Scottish Open and Youth Solo Competition goes online again

Following the overwhelming success of last year’s event, the Scottish Brass Band Association is to host another online Open and Youth Solo Competition.

As was demonstrated 12 months ago, the virtual format gives those entrants who would normally have difficulty travelling to their area competitions – or where areas have been unable to run events – the opportunity to take part in their own online event.

This year some areas have managed to hold in-person youth competitions and the players from these will take part in an in-person final on Saturday 26 March.

The online competition will take place the following day (Sunday 27 March) and will be broadcast on the SBBA YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Video entries for the Open competition are for any age group while the Youth event will have three age categories: 12 & under, 16 & under and 21 & under.

An adjudicator (yet to be confirmed) will provide soloists with an assessment of their performances after reviewing the entries over a two-week period. The winning soloists will be announced at the conclusion of the live broadcast on the SBBA YouTube channel and Facebook page. In addition, there will be a number of individual instrument awards and an over 40 year old award.

Entrants are requested to submit video recordings of their solos, with or without accompaniment, to education officer John Boax at sbbaeducation@gmail.com by 13 March 2022.

Entry forms for the Open and Youth events are available online. There is also a guidance note on how to record yourself here.

• Soloists with accompaniments must ensure that Covid rules are adhered to as set out by the Scottish Government.