The Trombonist - Winter 2018 by British Trombone Society

WINTER 2018

The Trombonist

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President’s Column

Editor’s Welcome

DÁVUR JUUL MAGNUSSEN

JANE SALMON

Christmas is upon us, and I hope you can all reflect upon an exciting year past, with many wonderful musical experiences. I also hope you have plans for even greater adventures in the new year. As I reflect on the past year, I am humbled to see how much effort goes into running this society. We have some very special members who have gone out of their way this year to put on some very successful events, as well as taking care of the day-to-day tasks in the background. You are the lifeblood of the society. I will be the first to confess that it has perhaps been a quieter year than I originally envisaged. This has, in part, been necessary, to consolidate the changes that were initiated over the last two years. Now that we are in a much better position, we can start to ramp up our activity, and that takes boots on the ground. The ideas that work best are the ones that come from the roots, so please, come forward and tell us. We are here to help you make it happen. It is also my pleasure to report that data indicates the readership of this magazine is steadily increasing. Thank you to those of you who have shared this magazine with friends far and wide. That is what it is for, so please keep up the good work. This magazine is our most important way to get our message out there, and it is even easier to share now that it is available online.

It is my pleasure to share another edition of The Trombonist with you. At the heart of this issue is an insight into the creation of new works for trombone. We meet composers John Casken and Gavin Higgins who are working with Katy Jones (Hallé) and Helen Vollam (BBCSO) on two new concertos for trombone, set for performance with their respective orchestras in February 2019. This follows James MacMillan’s celebrated Trombone Concerto, first performed by Jörgen van Rijen earlier this year with its UK premiere just a few weeks ago, by Peter Moore and the LSO. This is just a snippet of the exciting things on offer to you in the new year. The British Trombone Society have our own trombone day planned in London’s RAF Northolt on Sunday, 31 March and on the same day, our third Trombone Quartet Competition will be held. As my first year as Editor, and our first as an online publication, comes to a close; I am particularly grateful to our readers, and the magazine team for the fantastic support in this transition. It has been a treat to have the opportunity to share some of what I am curious about, and to offer the platform for our contributors to do the same. There is some inspiring activity among our trombone community right now, and plenty to celebrate. I am already looking forward to what the new year has to offer us too.

See you all in the new year. Dávur Juul Magnussen president@britishtrombonesociety.org

GET IN TOUC H:

Thank you all. Happy reading. Jane Salmon editor@britishtrombonesociety.org

British Trombone Society, Registered Charity No: 1158011, Main Telephone: +44 (0)1924 437359 1 Ullswater Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, WF12 7PH, UNITED KINGDOM T WITTER FACEBOOK WEBSITE

THE TROMBONIST MAGAZINE TEAM

CONTENTS

EDITOR

Jane Salmon editor@britishtrombonesociety.org SUB-EDITORS

Peter Chester Alison Keep NEWS EDITOR

Barney Medland news@britishtrombonesociety.org EVENTS EDITOR

Ross Anderson events@britishtrombonesociety.org REVIEWS EDITOR

Jane Salmon reviews@britishtrombonesociety.org ADVERTISING MANAGER

Dávur Juul Magnussen advertising@britishtrombonesociety.org MAGAZINE DESIGN

Sára Mikkelsen sra.mikkelsen@gmail.com saramikkelsen.com

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Alison Keep Barney Medland David Purser Dávur Juul Magnussen Elinor Chambers Gavin Higgins Helen Vollam Jeremy Price John Casken Katy Jones Matthew Gee Mark Templeton Peter Chester Rob Egerton Sarah Williams Simon Wills Slidin’ About

BRITISH TROMBONE SOCIET Y :

3 6 8 12 19 20 26 29 32 33 34 36 38

WELCOME

NEWS

POSTCARD FROM HOLL AND

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES

PRESIDENT'S TOOLKIT: DOUBLE UP!

SIMON WILLS: MEDITATIONS UPON A TROMBONE CASE

SLIDIN' ABOUT TROMBONE QUARTET

JAZZ BY JEREMY: CURTIS FULLER

WINTER CROSSWORD COMPETITION

42ND STREET

CONCERT REVIEW OF AUSTRALYSIS

G&T

WHAT’S ON

Officers & Staff // Honorary Patrons // Committee // Officers

News BARNEY MEDL AND

Outstanding Trombonists Celebrated Recipients of the British Trombone Society Annual Awards, 2018 Player of the year: Matthew Gee Teacher of the year: David Whitson Student of the year: Rory Ingham Outstanding Contribution: Gordon Campbell Sheila Tracy Award: Katy Jones

BTS Trombone Day at RAF, Northolt On Sunday, 31 March, the BTS will hold a trombone day alongside the Royal Air Force Music Service, at RAF Northolt. Participants will enjoy a day of workshops, recitals, masterclasses and of course, a traditional massed blow for all participants. The finals of the BTS Quartet Trombone Competition 2019 will be held. Special guests in attendance will be Bones Apart and Jon Stokes. Bones Apart are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, see page 38 for details of the concerts they are performing as part of the anniversary. Registration will be at 8:30 am, and lunch will be available from the mess for a modest charge. Tickets are FREE for this event, though it is essential that all attendees complete the pre-registration question-naire to gain entry. Persons arriving without having completed the pre-registration process will not be admitted. This is a requirement of the RAF Police and Ministry of Defence. Tickets are available by following this link – please note these will not be available on the day. Boldly Going Where No Soprano Trombone Has Gone Before The long neglect of one of the rarer members of the trombone family is coming to an end. The MTB 6

Examination Board, which as of January 2019 will be a fully Ofqual regulated awarding body, have introduced the world’s first soprano trombone syllabus. Torbjörn Hultmark has just become the world’s first qualified Suzuki soprano trombone teacher and one of his students took the first ever soprano trombone exam at the Royal College of Music, Junior Department, a few weeks ago. Death of EUYO Co-founder Since 1976, the European Union Youth Orchestra has been a launch pad for many of the finest musicians in Europe at the start of their professional careers. The list of former EUYO players who now fill positions in many of the top orchestras of Europe and the World is immense. This was made possible by Joy Bryer, the President and co-founder of the Orchestra. On 12 November, the EUYO announced that sadly, at the age of 88, Mrs. Bryer had passed away. Derek Southcott Passes Away The trombone player Derek Southcott passed away on 21 October, aged 72. Southcott was an outstanding trombone player who has left behind a huge legacy, having played on more than 5,000 recordings. Born in Hertfordshire in 1946, Southcott started life playing baritone in brass bands. After a brief stint on the cornet he settled on the trombone. At the age of 16, Southcott became second trombone with the Black Dyke Mills Band, a post he held for eight years. In 1964 he was the Champion Trombone Player of Great Britain and part of the Champion Quartet. Following an accident he had whilst working as a draughtsman, Southcott was offered the opportunity to play in local pit orchestras, which proved the first step in what was to become a remarkable professional music career.

NEWS During the 1970s, Southcott became the principal trombone of the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra and was also a founding member of the James Shepherd Versatile Brass ensemble, confirming his status as one of the country’s most versatile trombone players. In the early eighties Southcott was approached to play with the legendary Syd Lawrence Orchestra, a role which he would hold for 22 years. It was the Syd Lawrence Orchestra with whom he left the majority of his enormous recording legacy. Although most of his recordings were with ensembles, Southcott released his own CD in 1993. Southcott was a player who could perform at the highest level in any setting from the television studio to the concert stage. He is survived by his wife Val and his two sons, Robert and Jonathan. Death of two Cleveland Orchestra greats Edwin Anderson, bass trombone of Cleveland Orchestra from 1964 to 1985, died on 2 October from the effects of a stroke he suffered in September. Anderson was the bass trombonist in the orchestra during its Golden Period under Georg Szell. His death comes shortly after the death of Allen Kofsky in June, another member of the Cleveland Orchestra’s great trombone section during the period of Szell’s directorship. €10,000 Up for Grabs Registrations for the Second International Trombone Competition of Alsace now open. The competition will be held from 15–19 May 2019, and is open to tenor trombonists from anywhere in the world, aged 30 years or under on 15 May 2019. The Jury will be a who’s who of European trombone players: Jacques Mauger (President of the jury), György Gyivicsan, Chris Houlding, Fabrice Millischer, and Ximo Vicedo. There is €10,000 to be won, and the deadline for registration is on 1 March 2019. Congratulations Congratulations to Sam Taber, who has won the 2018 Bob Hughes Bass Trombone Competition. Each participant had to play New Orleans by Eugene Bozza and a piece of their own choosing. The panel was the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Robb Tooley, Kyle MacCorquodale from the Hallé Orchestra (and winner of the competition in 2016), and Peter Chester, representing the BTS, stepping in at short notice. Bob Hughes was present to award the trophy to the winner. Deciding between the three finalists, Ignas Filonovas, from Lithuania, Adrian Gryciuk from Poland and Sam

