Brass Bands England’s Development Programme Online:

Practice techniques and preparation for auditions and solo performance with Chris Houlding

In this week’s instalment of Brass Bands England’s (BBE) Development Programme Online the BBE team are joined by trombonist, conductor and educator Chris Houlding as he discusses the topic of ‘Practice techniques and preparation for auditions and solo performance’.

Having served as Senior Tutor in Brass at the RNCM and Head of Brass at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Chris is now Professor of Trombone at the Folkwang University of Arts, Essen, Germany and Visiting Tutor at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama. A former member of NYBB, Chris is no stranger to brass bands having served as Professional Conductor with bands such as Stocksbridge Engineering, Whitburn and Yorkshire Imps and continues to promote banding at home and in Europe but especially in Germany where the movement is growing steadily.

This webinar is aimed at all ages, and aims to show how you can maximise your progress and save time in the long run by following a few fundamentals to get the best out of your preparation and performance.

To sign up to the zoom webinar please go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9215882779877/WN_ri6TCkSwQTWXjRQ0VuBdTA to register, but there are only 100 spaces with many already gone!

This is one of a popular series of BBE webinars held during the Covid-19 crisis, which seeks to delve into elements of the BBE Development programmes.

Chris’ session will take place on a Zoom webinar for those who want to get involved and ask questions directly, as well as being available as a Facebook live video on the BBE Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/brassbandsengland). The webinar will take place on Thursday 18th June, starting at 7.00pm (BST).

All the workshops are free but BBE is asking participants to consider supporting the Brass Bands Emergency Fund with what they think sessions are worth. The fund will use 100% of donated funds to support bands struggling during the crisis with ongoing freelance costs and other financial commitments, and has so far raised over £2,500. To support the emergency fund, please go to https://www.chuffed.org/project/brassbandemergencyfund. The fund is also able to accept gift aid to make your donation go further for those bands that could not normally use gift aid. New Moon Insurance Services will be matching all donations between the £2,500 and £3,000 mark meaning your donation will go further towards supporting bands at this time.

During the session, Zoom attendees will be able to ask questions sent in via the registration form. The workshop will begin with a short presentation on how to use the Zoom platform effectively to get the most out of the workshop while participants get used to the set up before starting at about 7.10pm.

One of the most rewarding parts of the sessions happens after the live broadcast as we open up participants to come to the ‘BBE Pub’, with several ‘regulars’ but new people joining every week to discuss the session and other things happening in the banding world. Come and join the conversation and meet some new faces especially if you’ve been feeling isolated at the moment, plus you might want to have a drink (or a cuppa!) ready for the end of the session!

The BBE Development Programme Online has seen a selection of experts from across the brass band world delivering webinars everything Thursday straight to your living rooms on subjects covering almost every conceivable element of banding. Chris’ session will mark the 13th week of BBE Webinars which have had excellent reach (over 10k views for some videos).

The workshops will be delivered online using the Zoom webinar platform so attendees can interact and ask questions throughout the session directly. The session will also be available on Facebook live on the BBE facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/brassbandsengland) and BBE facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BrassBandsEngland/) for which users can sign up to for free.

Next week, the BBE team is joined by RNCM Head of Conducting Mark Heron who will be delivering a ‘Conducting Boot Camp’.

This session will look at fundamentals of posture; taking care of our physical well-being; and explore beat-patterns and physicality in relation to matters such as tempo, dynamic, articulation and sound quality. Everyone is encouraged to participate so grab a baton (or a pencil) and clear enough space to stand up and wave your arms around!