Vento didn’t start as a commercial product. It started as a small, personal project called Nudje back in late 2019 - something I built because my own band, Long Eaton Silver Prize Band, desperately needed a better way to stay organised.
At the time, Long Eaton were using the same setup most bands rely on: WhatsApp chats, Facebook messages, endless emails, and a few scattered spreadsheets. It worked… until it didn’t. Important updates got lost, people missed changes, and keeping everyone aligned took far more energy than it should have.
I wanted to fix that. And because Long Eaton were my band, I wanted to build something that solved their real, everyday problems - not a theoretical product idea. That’s how Nudje began. Over the next few years, that simple idea grew, changed, and matured into what is now Vento.
This is the story of how the Long Eaton Silver Prize Band helped shape Vento from day one.
About Long Eaton Silver Prize Band
The Long Eaton Silver Prize Band is a friendly community based brass band organisation, comprising three groups (a senior and training band and a beginners’ group) totalling 98 players, which promotes and encourages live music within the borough of Erewash and the surrounding areas.
Founded in the 1870 as the Long Eaton Temperance Band, the band left the temperance society in 1906 to reform as the Long Eaton Silver Band, adding Prize to its title after its first contest success in 1908. After over 150 years, their primary objective remains to encourage and provide opportunities for people of all ages to play or learn a musical instrument, targeting young and disadvantaged groups.
🎺 The Early Days
When I first built Vento, it wasn’t anything like the full platform it is today. It started with just a few key features that Long Eaton needed most:
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A reliable way to share information about concerts, contests, and jobs
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A way for members to check details without hunting through messages
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Basic attendance tracking
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Email notifications
The aim was simple: one place where everyone in the band could get the info they needed, with no fuss.
Long Eaton were immediately supportive. Players used the early versions, tested features, shared ideas, and weren’t shy about telling me what needed improving. Their real-world usage helped refine everything.
🎶 Years of Crafting the App Around a Real Band
From 2019 through to the launch of Vento, Long Eaton were not just users; they were partners in shaping the entire direction of the product.
Every rehearsal, every engagement, every committee meeting fed into what I built next.
Some examples of features that grew directly from the band’s needs:
Unified Event Information
Band members were tired of needing to search multiple apps for event timings, venues and details.
That led to Vento’s event pages; clear, simple, always up-to-date.
Better Communication
Changes to concert times or location were easily missed.
So I added push + email notifications, and a centralised rehearsal schedule.
Availability & Attendance
Conductors and section leaders needed to know who was coming.
So attendance became easier, clearer, and more consistent over time.
Every improvement came from real conversations with the players and committee.
The core idea was to make it easy for people to interact, whether that’s just recording attendance via one click in an email, logging into the site to see everything in one place, or now, using the app for the best experience possible.
🎉 Today: A Band Still Helping Vento Improve
Long Eaton Silver Prize Band still use Vento more than ever across its successful senior and training bands, and it continues to support them in exactly the way it was originally intended:
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All rehearsals, concerts, and contests in one place
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Clear communication without scattered chats
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Attendance and availability tracking that actually works
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A single app everyone understands
The platform has changed massively since 2019, but the goal is still the same; to make life easier for real musicians, in real bands.
And that goal is rooted in Long Eaton’s experience.
Here’s what Sharon Stansfield, Musical Director of Long Eaton had to say about Vento:
“Vento has been a game-changer for organising my band. Before, we used paper attendance sheets and endless emails.
Now with Vento we have a much clearer idea of who is coming to rehearsals and concerts,and can plan accordingly. Highly recommended!”
And now, with the fully featured mobile app launched, Vento is better than ever and making communication within bands of all sizes a real breeze.
📲 Want to see what Vento can do for your own band?
If your band or group wants to communicate better, stay organised, and keep everything in one place, Vento was designed for exactly that - because it was born from the real needs of a real brass band.
👉 Try Vento at https://ventoapp.com