Taber from the UK, was a difficult task for the judges. Ultimately it came down to musical finesse and willingness for the performer to take risks, for instance with dynamic range. With the whole performance taken into account, Sam Taber was awarded the well-deserved top prize. Trombonist wins Best Instrumentalist at National Finals Congratulations are also due to Chris Thomas, the solo trombonist with Cory Band, who has won the Best Instrumentalist prize at the National Finals. This prize is not often awarded to a trombone player. Adjudicator Paul Holland praised Chris’s ‘amazing virtuosity and sublime playing’. Stephen Sykes plays tune which saved his life The Acrobat Challenge was a global phenomenon which attracted international headlines. The most famous trombonists in the world joined countless others to post their performances of JA Greenwood’s The Acrobat online, and donate to Stephen Skyes treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Stephen was diagnosed with the aggressive form of cancer in February 2016. After six unsuccessful rounds of chemotherapy his consultant told the family his best hope of receiving a life-saving stem cell transplant was to treat him with a new drug called a PD1 blocker. The global trombone community united, performing many weird and wonderful iterations of Greewood’s famous piece, helping to raise the £100,000 needed for the rare treatment. Stephen’s mother Joanne donated the stem cells he needed for the treatment. It is wonderful to report that a CT scan in March confirmed that Stephen was cancer free. Stephen performed The Acrobat, the piece that saved his life, with the Midsomer Norton and Radstock Silver Band in October. Stephen said, ‘It's not the tune I would have picked to save my life, but I guess when it's a lifesaving piece of music any of them will do.’ And finally … Trombonists aggrieved at the lack of literary work that truly does justice to the sweet sound of our instrument should despair no more. YouTube’s premier trombone star, Paul the Trombonist, has texted his wife five pages of prose, vividly describing the sounds of his practice. This is all courtesy of Siri, the voice activated app built into all Apple iPhones. ‘Siri’ heard Paul practising and played the part of amanuensis, sharing the moment with his wife via text message. The full transcript is magnificent, and repays careful study. 7

Postcard from Holland DUTCH BASS TROMBONE OPEN, SEPTEMBER 2018 WRITTEN BY

‘I never thought I needed to play with 63 other bass trombones until I did – it was wonderful!’ Such was the view of Sam, currently a student at the Royal Academy in London, on his first exposure to one of the world’s unique musical events – the Dutch Bass Trombone Open, the seventh incarnation of which took place this year at the Akoesticum, the Dutch National Centre for Music, Dance and Theatre, just outside Ede, near Arnheim, over the weekend of 15–16 September. This unique gathering is a tribute to the hard work of two enthusiastic Dutchmen, Marcel Schot and Bert Damsma. With their truly welcoming approach, truly ‘Open’ – unless you're a tenor trombone; remember … ‘no tenor trombones will be permitted, harmed or damaged in any way during this event’ – there’s just a touch of eccentricity to ensure your attention, enriched by lots of humour, so you never quite know what is coming next. This year there was even a special beer. If we report that a special beer was created for this event, the wrong impression might be given, but such a ‘bass trombone beer’ was indeed created by a local brewery. A fine brew in the Dutch tradition, Mike 8

from Edinburgh was not the only one to mention it as something distinctly memorable. Interestingly a tenor trombone brew was also offered, but no-one tasted it over the weekend! The fact that this event was sold out within days of being advertised last January has to say something about its popularity. A number of players from the UK attended and as David M. from Sussex said, 'Having come to a few DBTO events I’m still delighted to learn more while meeting friends old and new; really recommended to all levels – there’s absolutely no competition'. Similarly Gur from Leamington had been before and 'enjoyed meeting trombone players from all around the world'. David S. from Liverpool was another returner, 'enjoying the organised chaos that worked, the very relaxed, enjoyable and friendly atmosphere', although he was 'glad he did not have to sing'. Singing? – you might well ask. This reared its head several times, particularly guided by one of the teachers this year, Ron Wilkins. Ron is a free-lance bass trombonist, a player and teacher from New York (www. ronwilkins.net) who also is a professional singer, one of whose teaching strategies is to encourage players to sing before they play. A simple enough thought: if you can

PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCEL SC HOT THE 'ORGANISERS AND TEAC HERS' PHOTOGRAPH L -R: BERT DAMSMA (ORGANISER) MARTIN SC HIPPERS (ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW), RON WILKINS (NEW YORK FREEL ANCE), BRANDT ATTEMA (NETHERL ANDS RADIO PHILHARMONIC) MARCEL SC HOT (ORGANISER)

PETER C HESTER, ALISON KEEP, DAVID THORNBER

ASK AMOS – YOUR LETTERS

PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCEL SC HOT

sing it, maybe you can buzz it on your mouthpiece, then you can certainly play it, at least with practice. An exuberantly public singing game did prove his point, although the sighs of relief from those present at NOT being asked to sing were distinctly audible. Ron played for us a number of times, in an opening recital and in the closing concert and he possesses a truly phenomenal range. He also performed a session with a jazz trio as an insight into his playing in New York’s jazz scene. That session did, however, generate one truly unique event. Ron led a simple ‘Blues in F’ jam session for whoever wanted to take part. Among the eight or so players standing up was a Dutch player with his contrabass trombone, who proceeded to give us four wonderful choruses – it eclipsed everything, bringing the house down – no-one had ever seen or heard anything quite like that, but that is what the DBTO is all about – participation and fun. Of course the founder teacher of the DBTO is Ben van Dijk, current president of the ITA and one of the world’s most distinguished players and teachers. To everyone’s regret Ben was taken ill just days before the event and had to withdraw. At short notice, his place was taken by Ben’s former student Brandt Attema, of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, who joined Martin Schippers from the Concertgebouw Orchestra, to complete the teaching team. Once again it was world-class players, giving freely of their expertise and making beautiful music for us to enjoy. Where else can you hear an impeccable performance of Steven Verhelsts’s Devil’s Waltz by two of the world’s finest bass trombone players, two people

you’ve spent the weekend with, Martin and Brandt, and then be able to chat with them afterwards over a beer? As Mike from Suffolk said, he felt he had been ‘going Dutch with some of the best bass trombonists from across the planet, and some of the future best, – such lovely people’, and that sense of working together was really underlined by the ensemble work we enjoyed. A choir of 60+ bass trombones can be quite a beast to control but with careful musicianship and a collective desire to ‘get it right’ some lovely music was made. This year’s ensemble programme included a gorgeously warm arrangement by Gur Rotkop of Wichita Lineman, well-suited to the rich sound of the ensemble, alongside a jaunty Surrey with the Fringe on Top. The classical repertoire was served by Greig’s Nordraak’s Funeral March and Bruckner’s Christus Factus Est, both superb examples of the dignified sound and restrained power of an ensemble of bass trombones. Another new piece this year was a very detailed arrangement of Pirates of the Caribbean, with a piece by Bill Reichenbach, his Getting Medieval, originally written for the first DBTO in 2006 and now something of a DBTO anthem, completing the programme. Much of the activity over the weekend was photographed or videoed and by the time you read this you will be able to see what we enjoyed on the DBTO website (info@dbto.nl) or Facebook page. Some of us have already September 2020 marked in our diaries in the hope that we can go again. As David T. from Durham said, ‘Book early to avoid disappointment – you must come if you love the bass trombone!’ 9

The British Trombone Society presents the third

Trombone Quartet Competition 31 March 2019 RAF Northolt

1st Prize Guest appearance with Grimethorpe Colliery Band

Details: www.britishtrombonesociety.org/competitions/current

Phil Parker LONDON

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Good Things Come In Threes ELINOR C HAMBERS

BARNEY MEDL AND

These are exciting times for the trombone, with three important new pieces for the instrument being premiered either very recently, or very soon. The first of these is MacMillan’s Trombone Concerto, which was premiered back in April of last year by Jörgen van Rijen. This piece is spectacularly important for the trombone because it is by such a well-known composer. Scottish composer James MacMillan is known for his beautiful large-scale choral works and so it is such a delight to hear his genius applied to the trombone. One review of the opening concert said, ‘The trombone sang, sang, sang …’ The piece is a single-movement work, 25 minutes long, and is written as a memorial to his five-year-old granddaughter who died the previous year. In an interview he said, ‘I don’t think it’s a morose piece, but as I settled down to write it in January/February of last year, thoughts of Sara were with me all the time. It’s a big abstract piece, it has no particular message, but subliminally it’s haunted by her memory.’ The UK premiere happened in early November with the London Symphony Orchestra and Peter Moore as soloist. This piece was paired with Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 – an epic companion for this exciting new concerto. The next big trombone event will be the première of the Trombone Concerto by Gavin Higgins. Helen Vollam will be performing this with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican on Wednesday, 13 February. Interestingly, this piece is also being paired with Shostakovich 4, clearly a popular choice for concert programmers wishing to place the trombone in the spotlight. We spoke to Gavin about his process and he gave us a great insight into what to expect from the piece: When was this piece first conceived, and how has it come into fruition? GH: One or two years ago I actually went to the BBC Symphony about writing a clarinet concerto, which 12

there were sort of keen on, but then they realised they’d commissioned quite a lot of wind concertos of late. So they asked if there was anything else I would like to do, and I said there has been a trombone concerto in my head, and I’d already spoken to Helen a bit about this. They went for it immediately! So that’s how this concerto began life. Could you tell us a bit about your compositional process and how you’ve been developing this concerto? GH: I’ve written quite a lot of music for solo instrument and brass band, but this is the first concerto with orchestra I’ve written. So it’s been quite a challenge to write, actually. I knew I wanted it to be quite a substantial piece. I didn’t want it to be 10–15 minutes and over. It’s about 24 minutes, quite a big piece, quite epic. It’s not so much a person at the front who the orchestra sits behind having a dialogue. Helen is in the centre of the orchestra and the orchestra swirls around her throughout the piece. There’s normally an extra musical inspiration for my pieces. A little while ago I came across a recently discovered 16th century German illuminated manuscript called The Book of Miracles. It’s an incredible book that depicts various supernatural phenomena, starting in the Old Testament and moving

