BTS DAYS

SUNSHINE, SMILES AND SONORITY IN DURHAM

BY PETER CHESTER & DAVID THORNBER – BTS NORTH EAST REPRESENTATIVES

Sunshine – of course – it always shines on our BTS days – plus a new venue (the splendid Mark Hillery Centre in Collingwood College) complete with brand new Steinway grand piano, sufficient music stands and music, our noble BTS administrator ready with cash box and card reader – everything ready for another North East Trombone Day in Durham. All we needed was trombone players, and we are pleased to report that by the time of the final sonorous massed blow, nearly 40 players were making their glorious contribution to what turned out to be a very successful day.

Alongside welcoming a goodly number of BTS friends, old and new, our guest players included BTS Past President, Christian Jones (Opera North), Becky Lundberg, Toby Marshall and Josh Cargill, (WFEL Fairey Band), and virtually every current trombone student from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, i.e. James Hunt, Rosalind Fearnehough, Jodie Mitson, Barney Shaw, Alex Barron, Oliver Bartlett, Archie Young-Lee, Asa Riley, Buchan Zhao, Rachel Wong, Matthew Lait, Ross McDonnell, Tom Peacock, Freddie Hughes, Oliver Webb, Toby Marshall, and Josh Cargill. It is always a pleasure to welcome players to a BTS event but to have this group of enthusiastic and extremely talented young players with us added something special to the day and we must record our sincere thanks to the RNCM and to the students themselves for helping support their visit.

Special mention might also be made of Emma Skedd, a local student who volunteered to participate in a masterclass with Christian. Not an easy thing to do and everyone was full of admiration for her. Preparing for her Grade 7, Emma played Un Bal, in an arrangement of the famous waltz from Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique. Watching a player interact with a teacher is very informative as no matter what standard the playing, observers can learn. From Emma’s already well-prepared strong foundation, the technical issues addressed were legato playing and projection. For legato, Christian’s suggestion was to play whole phrases without the tongue. It will sound clumsy at first but, with a consideration of alternative positions to further smooth the effect, then progress can be, and was, made. On projection, remembering that we need to attract the attention of the audience or examiner is central and this is often simply a matter of careful adherence to

PHOTO CREDIT: PETER CHESTER.

dynamics and phrasing. As Jay Friedman said, ‘playing is like speaking’ and players must have something to say. In all, a very interesting session and Emma was deservedly applauded for her participation and her playing.

As a leading player of his generation, Christian’s recital predictably treated us to some wonderfully polished playing from the contemporary repertoire of the bass trombone. He offered us Meditation by Frigyas Hidas, Nurya by Ricardo Molla, and Etoiles des Profondeurs by Jerome Naulais. Meditation is an unaccompanied piece which proved not to be the quiet contemplative piece suggested by the title, but was a tonal and varied piece showcasing the instrument’s full range of dynamics and moods. For the pieces by Molla and Naulais, Christian was joined by our excellent accompanist, David Murray, very happy to be giving that new Steinway its maiden concert. Originally written for the tenor trombone, Nurya made a beautiful transition to the mellow tones of Christian’s bass. Its lyricism generated some particularly soft and gentle playing. Naulais has written extensively for the trombone and the three movements of Etoiles des Profondeurs amount to a short concerto. Naulais has a gift for quirky tunes and rhythms and the contrasting moods of the three movements gave Christian further opportunity to demonstrate his virtuosity.

It was soon clear to the audience why the trombone section of the WFEL Fairey Band, comprising Becky Lundberg, Toby Marshall and Josh Cargill is one of the finest in the country. A more relaxed warm sound, and polished performance, could not have been wished for. This was a well-seasoned team clearly very used to playing together. The first suite Ba-Dee-Doo-Dup by Brian Lynn offered a pastiche of different styles, overall light in mood, with superb playing from all, a solid but sympathetic, even delicate bass, a discreet middle voice and a beautiful singing top line. Ray Premru’s lovely Two Pieces for Three Trombones followed, and there was a very smooth rendition of Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, before Becky gave us some insights into what playing in a brass band trombone section can entail. The trio presented a thoughtful analysis of a superficially simple section from a contest piece. It was actually an exercise in listening and tuning, and above all, playing quietly together. Becky recalled a frequent but ill-informed comment that trombones are ‘nothing more than loud and bold’ but, as she also rightly stated, much can be achieved by playing and practicing quietly. Embouchures remain the same and, as ever, effective breath control was central to the sound that could be made.

