to the 2007 season, with the show title 'Rock Goes Swing', taking rock songs and playing them in a swing style.

## Members

AYMB has drawn many members and instructors from the world circuit, with a drill instructor and visual writer from Suncoast Sound and a few members from the recently disbanded Chase D+T and Statesmen.

The band is known to have a very close link with it's members, letting them have a say in the uniform, drill style, music and show. This creates a comfortable and enjoyable working environment to enable a strong relationship between the members.

## Uniform

Currently, the uniform is a cream jacket with burgundy stripe, along with black trousers. This uniform is up for renewal however, as the band face a 'rebranding' for 2007 with a new look and possibly a new show name.

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## Summit Good

Striving to be unique is challenging within BYBA, but at the Midlands Music Miscellany in 2005, Atherstone Youth Marching Band presented the first ever 'Marching Rock Band'. Featuring members from the main band, AYMB expanded it's musical diversity by introducing a new way for members to express their musicality. Blending ska and classic rock, there's something for everybody in our repertoire, from standards such as 'Smoke on the Water' to ska versions of 'Walking on Sunshine'. It proved so popular that they were invited to perform again at the BYBA Northern Preview and the following year's MMM.

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## 2004

**Space**

Ouse Valley Sounds - 4th place - 369 Points

Northern Star - 5th place - 399 Points

Midsomer Norton - 4th Place - 474 Points (Silver Medal - European Judges)

Brass Explosion - 5th Place - 572 Points

8th In League

## 2005

**Heroes**

Ouse Valley Sounds - 2th place - 430 Points

Midlands Open - 3rd Place - 420 Points

Northern Star - 3rd place - 490 Points (Drill and Deportment)

Southern YBC - 4th Place - 554 Points (1 Caption)

Severn Vale - 6th Place - 674 Points

Finals - 5th Place - 749 Points
7th in League

## 2006

**All That Jazz**

Northern Star - 6th place - 421 Points

Colchester - 3rd place - 527 Points

Academy Brass - 2nd Place - 632 Points (General Musical Effect, General Visual Effect, Drill and Deportment)

Brass Explosion - 4th Place - 663 Points

Midland Impact - 6th Place - 681 Points

Finals - 4th Place - 737 Points
5th in League