Dear students and parents,

I am very excited to announce the new look Fountain City Youth Brass Academy for 2010.

We have been able to secure a wonderful new rehearsal base at MidAmerica Nazarene University as well as two new directors, Matthew Willis and Mark Norman.

There has also been a change in rehearsal days and both groups will now meet on Sunday afternoons:

2:00pm - 3:30pm - FCYBB, Directors Helen Tyler and Matthew Willis
3:45pm - 5:45pm - FCABB, Directors Helen Tyler and Mark Norman

We will be kicking off our 2010 season on January 17 with our EXPO IV workshop. This is a FREE workshop open to all students in the Kansas City area. Click here for more details about the event and how you can register.

Also new this year is our audition process. This will be an informal opportunity for directors to assess each students' ability which will help them place students in the appropriate bands and aid the seating process. Auditions will be held on Saturday January 23 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Click here for audition materials and registration.

Additional features of the new look FCYBA are:

- Opportunity to sign up for individual or group lessons with Fountain City Educational Tutors
- Access to FCBB open house rehearsals
- Reduced rate tickets to the FCBB concert series
- We are also working towards taking a band to compete in the North American Brass Band Championship 2011 as well as looking to run an exchange program with members of the Bolton Youth Brass Band, UK

The FCYBA is already recognized locally and nationally as a centre of excellence in Kansas City for brass and percussion students and I continue to work towards developing this relatively new project. You can help by getting the word out to friends, schools and other music groups by forwarding the following flyers.

FCYBA FLYER (coming soon)

Hope to see you all at EXPO IV

Helen Tyler