The River City Youth Brass Band (in residence at Carnegie Mellon University) offers a unique opportunity for young instrumentalists in Western Pennsylvania. The band, founded in 1986, enables young musicians to hone their craft under the close supervision of professional players. The RCYBB is open to brass and percussion players from Western Pennsylvania, grades 7 through 12. This auditioned ensemble, conducted by Drew Fennell, meets twenty-five times each season for sectional coaching by RCBB musicians and for full ensemble rehearsal. Students gain valuable musicianship playing quality music at a very high level. Two or more concerts are staged each year, and participants in the program are afforded the opportunity, on a frequent basis, to see the River City Brass Band in performance. The River City Youth Brass Band experience goes far beyond the ordinary. In recent years, the band has appeared onstage with the River City Brass Band at Heinz Hall, performed for a crowd of thousands on the 4th of July at Point State Park and collaborated with the likes of broadcasting legend Lanny Frattare (known for decades as "The Voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates"). In 2009, a new initiative was begun to regularly commission new works for the ensemble. And, selected from among 140 applicants, the RCYBB appeared at the 2010 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association State In-Service Conference. Approximately fifty of Western Pennsylvania's most talented young brass and percussion players participate in the River City Youth Brass Band program each semester, and well over one-thousand musicians have come through the program in its twenty-four year history.