The Saturday morning Manygates Music Centre is a thriving place with an attendance of nearly four hundred children. The Centre has twelve ensemble groups, which include woodwind, brass, percussion and string players. Most of the lessons are run in the main building but the Junior and Intermediate Wind Bands and the Brass Band take place in the ‘Band Room’ which is a separate annexe in the upper far left area of the building. There is an upper car park with an entrance further up Manygates Lane.
Please note that all pupils are invited at the discretion of their teacher. Children who do not have lessons in school may be required to take an audition before entry into a group. Jason Whiteley is responsible for all of the Saturday morning percussion tuition at the Centre.
Junior Wind Band is conducted by Howard Marsh and accepts pupils on woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments who have the ability to play five notes and up to Grade One Associated Board level. The aim of the group is to introduce young players to the enjoyable experience of playing and performing in an ensemble.
Intermediate Wind Band is conducted by Roger Scorah and is run on similar lines to that of the Junior Band except that the standard has increased to Grade One through to Grade Three pupils. The programme is more varied to give the students a wider musical experience. They play pieces from the popular concert band repertoire to film music and arrangements of classical music.
Senior Wind Band takes players from Grade Three upwards and is conducted by Steve Wood. They play to a very high concert band level and many of the students also play in other Wakefield premier groups such as the Youth Orchestra. They have performed at many concerts including the Civic Carol Concert in the Cathedral and have taken part in many local festivals.
Manygates Big Band is directed by Roger Scorah and was formed in 1998. Originally the band consisted of eight players, but quickly grew from strength to strength.
They have performed in many local schools, churches and music centre concerts and in 2001 they completed a two-day intensive course with Doncaster Jazz Association funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music. During the course the band had the opportunity to work with highly respected musicians, including Dennis Rollins (trombone) Mark White (trumpet) Stuart McDonald (saxophone) Ian West (percussion) and the course director John Ellis O.B.E.
In 2002 the band made a CD. They have performed with the Doncaster Swing Orchestra, at the Marsden Jazz Festival, at Wakefield Cathedral and at the Royal Albert Hall for the Schools' Prom.
In 2003 the band toured Spain performing in Barcelona and the surrounding area and
in July 2005 the band embarked on a tour of Italy, staying at Lake Garda.
Brass Band is conducted by Steve Wood and was formed as a preparatory group for Wakefield Youth Brass Band. It has now developed into a fully-fledged Music Centre group and regularly performs at our concerts. The band draws pupils from Grade One to Grade Five standard and is comprised of brass players that attend the Centre who wish to play.
Beginner Strings is coached by Kate Ghent and is the most recently formed group of the Centre. The players are invited from various junior schools and range in experience from starter pupils to those who have had a year’s tuition. Those who attend regularly benefit greatly from this additional experience.
Junior Strings and Intermediate Strings are conducted by Graham Hall and Kate Ghent. The Junior Strings group is for pre-Grade One to Grade One pupils, and for the Intermediates it is Grade One to Grade Two. They perform regularly at Music Centre concerts and play a varied programme ranging from popular to jazz to classical arrangements.
The Senior Strings are made up of players from Grade Three upwards and are conducted by Graham Hall. For the first hour of the morning they join forces with a group of wind and brass players to form the Senior Orchestra.
The Music Centre now has three Guitar Groups to cater for the growing number of pupils having guitar lessons in surrounding schools. The Electric Guitar and Percussion Group meet in the Main Hall at 9.00am under the direction of Robert Dickenson and Jason Whiteley. Their first concert performance will be at Christmas 2009 and the pieces will be mainly in the pop genre. There are also Beginner Guitars run by Graham Hall and an Advanced Classical Guitar Group run by Robert Dickenson.
Parent Support Group
There is a refreshments room at the top left hand corner of the main building for children at break time, and for parents who do not wish to leave while their child is rehearsing. The tuck shop and tea-coffee facility is run by the Manygates Parent Support Group who raise a valuable source of income for the Centre and have bought expensive instruments which we would not otherwise have been able to afford. They are also of invaluable assistance at concert times, organising ticket money and raffles. Anyone willing to help should contact the person on duty during the morning.