DUDLEY BRIGHT

GAVIN HIGGINS. PHOTO: BROWNE SHARP

through historical events to the time when it was written. The last part is depictions of revelations. They are quite striking images, because they look incredibly modern – vivid, colourful and quite playful in a way. It’s full of comets and eclipses, and things falling from the sky. When I first discovered this book, I knew I wanted to write some piece on it. I thought it was going to be the clarinet concerto, but the trombone being a declamatory instrument, I thought it would be the right thing to explore with this piece. It’s in three movements: a substantial first movement that is nine or ten minutes long, a second which is slow and full of extended cadenza, and a fast and furious finale. You mentioned you chatted with Helen at the Last Night of The Proms a few years ago. Since then, while you’ve been writing this piece, has there been much collaboration and exchange of ideas between you and Helen, or has she just let you get on with writing it? GH: A lot actually; every time I write something, I send it to her to have a go at – I’m writing a piece for her and the BBC Symphony, so I want to make sure it’s a piece she’s happy playing. Certain players have things they enjoy doing and certain players have things they don’t enjoy doing. So there’s been quite a lot of back and forth, which is good as I think the first sketch I sent to her was

verging on impossible! (Which is fine, my feeling is to get it all down first and clear out what doesn’t need to be there later.) We met up a few times, and tried things out. I’m a brass player, but I’m not a trombone player. I know the slide positions, but I don’t really know what the actuality of doing some of these things in real time is, so it’s been quite useful. So often you’re sent off to do your thing and you hand it in at the end, which is quite a lonely process. But if you’re writing a concerto for a specific player, I think it’s important that you have a lot of contact with that person. Also, I think it puts Helen’s mind at rest, that I’m not just handing her a massive 24 minute concerto at the end of the process, and she’s actually getting to see it as it comes along. What have you found are some of the opportunities with writing for the trombone and also some of the challenges? GH: It has been quite a challenge actually, because when you think of a concerto you naturally think of extreme virtuosity. This piece is virtuosic, it’s quite a blow, there’s a lot going on, but it’s not the same type of virtuosity as on a violin or a clarinet. You have to readjust your head to the instrument, what it can do, what it sounds good doing, where the line is of what’s actually playable Continues on next page … 13

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES and what isn’t. Things like needing breaks and time to breathe and all the other things you have to take into consideration. Have you used many extended techniques in the pieces, or – in terms of techniques – is it quite conventional? GH: There are a few different mutes, and the end of the cadenza is sort of a glissando fantasy, full of glissandos and rips – but nothing too wacky! We played around with multi-phonics, but the music that I had in my head, and what needed to be done for it to work effectively didn’t quite match up, so we left that. You’ve given us a good idea of what people can expect from this piece in terms of flavour and structure. What about the orchestral forces involved? GH: It’s for full orchestra, triple winds, full brass; it does get quite big at times, but the middle section is slow, full of solo strings, with muted trombone over the top. In the first movement, while there’s a lot of activity, the harmonic language is quite static – it takes quite a long time for a chord to change. In the last movement however, they change basically every quaver or so. Are there any future performances of this concerto planned? What else do you have coming up? GH: There’s no more performances of this concerto planned yet, but I’m sure once it’s done we can work on that. The week after this is premièred I’m having an opera premièred at the Royal Opera House, so it’s two weeks of madness! Two very different pieces. That runs from the 21 February to the 3 March. Is there anything else you’d like to say? GH: Helen’s such a classy player. At the very beginning she was very adamant she wanted to be able to play everything, which is not to say ‘don’t make it hard’; she wanted to make sure every note was there. She wasn’t interested in bluffing, which is quite a nice thing to hear – especially growing up in the brass band world where there are a lot of people who are quite happy to bluff. It sounds very effective, but the notes aren’t always totally accurate, so it’s nice to be working with someone who is very clear that what’s there is what she wants to play. It’s been a nice way into thinking about the trombone writing. I’m looking forward to it!

We also spoke to Helen and asked for her point of view: How do your preparations for the performance fit into your busy playing schedule? HV: I am devoting time away from my orchestral schedule to prepare for this piece, as solo and orchestral

HELEN VOLL AM. PHOTO: JON COX PHOTOGRAPHY

styles don’t particularly compliment each other. In my experience, in solo playing the sound can get much brighter and more direct than is often desirable for Symphony Orchestra playing. So I allocate certain days and weeks to focus on the new concerto. Are there any challenges you have come up against so far whilst preparing this piece? HV: Gavin’s piece is full of challenges and I’m very excited about rehearsing and performing it with my lovely BBCSO colleagues and Alexander Vedernikov in February. I’m hoping to get a finished part later this month, but since the summer we have been trying various excerpts and ideas of Gavin’s. It’s been fascinating to watch the piece evolve. Gavin is a very talented composer and I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to collaborate with him on this exciting addition to the solo trombone repertoire. He’s even given me some bars rest!

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES This piece will be a major addition to the trombone repertoire, how have you seen the solo trombone repertoire develop over your career? HV: There has been a steady flow of new tenor trombone pieces coming into the repertoire since I was at music college. We must of course thank Christian Lindberg, Joseph Alessi, Ian Bousfield and John Kenny for their huge influence and energy but also more recently Jörgen van Rijen, Håkan Björkman, Katy Jones, Matthew Gee and Peter Moore for actively commissioning original works for trombone. It’s a very exciting time for our instrument. And hopefully with three major new trombone concertos (Macmillan, Higgins and Casken) having been performed in the UK within the same concert season, the trombone concerto will become a less rare beast in concert programming.

and create opportunities for the player to move from the most singing quality to extremes of virtuosic display or fragmented delivery. Never did I want such display for its own sake, and basing the work on a drawing by Michelangelo (The Holy Family: Madonna of Silence) focussed my mind on how best to engage with the drama of the drawing, and how to translate this into a musical setting. I have called the work ‘a drama for trombone and orchestra’ and as this unfolds, it is clear that both trombone and orchestra are equally involved. But, of course, a concerto it is, and as the trombone leads the way, the work must at the same time serve as a vehicle for demonstrating the possibilities of the instrument and the skills of the player. Continues on next page …

OPPORTUNITIES TO SEE HELEN PERFORM WITH BONES APART:

• SATURDAY, 2 FEBRUARY – Trombone Day at Oaklands College, Waterlooville, Hampshire. 12-noon start, with a 7pm concert featuring Bones Apart, a massed trombone ensemble from the day’s participants and a performance of the Grant Kirkhope’s solo concert piece KirkFeld by Helen and the Hampshire County Wind Band. • SUNDAY,

31 MARC H

– BTS Day at RAF Northolt

The final major addition to the trombone repertoire is the piece, Madonna of Silence by John Casken. This is due to be performed by Katy Jones at the Bridgewater Hall on Thursday, 28 February with the Hallé Orchestra. John Casken spoke to us about his experience writing this concerto: JC: I have written for trombone many times in my pieces, both ensemble and orchestral, but this is the first time I’ve written for it as a solo instrument. I think of the instrument as being incredibly versatile, with its origins going back to Renaissance times, and in our own times as equally at home in an orchestra as it is in contemporary jazz combinations. I have long been aware of the trombone’s enormous range of expression and certainly knew the theatrical possibilities, for example, of Berio’s Sequenza, and the instrument’s comic abilities through extended techniques to mimic vocal utterances, and I have also enjoyed listening to contemporary jazz trombonists. Quite early on, I decided that for the work I wanted to write, I might occasionally draw on these modern techniques and idioms, but what was more important was that the piece must have a strong musical narrative

15 JOHN CASKEN. PHOTO: SARAH JAMIESON

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES We asked Katy about the input she had into creating this new work: How did the piece come into fruition? KJ: Enormous thanks must of course go to our Chief Executive, John Summers, who started the conversation. It is so rare that one gets to collaborate with a composer of such calibre, or to have an organisation willing to pay for it to happen! Approaching a concerto such as this one fills me with equal measures of excitement and dread, along with a huge sense of responsibility! How much collaboration has there been between you and the composer? KJ: I’ve had a number of meetings with John Casken during the writing of this piece. Firstly to establish basics such as range, ideas, effects, what works well on the instrument, and more latterly making sure there are enough bars rest to catch a breath! It has been an incredibly inspiring seeing how a composer works in such fine detail for so long on such a commission. I loved John’s orchestration when we did an oboe concerto of his a few years ago, so I can’t wait to hear how it all fits together. How do your preparations for the performance fit into your busy playing schedule? Are there any challenges you have come up against so far whilst preparing this piece? KJ: In terms of preparation I now have the music to

learn, but the main difficulty is the difference between solo playing and what we do in our ‘day job’. Playing in an orchestra on trombone often requires us to behave more like a sprinter- short sharp bursts of ‘effort’, but solo playing requires much longer spells of playing, not to mention a greater level of agility! I sometimes compare the differences being akin to those of a weightlifter in the orchestra to a gymnast in solo repertoire! Trying to train for both of these at the same times certainly seems to result in needing a longer warm up each day! I also do plenty of lip flexibilities to help improve my agility and prevent the stiffness we sometimes feel the day after a big symphony. What should the audience expect from the piece when they hear it in February? KJ: This piece is not a series of tricks for the trombonist – we were both keen to avoid that. It starts lyrically, making beautiful use of the solotone mute. As I grew up listening to Urbie Green and Bill Watrous, it is this that I have in my head and encouraged John to listen to before writing this piece. Gradually the music becomes more agitated and really tells a story of the painting, with the trombone part getting more angular, and there are some really great, almost funky rhythms to get into. It ends more quietly, this time making use of the bucket mute. With Prokofiev 5 in the second half I’m quite disappointed not to be able to join in with that too in the orchestra – what a great evening of music for brass fans in Manchester! OTHER CONCERTS KATY HAS COMING UP:

