Adopt a Music Creator blog: Reflections from Redland Wind Band

Three members of Redland Wind Band reflect on their experiences of collaborating with composer Katrine Aziz, sharing their thoughts on the workshops, shaping the music together and taking part in Adopt a Music Creator 2025.

Redland Wind Band was thrilled to be accepted to take part in Making Music’s Adopt a Music Creator (AaMC) project 2025. We were delighted to be paired with composer Katrine Aziz, and together, through a collaborative process, we created a brand-new piece of music – The Place Beyond the Bridge.

The composition of the piece – the assembly of ideas and structuring of notes on the page – was all down to Katrine. However, through the process of workshops, idea sharing and inspiration gathering that she guided us through, the original ideas and spurs for the piece came from all of us in Redland Wind Band. It’s a piece that is rooted in Bristol culture and community, with unique Bristol references – it’s uniquely ours.

Jane, Flute
Adopt a Music Creator has been a fantastic experience to be involved with. It has provided the band with a renewed shared sense of purpose and a unique, exciting goal to work towards that differs from our usual projects.

There is both prestige and pride in being selected and having a piece composed especially for us. The band has benefited from improved social interactions between members.

Both communication with Katrine and Lynne throughout the period and the workshops have been invaluable. Katrine’s skill in converting our ideas and wishes into a score that pleased all sections of the band is testament to the joint endeavour.

I'm really proud and privileged to have been part of Redland Wind Band’s participation in Adopt a Music Creator.

Vicky, Oboe
This was the first time I have had the privilege of working directly with a composer on a piece of music. I enjoyed the creative process, especially the chance to discuss ideas with members of the band and feed these back to Katrine, and there were lots of opportunities to do this. We felt involved, particularly since the music had a Bristolian theme.

I also liked the sense of using the instrument in a different way, seeing how this can be scored and understanding how the music developed as time went on. It was interesting to see how a piece can evolve as part of a collaborative effort and be part of a composer's journey.

Katherine, Clarinet
As soon as we had applied for this project I was excited to think that we might be chosen to take part. I was thrilled at the opportunity to experience something different from what we usually do in band and the project didn’t disappoint.

I liked the way that the first time Katrine came to meet us, she asked us to put down our thoughts of what we would like to see in the piece and asked us for ideas of things that we felt were particularly pertinent to Bristol. The band came up with quite a number of different ideas and somehow Katrine managed to incorporate nearly all of them into the composition!

During the next couple of workshops we had with Katrine we experimented with ideas, particularly how to make different sound effects on our instruments. Those workshops really helped us feel that we were playing a part in shaping the piece, giving us a certain bond with it.

I like the fact that the composition isn’t necessarily the type of piece we would usually play in band, and that it incorporates us using our instruments to make sound effects and some improvisation. These are outside of quite a number of the band members’ comfort zones (including my own!) but it’s nice to be pushed to try different things.

I loved the fact that we did the premiere at our autumn concert and that Katrine and Lynne came along. It made it feel like a really special occasion.

It was a privilege to have had the opportunity to take part in this project.