For most of my life I’ve been involved with brass bands, as player, conductor and (occasionally) composer. As a player, the pinnacle of my career came early, joining the famous Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band as a second-year music student. I played the baritone horn, a rather obscure though noble saxhorn, often the butt of jokes and considered the ‘viola of the brass band’ by some (although the real connoisseur would know otherwise!).
Banding is essentially an amateur movement, with people from all walks of life working extraordinarily hard and, at the elite level, achieving staggering levels of technical and musical brilliance. Continue reading Big on Brass