• THURSDAY, 17 JANUARY – Huddersfield University Recital: Katy Jones and Jonathan Fisher • SATURDAY, 19 JANUARY – Huddersfield Town Hall Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor Ben Ellin, Soloist Katy Jones Takemitsu: Fantasma/Cantos II for Trombone and Orchestra Make sure to put the dates of these premières in your diaries; they are events not to be missed. To have three concertos performed by such major British orchestras in such close succession is a significant event for the trombone as a solo instrument. It is also exciting to see that each of the soloists is a principal player from the orchestra with which they are performing, a testament to the quality of players within our orchestral sections. The renaissance in trombone repertoire has been underway for a number of years now, however with a number of highly-skilled trombone soloists around these days with a commitment to commissioning new works, it seems that the golden age of the repertoire revolution may be upon us. 16 KAT Y JONES. PHOTO: JOHN STEEL PHOTOGRAPHY

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PRESIDENT’S TOOLKIT:

Double Up! DÁVUR JUUL MAGNUSSEN

One of the most impressive and useful extended techniques to perform on the trombone is double harmonics, or double stops, sometimes referred to as multiphonics. Playing one note while singing another. There are lots of pieces in the solo repertoire that require use of that technique, and many of the greatest jazz artists use the technique in solos. You can use it to make a growly sound, or to sound like a didgeridoo, but with a little practice you can also start making harmonies. I know of players from brass bands that will sit down with two Red Hymn Books, and play from one whilst singing from the other. Are you up for giving it a go? Double stopping requires great technical control and also a high degree of multitasking. If you are only slightly out of tune with yourself, it sounds rough and frankly awful, but if you manage to hit the notes clean and in tune, it produces some beautiful and ethereal sounds. It is great to practice double harmonics, because you actually feel all the different vibrations that happen inside your instrument. The sung note and played note will interact with each other and become one sound wave. A sound wave that you will feel on your vocal chords and on your lips, much more than when you play just one note. In order to properly harmonise and play in tune, you will have to practice adjusting the notes independently, and that is made extra tricky by the fact that the two notes actually pull and push on each other when they are changing. We all have different voices, so we will all produce very different sounding double harmonics. It can take while, and lots of experimentation to get the two pitches going at first, but every trombonist that I have taught double harmonics has eventually managed to crack it, so just keep trying.

▶ SOLO PIECES UTILISING DOUBLE HARMONICS:

Basta Folke Rabe Sonata for Tenor Trombone John Kenny The Bells of Vineta Bent Sørensen NOTABLE PERFORMERS WHO USE DOUBLE HARMONICS:

Tricky Sam Nanton  Tommy Dorsey  Gunhild Carling James Morrison

Meditations Upon a Trombone Case SIMON WILLS

By the age of 40 every man has the face he deserves. After 40 years in the music business I seem to have the luggage too, in the shape of a slightly unusual trombone case. It’s longer and thinner than the ones that come with a new instrument and vaguely resembles a giant Wellington boot. A man in the east end of London made it for me in those far-off days when you couldn’t buy a case off the shelf and ‘gig bag’ meant a satchel where you kept your sandwich and flask of tea. We’ve been through a lot, it and I; once we were both pristine but life soon put paid to that. If you only work with an established orchestra, your case could emerge at the end of four decades with scarcely a blemish. At the start of a trip you pop it into a padded aluminium chest and you don’t see it again until you unpack it backstage in Berlin, Buenos Aires or Beijing. Concert halls, with the exception of the startling Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, are never exotic places; a case that has been so coddled has hardly seen the world. Mine has done more than its share of container journeys but a great deal of its wandering has been solitary. It’s been left out in the rain in Uganda, crammed on a Bombay commuter train and, more times than I could count, it has trundled the length and breadth of Europe by train; that’s without the endless late night motorway journeys that are the glamorous ritornello of the freelance life. A strip of the covering is missing; I remember the ‘zip’ as it tore off at a bus stop in Novosibirsk. The temperature was about -30 and without my realising it, it had frozen to the pavement. The rest of the exterior is a patchwork of half-removed tour labels but there’s one in gothic script that proclaims Swing Tanzen Verboten. That was affixed on Köln railway station by a colleague in a German outfit: earlier that day I had had a spat with the conductor over that silly 20

glissando solo in Pulcinella. He insisted that it was not humorous, but needed a Brucknerian gravitas. Reader, I tried. A little bit anyway. Let’s just say he had it his way at the rehearsal. There’s the rub: Carnegie Hall concerts and Mahler 3s and Ring cycles are important, of course, but when you are travelling, the concert occupies a remarkably small part of your day. Most of the time is spent at a loose end in a strange town. If the programme consists of the same pieces night after night for three weeks, you’ll remember the mishaps and the bizarre encounters at least as much the artistic highs. When people ask me what Solti had to say about Brahms 1, I genuinely can’t remember (except that it was probably unpleasant) but I certainly do recall getting thrown out of the Morte Subite bar in Brussels after an evening of post-concert stress-busting. My case is beautifully made but a poor fit; the instrument would rattle around without the padding provided by a chaos of old touring schedules, ancient BBC contracts, security passes, about a pound of broken pencils and all manner of other junk. God knows what the carbon footprint of all this is, but a bit of excavation through the strata is record of a life on the road. Out with my archaeologist’s trowel.

MEDITATIONS UPON A TROMBONE CASE In the top layer there’s a thick wad of manuscript paper. I often compose on trains (it’s easier than Sudoku) and I notice that there’s most of a trombone concerto scattered across the blistered pages. Maybe I’ll knock that into shape over Christmas. On one sheet there’s a curious melody scrawled in felt-tip. It dates from a journey on the splendidly named Shosholoza Meyl train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I was quietly contemplating the passing veldt and hoping to see a giraffe (I didn’t) when a happy lady burst into the compartment. She had a smile eight feet wide and a frame slightly wider. Her companion, a melancholy gentleman, was larger still and a good deal less sprightly; maybe he was less convinced by the message of joy that she wished to impart. ‘Clap your hands for Jesus’, they cried and since I saw no prospect of escape save through the open window, I duly clapped. The woman bellowed, Old Satan! Old Satan the Devil will run away When the Lord is leading our ways! As they worked their way down the carriage, Old Satan’s melody carried on. I wrote it down, sensing that it would come in handy at some point and about a year later I based a scene in an opera on it. From the Shosholoza Meyl to a Swiss theatre. Music is odd; it gets everywhere. A bit like me, I suppose. Tangled up in the papers is about a mile of that tough nylon cord that they use for old-fashioned valve linkages. It’s knotted and probably useless but it’s staying there. It was a paranoid purchase. I’ve only had a valve string break on me once and as luck would have it, it happened during the tune-up for a performance of the Berg Kammerkonzert in the Musikverein. Now, in most repertoire you can survive such a thing by using 6th and 7th positions – but not in that piece. Sorry Mr Abbado, you’ll have to wait, me hooter’s bust. Once backstage I was confronted with a simple truth: I had no string, no screwdriver and in any case had no idea how a string link is tied together. Fortunately a practically-minded horn player was loitering and he fixed it for me. The performance was fine, though Claudio was sure I’d done it on purpose. The next day I went out and bought the cord and a set of small screwdrivers. I’ve never needed them. That’s just as well because I still don’t know understand how to tie up a linkage. Here are a couple of security passes. In my studio at home there’s a thicket of them hanging by their lanyards, hundreds of the things. A couple haven’t made it to the collection. Here’s one for Glastonbury, the muddiest of all muddy-field orchestral concerts, during which a British record was set for the most rainfall in an hour. The audience stayed put, quietly sinking into the mire, and when we came off the platform the duckboards

had floated away. I’m sure U2 never had this trouble. The other is left over from a trip to Seoul, where a rapper called Seio Taiji put on a stadium concert with full symphony orchestra as backing. He was pleasant enough, the arrangements were good and not very challenging to play; but the gig is memorable for the biggest adrenaline rush of my life. Before the concert I couldn’t remember where my mutes were, so I tottered onto the platform to look for them. There were about 100,000 Korean teenagers in the place, with nothing to look at except some enormous screens showing an empty stage, and to a bored teenager even a foreigner in a silly suit is worth shouting at. They all screamed: it made more noise than you might expect. Surprised, I took a bow. More screams. Having located the mutes, I left the stage, thereby ending my brief moment as Elvis though, unlike him, I didn’t leave the building. A couple of the lads asked if I was all right, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost. I realised my heart rate was about 300 and my ears were ringing. Just because of a bit of noise in a stadium. In general, I don’t do nerves. There’s no deep psychology involved, I just don’t suffer with them. If I did, I’d probably do something else. If they were like the feeling I had then, I’d join a monastery. It was not agreeable and I found myself wondering what it would be like if you were actually the person they’d come to see. No thanks: I don’t think rock stardom was ever a serious career option for me and on the whole I am rather glad about it. One more layer down in the substratum of my little box, there’s a picture postcard, showing a rather dusty street in a town called Atamanovka. The filling station has pride of place and the houses look more like dachas than anything more permanent. It was given to me by an old lady called Gulazara. I was on my way to Almaty in southern Kazkahstan to do some teaching, and chose to go via a branch line of the Trans-Siberian railway. I shared a compartment with four tiny grandmothers who quickly appropriated my trombone case and used it as a table for an endless banquet of black bread, onions and cheese, cackling and taking the mickey out of me all the while. Whenever the train stopped it was besieged by hawkers. I was thrown out of the compartment while three of the ladies tried on dresses offered for sale by a trader with a mouthful of gold teeth and an eye patch but Gulzara, unmoved by her modish companions, disappeared onto the platform and reappeared with a dried fish about four feet long. It didn’t so much smell as ooze, emitting a miasma that the KGB might have used to punish errant spies if they were especially disloyal. ‘It’s river fish, very good’ she said ‘but you should only have it with beer’. Possibly for the only time in my life, I thanked the Gods that there was no beer and tried to survive by breathing shallowly through my mouth. There were only about 500 miles to go, after all. Continues on next page … 21

