About the Youth Bands

Auditions for the youth bands are held each year in the fall. Learn more about auditioning →

The Triangle Youth Brass Band, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, was formed in 1997 as an expansion of the Triangle Brass Band’s educational endeavors. The organization consists of four ensembles, the Triangle Youth “J. Perry Watson” Brass Band, Triangle Youth Brass Band, Triangle Youth Academy Brass Band, and Triangle Youth Percussion Ensemble, and serves over 100 of the Triangle’s most talented young musicians. The mission of the TYBB is to provide engaging, transformative musical experiences to the finest high school brass and percussion players through exceptional performance in the British Brass Band medium.

Over the past two decades, the TYBB has grown into one of the premier youth brass band programs in the United States. The Triangle Youth Brass Bands typically perform three concerts annually. Additionally, the groups often travel and perform outside the Triangle area of North Carolina. Recent tours have taken the bands to the North American Brass Band Association Championships, where the band earned First Place Honors in the Youth Division in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2022 as well as performing in exhibition in 2010 and 2013. The bands were featured performers at the Great American Brass Band Festival in 2003, the City of Greensboro’s Independence Day fireworks celebration in 2006 and 2008, and have performed with the Georgia Brass Band, U.S. Coast Guard Band, Dallas Brass, Presidio Brass, Triangle Wind Ensemble, and Concert Singers of Cary.

A cornerstone of the TYBB program is its commitment to bringing first-rate musicians from all over the world to the Triangle. Guest soloists and clinicians have included: Keith Wilkinson (Brass Band of the Western Reserve), Terry Everson (Professor of Trumpet, Boston University), Michael Kris (Professor of Low Brass, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Mark Clodfelter (Professor of Trumpet, University of North Carolina Greensboro), James E. Jackson III (euphonium, U.S. Coast Guard Band), Jens Lindemann (Professor of Trumpet, UCLA and former trumpet, Canadian Brass), Steve Sykes (tuba soloist, conductor, and adjudicator), Chris Martin (Principal Trumpet, Chicago Symphony), Colin Williams (Principal Trombone, Atlanta Symphony), Demondrae Thurman (Professor of Euphonium, University of Alabama and Sotto Voce Quartet), Tom Bratten (U.S. Army Band), Vince DiMartino (Professor of Trumpet, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky), Don Eagle (NC Symphony), Dennis DeJong (Carolina Brass), and composers Philip Sparke and Ray Farr.

The TYBB program is comprised of approximately 100 brass and percussion students, in grades 9-12, who share a commitment to excellence in performance. Since 1997 the TYBB has represented high schools in Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston, Cumberland, and Nash counties. Members perform strictly on British Brass Band instrumentation: Eb and Bb cornets, flugel horn, Eb tenor horns, Bb baritones, euphoniums, trombones, bass trombone, Eb and BBb tubas, and percussion.

Based in Wake County, the TYBB rehearses on Monday evenings from 6:30-8:45 pm from November to May. Rehearsals take place at various wake county public schools and performances occur at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

We are Grateful to Our Sponsors for their Support of Great Brass Music