“ Sheona Wade provided an engaging hour of tips and suggestions to improve our playing . Her love , enthusiasm , and mastery of the tenor horn were evident as she gave instruction ( focusing on breathing ). She proved to be very inspirational for each of the delegates . Interestingly , she also pointed out that her very first tenor horn teacher was a Salvationist .
— Major Donald Spencer ( Solo Horn )
“ Dudley Bright is an icon , there ’ s no way around it ! The Future All-Stars as well as the members of the NYSB trombone section were very fortunate to have some time to learn from him .”
— Mark Baker ( Trombone )
“ Derek Fenstermacher is one of the busiest American tubists out there , but took the time to work with our students in an engaging and entertaining manner . His display of lyrical playing was fantastic and reminded us that the tuba can be a solo voice as much as the foundation of the band .”
— Simon Morton ( BBb Bass )
Following masterclasses , the band came back together and started the final playing session of the weekend interjected with another inspirational devotional , once again from Major Shaun Bellanger . It was great to see some of the guests stay on for the final rehearsal and even better to see our very own Derek Smith login as to not miss supporting this important event — something he blesses us with each year ! At one point during this rehearsal , almost 70 people were logged on to the Zoom meeting to participate . The handling of the Zoom room was expertly done by Andrew Boynton ( percussion ) and the entire weekend couldn ’ t have happened without help from a great tech and sound team .
The NYSB was happy to implement VFAW2021 but probably would not want to do it this way again … The experience of gathering so many young Christian musicians in one place has a profound impact on the NYSB each year and has certainly been missed in its usual form . Here ’ s to FAW2022
and praying we can all be together again .
As the students logged off , the band had a quick lunch and changed into Festival Reds to record its next virtual concert that will be hitting your screens in a few short weeks . It was a long weekend of playing and a difficult recording session as THREE new major works were premiered in addition to more great music , sure to inspire and bring glory to God !
available for purchase at www . nysb . org
4 ‡ NYSB BULLETIN — FALL 2021