StAMP
St Andrews Music Participation is an innovative music education project created in 2020 in Fife, which aims to support and invigorate the cultural heritage of brass playing in schools, in the community, and across the world. The project is a partnership between the The Wallace Collection, University of St Andrews Laidlaw Music Centre, Fife Music Service and Fife Brass Bands.
Since its launch StAMP has delivered a variety of interactive events and projects including StAMP Brass Camp, incorporating the Discovering Brass learning programme, which introduced brass playing to around 80 local new learners (using the Brass for Beginners Natural Trumpet); and the StAMP Fringe Festival which provided an engaging collection of panel discussions, presentations and master-classes from international experts, culminating in a Grand Finale Concert involving the Stamp Brass Camp participants.
Due to the 2020 Covid-19-related restrictions, all aspects of the StAMP project were adapted to online provision. As a result, many aspects of the ongoing project have been able to extend their outreach to international participants, enabling engagement from a much wider-spread cohort than originally anticipated.
A schedule of future events and projects for this long-term initiative have already been planned, building upon the initial success, continuing the development of brass playing and providing access to a comprehensive collection of brass-music-related topics.
Discovering Brass
The Wallace Collection is a key advocate of creative learning in music education. The introduction of playing brass instruments to young students is embraced by the ensemble through a variety of projects, large and small.
The projects are tailored to meet the specific needs of each setting and participation profile, enabling active engagement; ease of access to instruments; interaction with professional musicians and brass experts; and access to a range of additional educational resources, including bespoke materials created by The Wallace Collection for each setting and further resources such as the Brass for Beginners Natural Trumpet, and their student book: Around the World in 21 Trumpets – A Brass Odyssey. This combination of provision enables Discovering Brass to comprehensively introduce and develop a continued interest in brass playing and its many cross-curricular topics.
A flagship London-based project successfully piloted the programme in 2017/18, involving 90 children from 3 primary schools and more recently, The Wallace Collection has integrated a Discovering Brass core element into its collaborative initiative – StAMP.
Come and Play Workshops
The Wallace Collection are active promoters of the engagement of brass playing. Through the delivery of Come and Play workshops, the ensemble has been able to share, collaborate and integrate with numerous groups of players from across the UK and internationally.
Following the rebirth of The Wallace Collection in 2015, the ensemble has delivered 1 and 2 day workshops, enabling hundreds of brass players, of all levels, to gain access to the experience, knowledge and support of professional musicians. Through the Come and Play workshops, the participants also experience playing as a group and are encouraged to develop improvisation techniques, honing their inner-creativity skills.