Adrian_H

but I'll tell you anyway (as I'm a bit bored at the moment!!)

I was born in 1976 and raised in the brass playing capital of the world ........ Huddersfield, West Yorkshire! Where I here you ask!!!? It really is the musical centre of England for brass players. It is in the heart of Brass Band country with a number of the worlds finest brass bands based in or within easy driving distance of it. There are numerous amateur orchestras around and plaenty of jazz bands of one variety or another.

I started playing cornet at the age of 7 in school and was taught initially by Jeff Turner who was at that the conductor of Hepworth Band. As I progressed through junior school I went through a number of teachers from the local Music Service. When I got to high school I had a great teacher by the name of Phil Garlick. Phil really got me enjoying playing. The school had always had a good reputation for its brass band and I was soon playing flugel in it. I then joined Hade Edge band on 3rd Cornet. I soon worked my way up the ranks and played every single cornet part at one time or another including a fairly long stint on soprano cornet when I was about 15. I still remember playing sop at the Area contest in Huddersfield Town Hall, and being absolutely chuffed that I was, i believe, the only sop player that day to nail the solo top B in Goff Richard's Oceans.

By this time I had made a decision that music was going to be my life and had switched to trumpet as my main instrument instead of cornet, and gained a place in my county ensembles Kirklees Youth Wind Orchestra, Kirklees Youth Orchestra and Kirklees Youth Jazz Orchestra. I was lucky enough to hold the Principal positions in these bands for around 3 years.

Huddersfield Technical College was were i studied Music for my A Levels, and during my time there I had lessons with a number of fantastic players - Jim Shepherd (of Versatile Brass fame), Philip McCann (The Golden Cornet!) and Chris Bacon who was, I think, in the Northern Sinfonia at the time.

These were great years, where I was fortunate enough to travel to many countries (even Zimbabwe) thanks to playing in the above ensembles.

Post A Levels I took up a place for my degree at the London College of Music, where I had the pleasure of being taught trumpet by Bill Houghton (Principal of the BBC SO) and Nick Thompson (European Chamber Orchestra + many others!). Bill and Nick pushed me hard and made me realise that, although i'd been the top player back home, I had been resting on my laurels and I had to work hard if I was to compete with the other students in London. In my final year at the LCM, I was priviliged to be awarded the James Watson Brass Prize.

Again, I was fortunate to be able to work with and gig with some fantastic players during my time in London. Masterclasses with players like Jim Watson and Ronald Barron, gigs with Johnny Dankworth, John Surman and Pete King. There was also a lot of playing to be had outside of college with a number of local and semi-pro orchestras in London always on the look out for new players. (Of course the gigs were often found by networking in the pubs!).

After college I moved to Glasgow with my girlfriend at the time who was at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. I freelanced and picked up work on the cruiseships. Spent a fair bit of time cruising around the Medetarianian (I can't spell!!!) sighting reading new charts and shows every night!! Great fun and a great way to build up your chops, but I got the feeling that I may be missing out on good gigs on shore!

Luck was on my side though, in a very roundabout way. One of the ships I was booked to go on for 6 months around Thailand sank 1 week before we were due to get on board!!! This meant I had a rather large 6 month blank section in my diary and had to get work playing back on land anyway. I managed to get back in the theatres and after a while was playing for a professional Panto (Panto = strange english christmas theatre show that no other country seems to do!) when the whole band got flu. It got to the point when I'd play 2 bars so the saxophonist could cough then he'd play so I'd cough. The drummer who was also the MD was actually throwing up whilst he was playing.

It was after this gig that I re-evaluated what I wanted from my playing and realised that playing the trumpet was no longer fun, it was just work. So I put the trumpet away in its case for a while.

After about a 1 1\2 years of not playing I got a call out of the blue from on old friend from my Kirklees Youth days telling me that she was getting married and I had promised when we were kids that I would play her down the aisle. So I got the Picc out and started practising again.

What am I doing now?

Well, I'm fortunate to be working in the UKs largest specialist music school where I am surrounded by talented young musicians, but my playing isn't to the standard it once was anymore, as I don't practice anything like I used to, however I can now take gigs when I feel like it and enjoy playing once again.

To give something back to the brass playing community that has been a huge part of my life since the age of 7, I also run the website http://www.brass-forum.co.uk - a site similar to Trumpet Master, but for all brass players not just trumpeters (After all we all blow and buzz and tend to play in groups together!!). Why not pop along and say hi!!

Anyway thats me in a nutshell.

What about you guys?!?!?

RG111

If any of you haven't seen it, Adrian has a great site. I really enjoy reading it every day!
Roy Griffin

WordRider

Welcome! 4 TrumpetBlast to thee.

replyspiritTerrance

Liad Bar-EL

Adrian, excellent post and I enjoy your web site very much.

You learned some very hard and very important lessons I can see in your experiences with the trumpet. I can share in that very much and I want to assure you that we are not here to impress each other with our trumpet skills and experiences but rather to share them, learn from them and teach others as well.

Your life experiences should not be any less than someone else's because these are YOUR life experiences made just for YOU and nobody else.

Thanks for sharing this with us and hope you continue to post and share more with us in the future.

All the best,

Liad