RNCM really does have some outstanding students in its ranks and the group produced both a quartet and a full choir. Freddie Hughes, Oliver Webb, Toby Marshall and Josh Cargill comprised the quartet and their programme opened with Jony Bates’ Toccata, a showcase of very tight ensemble playing. In contrast, John van Gulik’s arrangement of Eternal Father Strong to Save allowed them to play with a smooth refinement that was quite simply beautiful. A lively rendition of the tricky Shibuya from Philip Sparke’s Tokyo Triptych completed their programme.

The RNCM choir, conducted by James Hunt, opened their recital with a brilliant arrangement of John

WFEL FAIREY BAND TROMBONES. L-R: TOBY MARSHALL, BECKY LUNDBERG, JOSH CARGILL. PHOTO CREDIT: GEOFF WOLMARK. RNCM QTET: RNCM QUARTET. L-R: FREDDIE HUGHES, OLIVER WEBB, TOBY MARSHALL AND JOSH CARGILL. PHOTO CREDIT: PETER CHESTER.

RNCM CHOIR. PHOTO CREDIT: PETER CHESTER.

Williams’ Superman. Quietly atmospheric chords set a scene of imminent excitement, which soon burst forth, with some crisp and thrilling playing throughout, plus the special treat of an already powerful bass section augmented by a cimbasso. Giovanni Gabrieli’s Sacrae Symphonie, which followed, was an excellent demonstration of what trombones were used for at a very important time in musical history, that is, to provide antiphonal choirs in St. Mark’s, Venice in the 1600s. Thus, we had three groups of five players spread across the hall, sometimes playing together, sometimes independently, sometimes antiphonally, but all very effective. A powerful arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Great Gates of Kiev completed their session, the chords and moods of the music being well-suited to a large trombone ensemble. The climax of the piece perhaps produced the biggest sound of the day, although the final massed blow rendition of Hot Stuff may have just beaten it!

Hot Stuff was the funky number prepared by the full massed blow and this was alongside three other contrasting pieces. There was Salve, a four-part chorale by Bernat Vivancos from Spain, excellently suited to the voices of the trombone. This was actually the first piece played on the day and as one member remarked, ‘that’s what we’ve missed, there’s nothing quite like a large trombone choir’. We also performed a lovely arrangement of the Lennon & McCartney tune, Here There and Everywhere, particularly effective for its warm harmonies and for giving all parts a snatch of the melody.

We were, however, pleased and honoured to give what was probably a world première performance, in live ensemble form at least, of a piece hitherto only performed by a team of players on Zoom. This was Forward the Best by Norman Bolter, a very distinguished player, composer, and teacher from Boston USA, who wrote the piece in December 2021, to be played by the members of a Zoom masterclass he had led in 2021. We know he was very pleased to hear of our performance and we are very grateful for his permission to use it. We can report it worked very well in a large group. The medieval flavour of its themes and the block chord supporting harmonies were very well suited to the range of players we have in a BTS massed blow, so it was great to include it. Members can see the original Zoom recording here.

Thanks to Samuel Kirkman, the Media Co-ordinator of Durham University, but freelancing for us for the day, we were able to record much of what was performed on the day to support Make Music Day held on 21 June. That will already have passed by the time of publication, but the live-recorded extracts will be available on the websites of both Make Music Day and the BTS. Attentive support for our activities throughout the day from Michael Crilly, the manager of the Mark Hillery Centre, was also very much appreciated.

MASSED BLOW. PHOTO CREDIT: CHRIS SOWERBY.

Alongside gratifying, but slightly daunting remarks such as, ‘Well done, great afternoon, see you next year’, it is always good to hear what people think. One mother of a young player, herself a flautist, said she’d ‘never before appreciated what trombones could do’; another observed ‘so many happy trombonists, obviously glad to get together and play again’. It was particularly encouraging to see a number of young players among the old hands and Dan (11) from Durham summed it up: ‘I found the day enjoyable and educational for me. It was great fun to be able to play with the dozens of professionals around me!’

