The Good the Mad and the Ugly! It takes a lot of guts (or insanity) to take up the baton, especially on stage at a brass band contest. Hours of hard slog in the band room for weeks before a contest magically conveying their interpretation off the score into the brains of the players. Getting […]
In the Nezzy interview Rodney Newton gives his slant on brass bands and other musical experiences in his long and varied career with some quick fire questions… If you were sent to a desert Island, what is the last thing on earth that you would want to take with you and why? A mobile phone […]
10 quick-fire quiz questions to test your brass band knowledge (Answers at the foot of the page) William Rimmer made an arrangement of the overture ‘Ruy Blas’ but who composed it? In 1971 Edward Gregson wrote the test piece ‘Essay’ – Which of the following is not a movement from this work? Monologue Epigram Soliloquy […]
Andy Smith Recorded April 2015 In this episode of the Podcast Nezzy gets behind the microphone and talks to Andy Smith – principle cornet of the Flowers Band Gloucester. Andy started his banding career in the Grangetown SA band following in his father Eric’s footsteps. From those early days he crossed over to main stream brass banding […]
Rub-a-dub-dub, Three men in a tub, And who do you think they were? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick-maker, They all sailed out to sea, ‘Twas enough to make a man stare. This ancient but well known rhyme is believed to originate from a children’s annual called ‘Christmas Box’, published in London in 1798 – ‘Bagatelles […]
Hungarian March, Carnival Romain, Beatrice and Benedict, Judges of the Secret Court and the Corsair are all wonderful compositions by Hector Berlioz transcribed for brass band. You will have all heard and probably played these pieces at some point in your banding career. But what do you know about the master of the romantic period […]
A cautionary tale for ambitious brass bands Your band has been in the doldrums for years down in the bargain basement of the banding world. It’s the same faithful faces week in week out the loyally turn up to rehearsal come rain or shine. You have been sat in this band for years and wish […]
Ravensburg is a stunning town in southern Germany, almost on the borders of Switzerland and Austria, and I had the privilege of playing at the Ravensburg Rutenfest Music Festival in July 1997 with Cwmaman Band on a twin town exchange. The hospitality was out of this world – it was a joy to be there with such fantastic […]
Richard Davies A.K.A. Dickie (ex flugel – Cory) had recently announced on Face book that he was buying a fish tank. There were a few tongue in cheek comments – then I posted a few suggestions for brass band music to keep the fish occupied… Devil and the deep blue sea, Oceans, Galleons Reach, The […]
10 quick fire quiz questions to test your brass band knowledge (Answers at the foot of the page) The 1928 National Brass Band Championships was won by Black Dyke Mills playing a specially commissioned piece by Gustav Holst. Name the piece and can you also give Holsts’ country of birth. Which standard set of four […]