9 minute read
History Played Out
‘Brasser for a non-musical pupil was something to be proud of. For me, whether it was the Battle of Stalingrad at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London or Hootenanny in the Memorial Hall at Marlborough, the music was wonderfully eclectic, professional yet full of fun and something to rejoice in. Bob Peel was its leader and many of my friends played in it. I just enjoyed the music and revelled in being a Brasser groupie!’ Maj Gen Sir John Lorimer (C1 1976-81). Jonathan Peel (B1 1976-81), son of Bob Peel (CR 1960-91), looks into the history of Brasser.
As I write this article, I have two LPs in front of me: Brasser 78 and The Battle of Stalingrad (1980). Looking at the list of bandmembers there are around 80 students in the bands alongside members of staff such as John Emmerson (CR 1961-89), who played tuba for many years, friends of the band from the local brass band, Kennet Vale, and members of the music staff who will be fondly remembered by all who played with them: Paul Chalklin (non CR, taught percussion), Charles Healy (CR 1970-93), Robin Kellow (non CR, taught French Horn at the College for about 50 years), Terry Busby (non CR, taught clarinet from the late 90s to early 2000s). Several OMs returned for the Stalingrad concert. Brasser was that sort of group: a highly talented yet highly inclusive group of young musicians run by the occasionally fearsome, often visionary, always caring RHDP (aka Robert Peel, Bob and Dad).
The band, with its unusual name, emerged a year after the Fife and Drum Band was established in 1871. Initially called the College Brass Band, in 1940 it officially became known as Brasser. The band emerged to support the CCF as the MC Corps Band, a marching band that performed at Field Day and Beating the Retreat well into the 1960s and early 1970s before being withdrawn. The MC Corps Band even appeared at the Royal Tournament in Earls Court in 1969. If there are any OMs who recall this experience, it would be great to hear from them – there is a real dearth of information about this remarkable venture. The first Band Master,
Alex Arkwright and Brasser
Top right: 1876 Brass Band. Bottom left: 1881 Drum and Fife Band
Drum Major T Swain (non CR), who retired in 1898, would surely have been amazed. It is hard to link his rehearsals in the Corn Exchange – better known now as Waitrose – with the state-of-the-art rehearsal rooms seen in MC today. The Corps Band was disbanded in 1973, due in the main to the increasing demands on student time and the availability of many more opportunities for players to be involved in Chamber Music and other activities, but not before the first MC girls had taken their places to march down Marlborough High Street when required and not before that much mourned talent Nick Drake (C1 1962-66) had taken his place in the band as a flautist. The musical outlook of the school was changing in the ‘60s. Robert Ferry (CR 1938-49) was the Director of Music who appointed the man most associated with the rise of prominence of Brasser, and indeed the Corps Band, Robert Peel. He requested that Robert Peel began to find a more ‘symphonic approach’ to running the wind department. His position was no longer that of Band Master and the role of Head of Wind was created – to much silent mirth from RHDP and his wife, Sue, without whom the atmosphere of the Brasser family could never have been created.
When RHDP came to the College in 1960, Brasser existed as a small group more akin to a dance band. In the old days of the New Music School – that extraordinary cube of concrete and glass overlooking the water meadows – there used to be photographs of the band hung around the walls. These included a slightly blurred and dark shot of a band group dating from the second decade of the 20th century, which contained the actor James Mason (B1 1923-28) on flute – if I recall correctly. Once RHDP had begun to wield his influence, the band grew swiftly – the photos show the numbers expanding year on year to reach eventually the height of Brasser’s influence in the early 1980s when nearly 100 boys and girls of all ages
1931 Brasser
were crammed onto the Mem Hall stage. When Dad died in 2020, Martin Spafford (B3 1967-72) wrote a moving piece for the obituary pagers of this very magazine in which he highlighted Bob’s sense of wishing to engage as many pupils as possible in the act of high-quality musicmaking. He was amply supported by John Dancy (Master 1961-72), so that engagement with the project was felt throughout the whole school and the idea of Brasser as an important strand of school life was cemented.
