Together we can Make Music and Change Lives

We have arrived at the end of our 2023-2024 academic year and what a finale! We held the annual BYMT Garden Party on Sunday 7th July and welcomed the families and friends of the hundreds of BYMT students, young and old, who performed in 16 Bands and Orchestras. Although the weather was not kind to us, the event turned out to be a huge success. This year, BYMT is celebrating its 30th Anniversary as an Independent Trust and as part of the celebrations, we were delighted to welcome back our Alumni to play in the Alumni Wind Band and the Alumni Strings Orchestra at the Garden Party. They arrived the previous day for rehearsals and a social gathering and we were overwhelmed by the wonderfully kind things they had to say about their time as students at BYMT and the positive effect BYMT has had on their lives. The next day, it was fascinating to see the multi-generational families coming to the Garden Party, with grandparents not only watching their own children perform, but their grandchildren too!  

Lizzie is one of our BYMT Alumni, married to a BYMT Alumnus and their daughter is now a member of the BYMT Junior Band as well as a member of a BYMT Choir. Lizzie remembers feeling emotional when dropping her daughter off to band rehearsal for the first time...“and realising she would be rehearsing in the same space I had become so familiar with.” And “listening to Catherine sing her first solo at the start of the performance ‘Pure Imagination’ this year with my heart overflowing”. 

These are some of Lizzie’s memories from her time at BYMT as a student: 

• Finding a ‘home’ at BYMT… music is the great leveller. making it so easy to make friends, make connections and find confidence in a way I was unable to do anywhere else. 

• Early groups:learning so much so quickly from being part of an ensemble; from the players around me, from the tutors and the conductors. 

• Busy Friday nights and chilly Saturday mornings learning, learning, learning every week and LISTENING! Who knew it was such an important life skill?! 

• Meeting my future husband at a music theory class, learning Grade 5 theory 

• Every tour with BYCB… my first in Tuscany making lasting friends and enjoying golden sunshine, Kerkrade, Disneyland Paris, Mont Blanc and Evian in Switzerland, Malta and Spain. All with such wonderful enthusiastic audiences. Concerts starting at 9pm (so exciting for a teenager!) and filled with joyous music filling the warm, outdoor night air. 

• Performing the Planets at the Royal Albert Hall with Bromley Youth Symphony Orchestra for the National Festival of Music for Youth. 

• Realisingat age 17 or 18, (whilst taking part in national level music), how fortunate and rare it was to have played some of the most famous and important pieces of classical music and performed them in some of the country’s most prestigious venues: Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall… 

“Thanks to BYMT's impact on my life as a musician, I had the chance to perform at Buckingham Palace for the (now) King Charles III and Queen Camilla many years ago with the Philharmonia Orchestra”. 

Lizzie’s Mum and Dad were great supporters of BYMT during her time as a student with BYMT, helping raise funds for the Concert Band Music Tours, and Lizzies’ Mum continues to support BYMT as one of our much-valued Patrons.  

This is the BYMT Family that will help BYMT continue for another 30 years at least. Music changes lives.