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MEDITATIONS UPON A TROMBONE CASE The weather was warm, the fish fermented and I spent more and more time in the corridor, breathing other people’s tobacco smoke and wishing I smoked too. At the end of the journey Gulazara presented me with the postcard: here’s where I live. I’m sorry you don’t like fish. And she was gone. Many people say that a Bach trombone plays best when it’s clean, but a Conn likes a bit of dirt. Be that as it may, the smell of muck in the pipes takes me straight back to that train and Gulzara’s fish; that is not a place I wish to be. It’s a very clean 88H! Here’s a bit of fun wedged under the nascent trombone concerto, a pack of BBC-issue flash cards in English and Mandarin, giving useful phrases such as please take me to the Hotel Sordide on Zhou-en Lai Boulevard. It’s a brilliant idea designed to get you out of trouble if you miss the orchestra bus and it works – provided you don’t choose the only taxi driver in Shanghai who can’t read Mandarin. I think he was Estonian and no I don’t know what a non-Mandarin speaking Estonian was doing driving a taxi in Shanghai, neither can I explain how he survived when the only language he could speak was his obscure and unlearnable native tongue. A mixture of charades and desperanto directed us to the wrong concert hall, several miles from where I was supposed to be. When I eventually got to the right venue, I petulantly threw the cards into my case and was, of course, late for the next rehearsal too, because my taxi driver on that occasion could probably read Mandarin but could not speak English. In my defence, you don’t need a vast amount of rehearsal to play second trombone in Bolero and my irritation was soothed by the fact that in the concert the audience clapped in time from beginning to end and gauged the crescendo very well. They also cheered during the last repetition of the theme: a famous orchestra that I played in long ago used to do that, but I doubt they still do. Look at all this dust. Some of it is grey and gritty and I suspect that it may have come from the little pieces of Berlin wall that I hacked off in November 1989. They came home, perhaps unwisely, in the trombone box and if there was asbestos in the concrete well, I’m still here and so is the trombone. The previous September I had to resolve a diary malfunction by driving overnight from Berlin to Vienna. It wasn’t a huge stress, although in those days you couldn’t take the direct route through Czechoslovakia without filling in thirty forms and sacrificing three precious blank pages of your passport. I was only in Octandre so by eight o’clock I was out of the Philharmonie and in the car. I should have had plenty of time – but this was the historic weekend that Hungary decided to open its borders and allow all the East German holidaymakers out into the west and Stasi paranoia was intense. I had

to crawl to the frontier with a police car in slow pursuit and at the border a charming man was very rough with the poor old case; one of the hinges still shows signs of his unkindness. Then he insisted that I play the instrument, presumably fearing I might be a violinist from DDR making good his escape by masquerading as a cross English trombone player. I stood at the roadside and delivered the Horst Wessel Lied very loudly indeed. I think the point may have been lost on my tormentor; so much for faith in the historical process. In the little compartment at the back of the case, there’s a tube of Trombotine, a slide cream that first appeared in the 1950s and is, I believe, based on a longdefunct cosmetic. It’s the second one I’ve owned since I started playing in 1968 and it’s about half finished; it should see me out. Sidney Langston, the principal trombone of the RPO in the 1940s, gave me the first tube; I had a few lessons from him when I was a child and some of his homespun thoughts on playing seem to have lodged in my mind. He knew how to practise: The trombone’s like a coconut shy. Chuck balls at a coconut till you can hit it and you’ll win every time and though I doubt if the word ‘holistic’ was in his vocabulary, his assertion that if you do your business nice and regular every morning after breakfast, you’ll always make a good sound does smack of a certain barefoot wisdom. It was rather a contrast to the originator of a small cork ball that has lodged in a corner of my trombone case. That came from San Antonio in Texas, where they have a great many hamburger shops, the Alamo and a gigantic and rather melancholy brass trade fair. There it was that I encountered a cheerful and very clever gentleman, a trader whose stall was piled high with machines to make trombone playing better. There were lung capacity monitors, devices to measure intercostal expansion, a lip gymnasium and a book of spiritual aids to embouchure meditation. I do not doubt that, had I had looked for it, I would have found special dental floss for enhanced middle register articulation as well. His practice room – assuming he had time to do any practice – must have resembled an episode of Holby City. He showed me something resembling a perspex tobacco pipe and explained to me that breathing is extremely difficult, something of which I had hitherto been unaware. He added that if only I could learn to maintain an airstream consistent enough to hold a cork ball between two marks engraved on the bowl of the pipe (which was very reasonably priced at $75 plus tax) I would win an immediate place in Heaven to say nothing of the principal trombone-ship of the orchestra of my choice. Enchanted, I administered the sort of sharp hefty shock of air that you’d use for the first brass chord in the Verdi Requiem. The ball shot out of the top and disappeared over the heads of his customers. Continues on next page … 23

MEDITATIONS UPON A TROMBONE CASE This did little for my credibility as a breather and so I departed. On my way out, I spotted the ball on the floor and pocketed it. As damage-limitation gestures go it was pretty feeble but you do what you can. Nestling in a corner of the case alongside the tube of cream and the cork ball is a piece of plastic sushi, a disquietingly lifelike prawn on a little cake of polythene rice. Most Japanese cafes and noodle bars have windows filled with plastic representations of the dishes they serve. If you can’t read the menu, you can entice the waiter outside, point to the model of your choice and say, Watashi wa sore ga hoshee, which is more or less Japanese for I want that one. The waiter will bow, smile and bring you something that does not resemble it in the smallest particular. That isn’t the point; it increases goodwill between nations and keeps the touring diet healthily varied. On a long trip to Tokyo my wandering once led me to a street where the replicas were sold. There were scores of shops, all flogging rubber pickles, vinyl soup, prosthetic noodles and fried eggs so lifelike you wanted to stick them between a couple of slices of Mother’s Pride there and then. I don’t remember why I bought the prawn. You do things like that when travel-itis strikes, the slightly depressed dislocation that is a side-effect of the touring life. We all get our Lost in Translation moments and this was one of mine. You aren’t supposed to admit it, but sometimes in this game you ask, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ It feels as if you’re stuck in High Street China while life is happening elsewhere, and then you wonder if it’s too late to become a train driver or an accountant. But then something happens to shake you out of it and that brings me to my last memento. It’s a scrap of paper torn from a newspaper, and on it is a name and address scribbled in pencil. I’ve glued it inside the lid of the case. At the end of one of my Cuba visits I was wandering round Havana, killing time before setting off for an overnight flight. It takes talent and hard work to be gloomy in that liveliest of cities, but travel-itis had struck hard and I managed it. I lost my bearings, paused on a street corner and realised that behind the roar of the ancient cars, the music pouring out of every window and the cries of street vendors there was another, more tranquil sound. It was the horn solo from Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony. I tried to follow it and, stepping off the kerb was splashed by a 1950s Chevrolet. When I had finished cursing, the horn solo had stopped, but then it started again with the opening of Till Eulenspiegel, a little under tempo but full of life. As I drew nearer, the overture to Semiramide began. It was an elderly gentleman sitting under a banyan tree. He was a retired professional player. He told me he loved the horn too much to give up just because he was drawing his pension. His wife wouldn’t let him play in the flat so he came to the park each day and relived past 24

concerts, playing along to his memories. Cuanto años tiene?, I asked. Eighty-three. That gave me pause. They retire at sixty in Cuba. He hoped we would meet again, gave me his address, smiled a gap-toothed smile and broke into a Mozart concerto. And there’s another rub. Musicians are always saying, ‘I do this because I don’t know what else to do’. It’s rubbish, all of us could do something else, but the inescapable fact is that the business has got hold of us and I’m not sure we get to decide when to leave it. I’m not just talking about the music, but all the other stuff, the lack of routine, the silly journeys, even the irritations, even, Heaven help me, the pestilent halfeducated incompetent conductors. As Frank Zappa puts it, you are what you is. During the Proms season just gone, I noticed that the steps up the Albert Hall platform seemed steeper than the previous year, and in the intervals I was more inclined to sit with a cup of tea than to run out to the Imperial College bar as I might once have done. But the chops still work and even without the aid of a perspex pipe and a cork ball I still seem to have a Heldenleben in my lungs. So here’s to the next forty years, or as many of them as I can manage. Here’s to concerts in bizarre buildings, lessons given under trees in places I never expected to visit, to depositing more layers of schedules, junk and postcards in the bottom of my poor old case. Maybe I’ll even get to the end of that tube of Trombotine. I hope the case manages to outlast me: like I said, we’ve been through a lot together. And, with luck, there will still be those bewildered calls from my answering service: we’ve had this odd message for you …