Brasser became a fixture of Penny Reading, Prize Day and at the end of the Michaelmas Term when, by my time at the school, the event had become a version of the Last Night of the Proms, with standard party repertoire such as Hootenanny being played to bring the house down and announce the end of term. The repertoire was nothing if not catholic: RHDP was a remarkable musician who was able to arrange by ear for the band. Brasser was the beneficiary in the number of works we played that would otherwise have lain beyond the band’s reach: Strauss Polkas, works by Sir Arthur Bliss, tone poems by Suk, film music by Shostakovich and the remarkable Battle Of Stalingrad by Khachaturian. A request to arrange some of his ballet music had been sent to the Soviet Union. In return, along with permission to arrange five dances from Gayaneh, came a tatty score of the Stalingrad music with an invitation to Bob to perform the piece. Along with those 80 others, I played in the premiere performance outside Russia of this work, in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The band took a second coachload of supporters: non-playing Marlburians who were sufficiently engaged by the idea of Brasser that this seemed a natural extension of normal practice. It was as if the XV were playing at Twickenham. Stalingrad provided other opportunities to put MC on the musical map. BBC Radio 3 came to the Mem Hall to record an edition of the radio programme ‘Youth Orchestras of the World’; the first and only time a school group appeared on this long-running programme. More particularly, this was a group of schoolchildren who were not specialist musicians or studying at music colleges, but a group of boys and girls aged 13-18 who played as a hobby. Remarkable. This is not to say that Brasser and MC did not harbour some great talent. Among those who played in its ranks and went on to become professional musicians in their own right, in this period, were Crispian Steele-Perkins (B2 1958-62) on trumpet, Jeremy Gough (B1 1971-76) on trombone, Bob McKay (SU 1968-73) on saxophone and flute, Laurence Davies (C3 1980-85) on horn, Chris Hooker (C3 1966-70) on oboe, Charles Beale (TU 1977-81) as conductor and choir trainer, and no doubt others to whom I apologise. Some of these OMs were able to take part in a splendid reunion performance in 2012 when Club Chairman Steven Bishop (PR 1969-73) organised a ‘40 Years On’ Brasser concert. RHDP was lured away from his roses to take the baton for the last time – this was a memorable and moving event which gave current Marlburians a taste of the bygone era in the company of plenty of middle-aged OMs reminiscing and, of course, being expected to play to their highest standard. Brasser was a way of life. Sunday morning rehearsals in the New Music School, often followed by a section lunch at RHDP and SEP’s home, were a focal point in many of our weeks – regardless of how intense Saturday evening had been. The Summer Term Brasser Party, which Sue catered, was a legendary event hosted at the various Peel homes.
Given that 10% of the school played in the band in the early 1980s, perhaps its influence is easily explained. But what of the high level of musical performance? Obviously, there was (and is today) a wonderful group of instrumental teachers in the school, and OMs will recall from these days lessons from Bob and his wife; clarinet and saxophone teaching from Charles Healy and Terry Busby; horn lessons with Robin Kellow; Hilary Finzi (non CR) teaching flute; percussion led by the inspirational Paul Chalklin; and the mysterious world of Ted Dowse (non CR) on guitar. We were also exposed to musicians of the highest calibre, friends of Bob and Sue, who rehearsed the band or gave masterclasses: Jack Brymer OBE, Philip Jones CBE, the jazz legends John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, and many others shared their wisdom with us and helped to inspire us to practice and to overcome performance nerves at MC and in the numerous away venues such as Salisbury City Hall, Tewkesbury Abbey, Wells Cathedral, Victoria Embankment Gardens and, eventually, the QEH. We were proud to play in Brasser and treated the challenge as one to be seized. As a boy in the school and son of RHDP, I benefitted from a trombone drought so that I joined the band in spring 1975 at the age of 11. I didn’t set the school alight academically or as a sportsman, but I was in Brasser and led the trombone section for five years. I am proud of this. Brasser is now in the hands of Alex Arkwright (CR 1995-) who has built on Bob’s legacy and that of the distinguished trombonist John Iveson (CR 1992-95), continuing to run a group that performs to the highest level and is a permanent fixture in school life. He inspires and leads the current generation to explore their musical abilities and long may this go on. Frankly, if you haven’t roared out Marlborough School and The Old Bath Road accompanied by Brasser on a chilly December evening, then your life has missed a vital ingredient!
