Michael Withers, Music Director of the Band of the Surrey Yeomanry, looks back on their year of working with Peter Falconer as part of Adopt a...
Music creator Robin Fiedler talks about the premiere of their collaboration piece with Regent Brass Band and Camden Brass Band as part of Adopt a Music Creator 2023.
I’ve been to Oxford Street many times since I moved to London, and many times without the Christmas madness, but I’ve never noticed the entrance to Regent Hall until I went looking for it. It’s narrow and easy to miss. As I enter, there is a cosy little café and then, past it, the concert hall. The big stage, two Christmas trees, and a handful of very busy people pushing chairs and unpacking instruments.
It's a tense evening for everyone involved, not just because one of the young trumpeters develops a spontaneous nosebleed just before he has to go on stage. I’ve been asked to 'say something' and 'introduce the piece' and I haven’t a clue what to say but the words will come, as they always do.
It turns out, Regent Brass’ programme is a veritable firework of amazing new music, namely by Franklin Onyeso (who’s also playing bass trombone for this concert), Liz Lane, and Freddie Meyers – Regent Brass’ own flugelhorn player, whose music is even more fabulous than the high heels he’s sporting this evening!
'I'm excited to write for a brass band again. It’s like a whole colour palette has opened up to me and there is so much I want to do with it now.'
It's all a bit of a blur after that, but I see proud parents embracing tiny people carrying huge trombones and I hug Alan and Deirdre, the conductors of the bands, both sweaty from the spotlights and the physically-involved nature of conducting.
I'm excited to write for a brass band again. It’s like a whole colour palette has opened up to me and there is so much I want to do with it now. I’m really grateful for the opportunity that was given to me by Adopt a Music Creator because I don’t think I’d have had the chance to get to know this fantastic medium that is a brass band.
There is another thing that came out of this year with this project. After confessing that I was a string player by training and had no physical experience of playing a brass instrument, Camden Music Service decided to lend me a trombone to try my hand at – or rather my face. I’ve grown quite fond of playing this instrument, even if in the beginning I was probably running the risk of amorous large mammals turning up in my garden, confusing my humble first attempts with their species’ mating call.
Find out more about Robin Fiedler on their website and follow them on X (Twitter) / Soundcloud.
Find out more about the Regent Brass on their website and follow them on Facebook / Instagram.
Find out more about the Camden Brass Band via the BBE website and follow them on Instagram / X (Twitter).