That’s what the BTS is all about.

BTS Days

Part 2

SUNSHINE, SINGING AND STRETCHES IN ANTRIM

BY NATHAN MOORE – BTS NORTHERN IRELAND REPRESENTATIVE

On Sunday, 15 May the Northern Ireland Trombone Day was held in sunny Antrim with over 25 players in attendance. This was the first event of its kind as a collaboration between the Education Authority Northern Ireland and the British Trombone Society

The day started off with our guests from the Ulster Orchestra, Principal Trombone Neil Gallie and Principal Bass Trombone Richard Ashmore, leading us in a group warm-up. Neil focused on the importance of singing in our day-to-day playing; we’re all guilty of getting hung up on technical problems on the instrument or figuring out what mouthpiece works best, but what we were reminded of is that in order to get the results we want, we need to hear it in our heads first and the best way to do that is through singing. Later on in the masterclass this was the number one priority, and it made an incredible difference to everyone’s playing. Richard was able to give us a personal insight into something that we’re all terrified of – an injury that stops us from playing. Having recovered from one such injury a few years ago, Richard showed us all how to look after our posture and in particular, our shoulders. The takeaway from his warm-up was this: prevention is better than a cure. Once those injuries happen, it’s a long and painful process to get back to fitness, whereas avoiding them altogether is simple if we just look after our bodies and do the exercises!

We had three fantastic masterclass volunteers, Michael, Holly and Oisin, who brought their exam pieces to perform for us all and our guests gave them valuable advice. Neil worked with Michael through Junk Email Blues and Oisin through Open Plains and showed them how to go beyond just ‘playing the notes’, to find the phrasing and extract the music from the page. Richard worked with Holly, who is currently playing tenor but wants to switch to bass trombone in the next few years. She played Close Every Door to Me for us and was coached through making as big a sound as possible, to try and really fill the instrument. By the end, she was playing Richard’s bass and filling the hall!

In the trombone choir, Neil led us in rehearsing Here’s That Rainy Day and Pastime with Good Company in preparation for a performance at the end of the afternoon.

During the masterclasses, Will McLean took eight brand new learners off for a pBone taster class in the hope that they’ll join us soon at the next event and take part.

HOLLY AND MICHAEL. PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN MOORE.

To finish the day off, Neil performed the Lars-Erik Larsson Concertino with Marie Bachelor at the piano. Neil played this piece with the Ulster Orchestra last year as part of their digital concert series and felt like it deserved to be played again to a crowd. The variety of styles demanded by the piece, as much as Neil’s magnificent playing, captivated the very appreciative audience. I then joined Richard Ashmore to play some Brian Lynn duets and, once Neil had got his breath back, he came back for the brilliant Lynn trio Ba Dee Doo Dop. The massive sound of the trombone choir then brought the day to a close with everybody getting involved.

It felt like the perfect opportunity to thank my predecessor as NI representative, Stephen Cairns, for all his hard work for the British Trombone Society and for the trombonists of Northern Ireland. Stephen took on the role at the Society’s creation back in 1985, fresh out of university and wanting to bring the trombonists of NI together. During his career as a classroom music teacher, Stephen became heavily involved in community music, conducting brass bands such as 55th Old Boys, Agnes Street, Laganvale Metal Technology and currently 1st Old Boys, as well as Ballygowan Concert Flute Band, all with great success. He has also played at the top level of brass banding and currently plays principal trombone with both Festival Brass and the Belfast Pops Orchestra. Northern Ireland may be a ‘wee country’ but has produced some very fine trombone players over the years and Stephen has been there to organise trombone events to encourage and inspire them all with special guests from the society. We would like to thank Stephen

TROMBONE CHOIR. PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN MOORE.

for everything he has done for music in this country, and we hope he continues to do so for many years to come. Stephen was presented with a lovely bottle of champagne and a framed certificate in recognition for his efforts here.

Will McLean and I would like to thank the British Trombone Society and Education Authority Northern Ireland for helping us put on the event, with special thanks to Martin Haggan and Jan Ferguson from EA who worked behind the scenes to make this event happen. After a very successful collaboration plans are already being discussed for a repeat event in 2023. ◆

STEPHEN CAIRNS. PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN MOORE.