Secret Passions

What do you love that's totally uncool?

Everyone has a secret passion of some sort - mine is brass bands. I love that warm furry sound of the euphonium combined with the cornets cutting through the texture. It's a magic that's enthralled me since I was tiny. Brass Bands are also a family thing - before there were the Kaneh-Mason tribe there were banding families. Grandad, Dad and sons and daughters all pass on the tradition and teaching to each other - names of the moment are the Childs family (David is the son, Nicholas the father and Robert the uncle, John the grandfather). It's not a new phenomenon either - the Helsby family band formed in 1895 in Bolton, Lancashire, UK and consisted of 13 members of the same family plus a drummer they drafted in. July 1908 saw the band take part, with five other bands, in the Bolton Co-operative annual Children’s Festival.,In torrential rain around 6,000 children were present and consumed 32 barrels of coffee and 15,000 buns. I think its safe to assume their parents were also present with that coffee consumption!

Brass band arranging and composing is an art form in and of itself. Immediately recognisable styles from Goff Richards and Paul Lovett Cooper - the latters scrumptious harmonies in 'Enter the Galaxies' are particularly notable. Balance is the key, Philip Harper, director of Cory band comments that the hardest part of arrangeing for brass band is the fact that all the instruments blend together so well - how do you make any part stand out? Also bands tend to be bass heavy - the nuanced layers of a symphony orchestra are difficult to mimic with only 28 players and fewer individual parts. Nonetheless it's done superbly well regularly - listen here for the best band in the world's take on Tchaikowsky's Swan Lake - like you've never heard it before! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT1EKRdF-LM