Workshop with David Thornton a Huge Success
On Sunday, we hosted our first ever brass band workshop at Wadham School in Crewkerne. Thanks to John Packer Ltd and Sterling Musical Instruments our sponsors for the day, we were pleased to welcome world reknowned euphonium soloist and teacher, David Thornton to lead the workshop.
Having never organised a workshop of this kind before, it was a little worrying as we weren't sure whether people would be interested and how the day would be received. Thankfully, the hard work paid off and we saw over 65 people apply to take part. We were missing a few from the day as a some had to pull out at the last minute but thankfully we had a really good number and balance of positions and abilities to make some great music.
An Early Start
Our band members arrived at Wadham School for 8:30am, all prepped and ready to welcome our guests for the day. Steve and Tommy from John Packer were already there waiting, and David Thornton soon arrived shortly afterwards. Thanks to Lynda's planning and organisation, we had everything set up and assembled within half an hour, way ahead of time before people were due to arrive at 9:30.
The Workshop Sessions
David has held many workshops of this kind, so he took the lead in advising and planning the schedule for the day. The day was broken down into a number of small sessions, with a warm up and breathing exercises to get us going, which lead us into the first of a number of ensemble sessions.
The music David selected was chosen to test and introduce varying styles and techniques used in brass band music. From the slow and beautiful melody, "In Perfect Peace" by Kenneth Downie, we moved onto the upbeat rhythms of "Kongolela".
All in all everyone enojyed the variety of music we played and with each different piece, David was able to give different tips on technique and style.
Budding Soloists
Part of the day was set aside for volunteer soloists to play snippets of a piece unaccompanied in front of the remainder of the group. This saw three very, very, very brave individuals, Josie Whale (tenor horn), Holly Whale (trombone) and Anne Stone (cornet) each play a solo on their own. From which we had an open forum for all of the players to give feedback and praise.
Coffee, Tea ... and the mountain of Cakes
A huge thanks must be made to all the band members, and friends who donated cakes, cakes and more cakes for the workshop. Even at the end of the day, we still had three 6 foot long tables loaded high with trays of cakes and biscuits ... thankfully all of which did disappear.
Additionally, thanks must go to Ann, Julia and Lynda, who worked tirelessly all day in the kitchen to make sure the teas, coffees and drinks were available all day.
Finally, thanks to Simon, the Manager at Waitrose Crewkerne, for their generosity in supplying us with a trolley full of tea, coffee, milk, biscuits, cake, spoons, plates ... basically the list goes on. Their donation was very kind and was a huge help for us.
About David
David really needed no introduction to us all, but as part of the day he did blow us away with some fine playing and demonstrations showing us all how it should be done.
We'd love to have David back to take another workshop in the future as we've received nothing but positive feedback from all who attended.
More details about David can be found here
Instruments for Kenya
A small interlude was filled by James Pagington who introduced us all to a very worthy scheme about sending unwanted instruments to Kenya. He has been involved in training a team of instrument repairers in Kenya who are able to make good old instruments as they don't have enough to supply to the local community band.
Full details about the scheme can be found here
Feedback
Given the positive feedback we received on the day and some of the emails since, we are hoping we can make this workshop an annual event.
Have a read of just a few of the kind comments that we have received:
"An excellent day which I thoroughly enjoyed. Well done"
"Just a quick e-mail to say how much the three of us from Bideford Town Band enjoyed the workshop today. We learned a lot from David, it was all well organised, the music making was fun.......and the cakes were delicious! Can't wait for next year if you organize another one! Thanks to you and your committee for providing such a great day.
Janet, Kimberley and Annette"
"Well Done to everyone who made today possible. I great day from a musical point of view and a social point of view also."
Thanks
Firstly and most importantly, a huge thanks to everyone who attended. Without your support the day would not have been possible. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves and took some useful tips away ... as well as a bag full of cakes.
On that note, thanks again to all the budding bakers who supplied us with an arsenal of caleries for the day.
A few individuals and organisations that we need to thank include:
- David Thornton - for his words of wisdom and making the day so enjoyable
- Jon Parkinson from John Packers and Paul Riggett from Sterling Musical Instruments - for facilitating the event
- Steve and Tommy from John Packers - for manning the trade stand all day
- Simon from Waitrose Crewkerne - for their kind donation of refreshments
- Dave Coles - for organising all of the music
- Wendy Abbot and Terry from Wadham School
- The Phoenix Band and committee for their suport and help throughout the day
- Ann Read for her help behind the scenes ensuring all our drinks were made on time
We look forward to holding another workshop like this in the future. Watch this space !!!
Released On 27th May 2014
