My Musical Activities...
I spend a lot of time playing tuba - its so much fun! I started playing the tuba around the Christmas of my first year at secondary school (Chirstmas 1996). I have played with various Brass Bands, Concert Bands and Orchestras on Eb Tuba. I am even currently playing Bb Tuba with the City of Cambridge Brass Band! Just to give a rough idea of what I have been upto so far, I have made a few lists. I will start with the groups I currently play with:
- City of Cambridge Brass Band
- Brass Monkeys (Brass Quintet)
Here are some other groups I have also played with:
- Waterbeach Brass
- Cambridge University Brass Band
- Corpus Christi (Bene't Club) Orchestra
- Barnetby Silver Band
- University of Cambridge Concert Band
- Clare College Orchestra
- Trinity College Orchestra
- Cambridge Graduate Orchestra
- Barrow Brass Band
- North Lincolnshire Schools Orchestra (Youth and 2nd)
- North Lincolnshire Schools Concert Band (Youth, 2nd and 3rd)
- North Lincolnshire Schools Wind Group (a random 10 piece)
- St Bede's Catholic School, Scunthorpe, Orchestra
- The West Common Lane Quartet (or some name like that with tuba, trombone and two cellos!)
Some awards for my tuba playing:
- North Lincolnshire Musician of the Year (2003)
- Achieved Grade 8 Tuba (Summer 2003)
- North Lincolnshire Senior Brass Player of the Year (2002)
- David Baker Memorial Trophy (Barnetby Silver Band - Bandsman of the Year - 2001)
- North Lincolnshire Intermedate Brass Player of the Year (1998 & 2000)
Some solos I have performed in recent times, mainly on EEb Tuba:
- Concerto for Tuba (Vaughan-Williams)
- Fantasia for Tuba (Malcolm Arnold)
- Fantasia for Tuba and Concert Band (J. Curnow) (UofC ConcertBand)
- Bass in the Ballroom (Waterbeach Brass and CU Brass Band)
- Frosty the Snowman (CU Brass Band)
- Bombastic Bombardon (Barnetby Silver)
- Tuba Smarties (Barnetby Silver)
Discography, ish:
- North Lincolnshire Youth Concert Band 2002 (recorded after getting Gold at the National Concert Band Festival in Manchester)
- Waterbeach Brass 2005
- University of Cambridge Concert Band Lent Concert (2004 & 2005 & 2006)
- Cambridge University Brass Band Lent Concert 2006
- Plus a few more records of concerts around the place
A few of the concert tours I have managed to get on:
- Cambridge University Brass Band (Liverpool 2004, Malvern 2005, Wales 2006)
- North Lincolnshire Youth Concert Band (Holland 2001, Belguim 2003)
- Barnetby Junior Band (Paris 2002, Germany 2004, Holland 2006)
A few contests I have been to:
- National Concert Band Festival with North Lincs Youth Concert Band (once got Gold at Manchester)
- Brass Band Northern Region (4th Section) Contest with Barnetby Silver (at Darlington)
- Yorkshire and Humberside Brass Band Contest with Barnetby Silver
- Butlins Mineworks Contest 2006 and 2007 (4th Section, then 3rd Section) with Waterbeach Brass
- Brass Band National Finals in Harrogate 2006 (4th Section - Waterbeach Brass) and 2007 (1st Section - City of Cambridge)
I should introduce my tuba (called Sophie). She is a Yamaha YEB-632SUKC (full size, fully compensating, Eb tuba, silver plate, concert model) with a Dennis Wick 2L as a friend.
It has been a while since I did some singing and composing, but that used to be good fun. I won the North Lincolnshire Schools Composition competition, in about Summer 2001, with a piece called Contest. It was a march for written for the Second Concert Band. I can also be found, playing rythmn guitar, leading folk masses when pushed.