It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Martlesham Brass has always held her in great esteem and we will miss her dedication and constant care for us.
We have followed her example of making our organisation open and welcoming to all.

We look to the future when we can celebrate her life and that of our new sovereign, King Charles III.

Structure, Practice and Progression Policy

Structure

1. Martlesham Brass operates a progressive band structure, with standards of musical difficulty generally increasing from beginners to preliminaries to intermediates to main.

2. Players are normally members of one band within Martlesham Brass.

Practices and Attendance

3. Band practice is on a Friday evening, and band players should attend this practice if at all possible.

4. On the rare occasions where a player has been invited to play with more than one standard of band, they should normally perform with the higher standard band in situations where playing with both bands is not possible e.g. contests, engagement clashes. The number of players who overlap between bands in this fashion should be kept to a minimum.

Progression and Auditions

5. Progression from beginners to preliminaries is normally by election of individuals identified by the beginner bandleaders in agreement with preliminary bandleaders. All other progression between bands should occur as the result of open audition for spaces identified by the receiving bandleaders using a process controlled by them also.

6. All auditions must be discussed at a bandleaders meeting beforehand to ensure that the process is understood by all involved and occurs at times suitable for all bands affected.

7. When advertising a space, the receiving bandleader should be as specific as possible regarding the part that the player will play in their new band.

8. Once internal auditions have been held and if there are no competent and suitable players identified for a particular vacancy, or exceptionally without auditions when the bandleaders deem that there are no suitable players within the bands for a forthcoming vacancy, than the vacancy may be opened up and advertised for outside candidates to audition. The need to advertise an audition externally in this way must be ratified by the band main committee beforehand.

9. A band can hold internal auditions at any time to maintain the balance of players on particular instruments or parts, or to open up gaps for prospective auditionees from outside their band. Alternatively, bandleaders can move players within their band without audition if they feel that they are in a position to do so based upon recent audition results or a knowledge of player competence.

10. When a beginner player applies to join Martlesham Brass, they will normally start playing as part of a beginners group.

11. When a non-beginner player applies to join Martlesham Brass, they will undergo an initial audition to establish which band they might ideally fit into. They will then be placed in one of the bands subject to spaces being available. Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary to audition existing band members alongside the new entrant to ensure equal opportunity of progression.