Slidin’ About Trombone Quartet PETER C HESTER

PHOTOS: MARSHALL THOMAS

When planning the BTS event at the Durham Brass Festival in July this year, David Thornber and I wanted a variety of trombone performances and we were very aware of how enjoyable a good quartet can be. We knew there were some very talented groups around and enquiries of our principal guest, Katy Jones, led us to Slidin’ About, a quartet based in Manchester. One look at their website whetted our appetite further and with a group CV that includes winning the Foden’s Quartet competition, being finalists in the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Competition and appearances on Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’, we were very pleased that they were able to join us for the day. They gave an outstanding performance, with a very varied programme, and their genial presentation skills, honed by their expertise in playing for a whole range of different groups, just added to the pleasure of having them at the event. The group members are Steve Jones, Paul ExtonMcGuiness and Tom Berry on tenor trombone and Christopher Guenault on bass trombone. I was able later to chat with Chris to find out a little more about the group. Peter Chester: How did Slidin’ About emerge? Christopher Guenault: Slidin’ About was formed eight years ago at the RNCM, I think in the first week. We just got together to keep blowing but it expanded from there. During our third year, we successfully auditioned for Live Music Now, which we have enjoyed representing ever since and that was the catalyst to expand our work further as a trombone quartet. PC: How do you organise your work and prepare yourselves, musically? 26

CG: With the wide variety of work that the quartet does, we can have a large turnover of original pieces, arrangements and new compositions, including commissions, throughout the year. We normally look at these for the first time together in a rehearsal so we can get a feel for the music and what we each need to focus on. Some problems can be solved straight away and others may need a little home preparation. The aim is always to have individual parts ready for the next rehearsal and then we don’t have to waste time notebashing. Once we’re all prepared, we can then work on the best musical performance and think about extra things to add to the performance. PC: Do individuals have specific roles? CG: We each take responsibility for different areas on the administration side, whether it be planning programmes, looking after finances, updating the website and so on. We all contribute arrangements although Steve is the only one of the four of us to have composed an original piece for the quartet so far. PC: Are there what might be called ‘challenges’ in playing in a quartet? CG: We have to work with the same problems found in most ensembles, such us playing in tune, in time and together and so on. The stamina, mentally and

SLIDIN’ ABOUT TROMBONE QUARTET physically, is probably the biggest issue, as we tend to have very little time with the trombone off the face during pieces. When we do some of our orchestral arrangements, this, and the technical demands, can certainly take their toll.

organisation, as pBone Ambassadors, and they’ve been incredibly supportive in providing us with lots of instruments to make this work happen. You haven’t seen anything till you’ve seen us try and fit four trombonists, four regular trombones and 30 pBones into a hatchback!

PC: What do individual members particularly enjoy about it? CG: We’re all quite similar in that we enjoy playing trombone and enjoy each other’s company, and maybe a beer after a rehearsal or gig. We’ve pretty busy careers as freelancers and educators so to be able to play high quality music in a chamber setting is a real treat.

PC: So, you’re obviously busy. Has there been any particularly memorable concert in the past couple of years? CG: Yes – performing a concert at the Thaxted Festival in 2016 was a definite highlight. It was our biggest audience to date at that point and they were really appreciative. It is a big festival, with some famous names, so we were very pleased to be asked, although people weren’t so sure before it started. We were in a local pub getting some tea before the concert and at the next table there were some people saying that they weren’t sure about whether a trombone quartet would sound any good! We turned round and told them they’d enjoy it and thankfully, they came and told us afterwards they did AND someone has put a clip from our concert on YouTube! At the start of 2018 we had a great time spending four days in Cumbria doing a residency with the Sunbeams Music Foundation. Sunbeams is a charity that works with severely disabled and disadvantaged people and their families and carers, aiming to improve people’s lives through music. This was one of those nice occasions where we got the best of both worlds – doing loads of education workshops but also an evening concert. It was tiring but well worth it!

PC: What do you think your audiences get out of it? CG: At every concert we always hear at least once someone say, ‘I didn’t know trombones could do that!’. We try to show them the wide variety of colour that trombones can produce and that always surprises the audience. Most importantly of all, we always try to entertain them and hope they walk out with a smile. PC: Can you tell us more about your work in education and with community groups? That seems to be a very prominent aspect of your work – how did you get into it? CG: During our studies at RNCM, we successfully auditioned to be artists with the charity, Live Music Now, and since then, we’ve done a lot of great projects they’ve organised. Sometimes these are performing recitals as part of a concert series, but mostly Live Music Now activities lean towards education and outreach work. We do a lot of one-off performances and workshops where we’ll go into a place and give people a go at playing trombone and creating their own music. These can be going into elderly care homes or SEND schools, that’s schools for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We also work in Pupil Referral Units and mainstream schools. Sometimes we have longer projects, where we can go in for 6 – 10 sessions and we can then really help the children make progress musically. Soon after starting with Live Music Now, we were able to create a partnership with Warwick Music and the pBone

PC: That sounds quite a challenge but you obviously enjoy it. It must be very gratifying to take the trombone and its music into new places – well done! Thanks again for talking to me about Slidin’ About and thanks again for coming to Durham. Slidin’ About was featured on the short film made of the Durham BTS event, as featured on the BTS website. The group also has their own website, where their CD is available for purchase. Other websites of interest, particularly concerning their educational work, are Live Music Now and Sunbeams Music Trust. 27

JAZZ BY JEREMY

Curtis Fuller: New Trombone JEREMY PRICE

Recorded in 1957 by a 22-year-old newcomer, the transcribed jazz solo for this issue is by Curtis Fuller, on a track called Blue Lawson. The album is entitled New Trombone and is a quintet recording including Sonny Red on alto sax, Hank Jones on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Louis Hayes on drums. I happen to be in possession of the original vinyl LP on the Prestige label and it tells me this is another famous Rudi Van Gelder recording. Van Gelder was the go-to sound engineer for jazz musicians of the day as they knew that the sound would be faithfully captured in a setting where they could still interact as jazz musicians need to, without baffles and sound booths separating them off. That’s quite an art, especially getting a good bass sound without the over spill from the drum kit. The front cover of the album shows Curtis Fuller standing alone on a rural train station platform, wearing what looks like a newly-bought and ill-fitting cheap suit befitting of a newbie, although still looking incredibly cool, standing askance with his big unwieldy King trombone case in his right hand. It’s a great pictorial summing-up of the greenhorn on a journey to the big city to show them what he’s made of. So this is Jazz with a capital J, straight down the middle, swinging and bluesy with a classic trombone and alto sax frontline. The improvising is melodic as well as immaculately on the changes and solos are crafted to be a satisfying length and structure; no rambling, with everyone getting to the point of what they want to say and then offering space for the next soloist to hold forth along the same subject. Curtis Fuller was born 15 December 1934 in Detroit USA. Apparently he didn’t take up an instrument until his senior years in High School and then started on baritone horn, only taking up the trombone after graduation. That means we could be listening to the

results of a very steep learning curve of just five years or so. The sleeve notes to this record also tell me he was in an Army Band 1953–55 with none other than ‘Cannonball’ Adderley before going back to live in Detroit. That would have been a great education as Cannonball is undoubtedly one of the geniuses of the music and hugely charismatic so would have made a big impression on all the other musicians around him. Curtis was obviously prodigiously talented and must have been catching everybody’s ear as he was picked up into bands with Kenny Burell and Yusef Lateef before moving to New York in 1957. The alto player on this record, Sonny Red, turns out to be his best mate from Detroit and it looks like they moved to New York together as they were ‘roomies’ for the first few years. The pilgrimage to New York is still of legendary status to the jazz musician and it’s these types of tales that connect generations into the inspiring folklore of jazz. Curtis Fuller went on to record with Art Blakey and Coltrane and was fellow sideman with the likes of Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter. That’s quite a pedigree. On to the solo on Blue Lawson: it’s a minor blues in Bb. Rob Egerton has transcribed the full solo and provided a YouTube link so you can see the transcription and listen at the same time. He has also provided a Bb treble clef transposition for those of you from the brass band world. If you are a Continues on next page … 29

LINK: ROB EGERTON JAZZ TRANSCRIPTIONS

novice, don’t be put off by the five flats in the key signature. The majority of the solo is what you could describe as ‘ergonomic’ on the slide, by which I mean all the slide shifts are very natural and flow in a good direction for the phrasing. Note much use of the public domain lip break Eb, Db, Eb, Db, Bb which is achieved just with a flick of the wrist over slide positions 3,2,3,2,1. This occurs about five or six times over four choruses, but each time it’s in a different place in the bar and part of a different longer melodic phrase. Lip breaks can be developed across the whole instrument in a myriad of combinations and on different parts of the harmonic series. They are a bit of a knack to master but once you have them they feel great on the chops and are a particularly nice way to warm down if you’ve had a face full of playing lead trombone! Observe also the articulation and the tone. Curtis plays with a big round sound and what sounds like a well pronounced ‘D’ consonant rather than ‘T’ which adds to the depth of sound and strong sense of swing. A good technique for creating narrative and connecting melodic ideas together is to use repetition, just as you see in bar 24. The descending phrase starting on a top Bb is used twice, with the second phrase completing to a full sentence. In speech the equivalent would be saying ‘Let me tell you, let me tell you what I think about this’, which immediately sounds like a gospel preacher, which is no accident. Jazz musicians look for a range of devices such as this so that their solos become more engaging and have pace and drama, rather than a pootle around in a key centre. Once you realize this, you will notice more and more of these, within the solos that you have come to know and love, and can start to use them yourself. It’s all there for the taking for free, in time honoured fashion, straight off the records.

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V.S.

LINK: ROB EGERTON JAZZ TRANSCRIPTIONS

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V.S. 31

Winter Crossword Competition

CLUES DOWN

Reading clockwise from the top left-hand corner, there is a seasonal message.

DAWDLE MUDDILY LIKE A DUC K (6)

Email this message to: editor@britishtrombonesociety.org by Monday, 18 February 2019 for a chance to win a copy of Septura’s latest release.

4. PIECE OF A DRESS, A STRAND OF HAIR AND POISON? (7)

2. L ATIN IS A C HANGED L ANGUAGE FOR THESE EUROPEANS (8) 3.

MALICIOUS GOSSIP ABOUT MISSING SHOE (6)

5. SHE MIGHT BE SAIL ABLE WHEN AT SEA (8) 6. SHE WAS BORN RON ORIGINALLY (6) 7. EXCESS LEFT IN STOMAC H (4) 15. CRAFT SMUGGLED IN DARTMOUTH (3) 17. ROADIE REGUL ARLY SAMPLED AFRICAN POP MUSIC (3)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS CROSSWORD

18. POWERFUL LIGHT MAY EXPLODE (8)

Set by Anklepoise 1

20. EPIL ATOR MANGLED L AST CORD (8) 21. CLUB FOLLOWS SPADES HAVING COME OUT IN BURSTS (7) 23. C HURC H OFFICER IN C HARGE, SORT OF CROSS (6)

25. MORE REC KLESS WAY TO BRING HOME THE BACON (6) 26. GAME IS FIXED, MAKING IT HARD FOR THE ELDERLY (6) 11

28. FIRST ANIMAL -RESCUE GUY (4)

ACROSS 8. SAILOR SEASON (4) 13

WELL -KEPT SECRET, FOR SOME (3)

10. FURTIVE GOING ROUND BASE AT A SNAIL’S PACE (6) 11. CONFUSED CLERGYMAN TAKEN IN BY DODGY DEAL (6) 16

12. TRIO BELT OUT OPERATIC WORDS (8) 13. LONDON POLICE IN C HARGE, KETTLING EVERYBODY – THAT’S HARSH! (8)

14. SECURE GOLD FOR CARRIAGE (6) 22

16. IRREGUL AR START IN WAGNER’S OPERA (7) 19. SOLDIER’S CAGED BIRD REVEALING MUSICAL SUITE (7) 22. AMUSING SHOW HAS STOIC ARGUING WITH SPY C HIEF (6)

24. NORM FAILS BADLY TO FIND THIS HOLY GRAIL SEEKER (8) 27. ESCAPING BY AIR? (2-6)

29. SAL AD INGREDIENT FOR HORSE (6) 30. GRIST WITHOUT WEIGHT TAKES A CENTURY TO BECOME XENOPHOBE (6) 31. NUREYEV HIDING VIEW (3) 32. ITS TOWER IS INCLINED TO ATTRACT TOURISTS (4)

SARAH WILLIAMS

A call came out of the blue in the winter of 2016; musical contractor David Gallagher was offering us a chance to be part of the 2017 revival of the legendary show ‘42nd Street’. First performed in the 1980s, but set in New York during the Great Depression, ‘42nd Street’ tells the tale of producer Julian Marsh putting on a Broadway show. Against all the odds, his show becomes a huge success and its leading lady, Peggy Sawyer, a star. The score, by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer is, as you would expect, strictly within the idiom of the day; swinging big band tunes and beautifully crafted ballads, all with bags of personality. The show benefits from the same full brass line up as the 1984 production (three trombones, three trumpets and one french horn) – quite a rarity when it’s so common now to see very small pit orchestras. Both the 1984 and 2017 West End productions have played at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, a theatre steeped in history, with some features dating back to 1674. The pit is unusually deep, which gives a good resonance and helps the band to stay compact and keep ‘in the pocket’ of the rhythm section. We are all experienced big band players, so the score is right ‘up our street’. I’m on Bass Trombone. I’m a member of Bones Apart Trombone Quartet and have played in many other West End shows, big bands and orchestras. Ashley Horton on 2nd Trombone is a regular member of the BBC Big Band and has played in many ensembles and orchestras. He has been a regular in the West End including such shows as ‘Fosse’, ‘From Here to Eternity’ and ‘The Rat Pack’. Ashley and I first met in NYJO a couple (ahem) of years ago, we were both in the revival of ‘Guys and Dolls’ at the Piccadilly Theatre in 2005 and in ‘Songs my Mother Taught Me’ featuring Lorna Luft, at the Savoy. Robbie Harvey, 1st

Trombone, is the new kid on the block and also a new father (congratulations Robbie!). Robbie is known for his blistering jazz solos and he has technique in buckets, but he can also play with wonderful understated style. During the show there are a few moments of quiet reflection for the brass department, but not many. I Only Have Eyes For You is well orchestrated to show the softer side of brass playing. We hear a lyrical counter melody from trombone one and some lush chordal accompaniments from the section. The second half sees big number follow big number with Plenty of Money running straight into Shuffle off to Buffalo, then volti subito into 42nd Street. Over 20 minutes of non-stop playing followed by a brief interlude, then it’s into the bows and outracte. The demands of the score did at first see us dive for the arnica; in fact, during one of the early shows the trombone section have a unison pedal Bb, forte, but because we all had totally swollen chops, the conductor pointed at us and nothing came out! Fortunately, we quickly got used to the demands of the performance and I’m glad to say the episode was not repeated! We’ve all really enjoyed being part of this wonderful feel-good show, especially on a dark winter’s evening. If you get a chance, get down to see ‘42nd Street’ before we close on 5 January, pop your head over the pit and say, ‘Hello’. INSTRUMENTS:

Rath R10. Mouthpiece Bach 6 1/2A Bach 16M slide, 8 Bell. Mouthpiece 11C SARAH WILLIAMS: Vincent Bach Strad 50. Mouthpiece Bach 1G ROBBIE HARVEY: ASH HORTON:

austraLYSIS TORBJÖRN HULTMARK TRUMPET, SOPRANO TROMBONE, COMPOSER, LIVE ELECTRONICS ROGER DEAN PIANO, COMPOSER, LIVE ELECTRONICS

CONCERT REVIEW: DEEP BRASS, DEEP VOICE: BRASS, VOICE AND POETRY MEET DEEP LEARNING 2 NOVEMBER 2018, ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE REVIEWED BY DAVID PURSER

As a professional trombonist earning a substantial part of my income playing the bass trumpet, it was good for me to see the boot on the other foot at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on 2 November, when the wonderful trumpet player, Torbjörn Hultmark, presented a recital for soprano trombone with his longtime collaborator, pianist and composer Roger Dean. Torbjörn has made it something of a personal mission to revive the fortunes of this rarely heard instrument, going so far as to commission the prestigious Bremen-based manufacturer Thein to make him a bespoke model. He's also had to create his own repertoire, either by commissioning others or composing himself, and much of the programme we heard reflected his (and Roger Dean's) taste for work involving live electronics. With 14 midi pedals controlling a wide variety of effects (I'll return to 'effects' later), a laptop computer for additional adjustments and an array of mutes to juggle, there were times when Torbjörn resembled a hyperactive octopus as he went about his performance, but the music and his virtuosic playing told a very different story. The programme offered a pleasing smörgåsbord of music, ranging from two tiny miniature piano pieces by Howard Skempton to a substantial video work combining visuals, poetry, electronics and live music. Both Torbjörn and Roger are accomplished improvisers, and this too played an important part in the concert. Indeed, the opening item – a Prelude – was an improvisation by Torbjörn, and a further highlight was Roger's extraordinary improvised tribute to the late African-American jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, based on a Prelude by Couperin. Improvisation was also at the heart of a lovely Chaconne, composed by Torbjörn. A slow melody, floating over a haunting chord progression was elaborated by both players, before resolving into a calm 34

final chorus. Metaphors of Space and Time, by Kingstonbased composer Oded Ben-Tal, was the piece that took the live electronic component of the concert to its most highly developed level, and it's here that I'm returning to the question of 'effects'. Each of the four movements, Points, Surface, Lines, Volume, has its own tailor-made programme, designed by the composer specifically for this work. While familiar aspects – delays, loops, phasers, tone shifts, and so on – are all in evidence, the combinations and juxtapositions are far weightier and substantial than mere effects. They are absolutely the essence of the music. Each movement has its own distinctive character, and along with the extraordinary palette of musical colours, the music displayed a great deal of wit. Possibly the closest Torbjörn came to sounding like a traditional trombone player was in another composition of his own, entitled A Brief Note. It's a re-working for soprano trombone and piano of a setting of a poem by a friend of the composer's, Brian Nisbet in which the poet writes about his own mortality (he was soon to succumb to a fatal degenerative disease). The words of the poem are half-heard, fragmented and distant. Here, Torbjörn played with a lovely lyrical freedom and a legato that any 'real' trombonist would envy. The solo line, as in the Chaconne, drifted gently on an expressive harmonic background. It was a touching tribute to their close friendship. If you would like to know more about Torbjörn's project, the instrument Thein built for him and the electronic equipment he uses, there is plenty of information available on his website, hultmark.me. More important, though, if you are interested in his music, look out for further projects. The duo have more concerts planned (they call themselves austraLYSIS) and I don't think you will be disappointed.

35 TORBJÃ&#x2013;RN HULTMARK. PHOTO: KRISZTIAN SIPOS

G&T MATTHEW GEE

The trombone repertoire has been crying out for new works for a number of years, and we appear to be at the start of a rich period. Take the opportunity to see trombone concertos performed in London, Manchester and Glasgow. And no, not by messrs Grøndahl and David – it's out with the old and in with the new – but with works by MacMillan, Casken and Higgins. These are exciting times for our beloved instrument.

CBSO

BBC PHILHARMONIC

FRIDAY, 22 FEBRUARY, 7:30PM

SATURDAY, 19 JANUARY,7.30PM

SYMPHONY HALL, BIRMINGHAM

THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANC HESTER

A Night at the Oscars with the CBSO. Anthony Weeden puts the orchestra through their paces, taking them on a journey which includes the best of Mancini, Bernstein and Korngold. If you haven't heard the latter’s The Adventures of Robin Hood you're in for a treat, it contains some scintillating trombone writing.

A more traditional programme by the BBCPO contains classic excerpts from some wonderful music. Stravinsky's complete ballet The Firebird, followed by both of Ravel's suites from Daphnis and Chloe. Some of my all-time favourite music in one concert and a couple of tricky corners for the low brass to negotiate.

Star Pick HALLÉ

BBC SCOTTISH THURSDAY, 17 JANUARY, 7.30PM GL ASGOW CIT Y HALLS, GL ASGOW

THURSDAY, 28 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANC HESTER

That rare and fantastic event – the world première of a trombone concerto – is not to be missed. The Hallé's own Katy Jones takes to the stage to perform John Casken's Madonna of Silence. This is the second work written by John for his series of commissions for the wind soloists of the Hallé. The concert concludes with Prokofiev's monumental Fifth Symphony.

And like buses, two come along at once. Although not the première of James MacMillan's trombone concerto, you have the chance to watch what is arguably the greatest addition to the repertoire since Berio's Solo. I saw Pete Moore perform it with the LSO back in November, and I can't stress enough just how brilliant this piece is. Jörgen van Rijen (who commissioned the work) performs it, and if his live recording is anything to go by, it will be amazing!

G&T

MARK TEMPLETON

PHILHARMONIA

RPO

THURSDAY, 4 APRIL, 7.30PM

TUESDAY, 9 APRIL, 7.30PM

ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON

CADOGAN HALL, LONDON

There are some works that often crop up in our little column and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 might be one such piece for obvious reasons. It is such a powerful symphony describing the invasion of Leningrad: right from the march in the first movement, you get a real sense of the onslaught to be unleashed. With an additional on-stage brass section, trombone thrill-seekers won't be disappointed.

I wouldn't normally be drawn to a concert labelled ‘English Classics’ but here is a worthy exception. Walton's Suite from Henry V, (taken from the soundtrack of the film directed by and starring Laurence Olivier), was written towards the end of WW2 and features some really rousing passages for brass. It was one of the first big works of Walton's I played as a teenager. Follow this with Vaughan Williams glorious Symphony No. 5 and you have a great night of truly English classics on your hands.

LPO WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON

Music can be about so many different things to different people but a good tune ticks everyone's boxes. Well Wagner knew how to write one and if you give it to the trombones (twice) surely it's a winner. So I'm really looking forward to playing the overture to Tannhäuser in February as it doesn't come up so much in my band's repertoire. Going for a rich sound, solid tuning and a good sense of phrasing is what we'll be after. Which sets us up nicely for the second half playing Brahms Symphony No. 2. I love being part of the soundscape of Brahms, especially with Simon Carrington shaping the whole band from the timpani next to me. I also love playing a big soli D Major chord at the end.

LSO

Star Pick BBC SYMPHONY ORC HESTRA WEDNESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM BARBICAN , LONDON

As Matt mentioned, this season we are seeing trombone concerti galore and here we have yet another world première. Helen Vollam will be performing a new trombone concerto written by British born Gavin Higgins whose ‘Bold, punchy textures generate music of thrilling intensity’ (according to the Barbican listing). I hope I can get to this gig too. With another quirky twist of fate though, it'll be paired with Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 (which the LSO partnered with Pete Moore's concerto performance in November). A great symphony with a jolly trombone solo in the last movement. This gig'll be a cracker.

SUNDAY, 10 MARC H, 7PM BARBICAN , LONDON

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 with Bernhard Haitink who, at 90, is in my opinion the best living conductor for Bruckner, is a must-see. Yes there are great passages for the bones but the sound that Haitink demands will be jaw-droppingly good. If you didn't know it, the opening to the 4th movement could be from a movie score by Hans Zimmer. This is such a vivid piece. Please go watch it.

Here endeth the G&T for another season. We hope you find something from our pics to amuse your ears. ‘Till next time, Cheerio.

What’s

A MERRY C HRISTMAS JINGLE BELL BRASS PERFORM STAN KENTON’S

PETER MOORE

A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Three opportunities to see a solo showcase of the London Symphony Orchestra’s brilliant co-principal trombonist, Peter Moore. Programmes to include the new work commissioned specially for him from Roxanna Panufnik.

Friday, 14 December, 1pm Regent Hall (The Salvation Army), London

A MERRY YORKSHIRE CHRISTMAS

JERWOOD HALL, LSO ST LUKE'S

Skipton Buiding Society Camerata Friday, 14 December, 6pm & 8pm Skipton Town Hall, Skipton

Friday, 18 January, 1pm, London NORTHERN ROCK FOUNDATION HALL

Saturday, 19 January, 2pm Sage Gateshead, Newcastle

CAROLS AT CHRISTMAS

Come and sing carols with a live brass band, made up of London’s finest musicians. Sunday, 16 December, 5pm The Amersham Arms, 388 New Cross Road

TOWN HALL, VICTORIA SQUARE

Tuesday, 5 March, 7.30pm Birmingham

BONES APART A CHRISTMAS KNEES UP WITH OLD DIRTY BRASSTARDS

Friday, 21 December, 7.30pm Bush Hall, West London

KICK BRASS BRUNCH

Sunday, 16 December & 13 January, 1pm Union Street Cafe, London

Friday, 11 January Lunchtime recital & masterclass Featuring the UK premiere of Simon Wills’ Sonata Tenebrosa Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Saturday, 2 February Trombone Day & 7pm concert Oaklands College, Waterlooville, Hampshire

WHAT'S ON

BTS – LONDON TROMBONE DAY SUNDAY, 31 MARCH, 8.30AM RAF MUSIC SERVICES, NORTHOLT, LONDON TICKETS ARE FREE, PRE-BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL FOR THIS EVENT

BTS – TROMBONE QUARTET COMPETITION PART OF THE RAF NORTHOLT EVENT SUNDAY, 31 MARCH

KATY JONES ST PAUL’S HALL, HUDDERSFIELD UNIVERSITY

Thursday, 17 January, 1.15pm Huddersfield

CELEBRATION OF BRASS CHAMBER MUSIC

in memory of Philip Jones Saturday, 16 February, 6pm St John’s Smith Square, London

SLAITHWAITE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Takemitsu’s Fantasma/Cantos II Saturday, 19 January, 7.30pm Huddersfield Town Hall

TOM DUNNETT SEXTET

Tuesday, 12 February Kansas Smitty’s, 63–65 Broadway Market, London

FRANÇAIX – Concerto for trombone and 10 wind instruments Owen Dawson – trombone & PROMETHEUS WIND ENSEMBLE Sunday, 24 February, 4pm Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, Suffolk

TROMBONE SHORTY BBCSO | GAVIN HIGGINS – TROMBONE CONCERTO

Friday, 15 March, 7pm Gorilla, Manchester

(WORLD PREMIERE)

Helen Vollam – trombone Wednesday, 13 February, 7.30pm Barbican Hall, London

HALLÉ | JOHN CASKEN – MADONNA OF SILENCE (WORLD PREMIERE)

Katy Jones – trombone Thursday, 18 February, 7.30pm Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Saturday, 16 March, 7pm O2 Forum, Kentish Town, London

For more dates and information, please check our website and social media feeds.

Do you know of an event that should feature in our next publication? LET US KNOW.

We have full-time and part-time vacancies for talented musicians on a variety of instruments. The Royal Air Force can offer a rewarding full-time or part-time career, as a professional musician. Competitive full-time salary, or flexible daily rates of pay in the Royal Auxiliary Band. Minimum standard of performance Grade 8 ABRSM or above. The RAF values every individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique contribution, irrespective of race, ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or social background.

recruiting now contact us on 0345 605 5555 e-mail: rafms-mco@mod.gov.uk or visit www.raf.mod.uk/careers and for more information

www.raf.mod.uk/careers/jobs/musician.cfm

Recruit - Develop - Retain Follow us on twitter@RAFMusic www.facebook.com/RAFMusic Corporal Ben Godfrey, Principal Trumpet, Central Band of the Royal Air Force

The Trombonist - Winter 2018

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What's On