Wind Bands and Wands…

 

A large part of my passion for music was forged in the fires of the Wind Bands of my youth – if you can describe such collectives as “fiery”. This is the story of how I fell into them – and then of how the conductor within me was born…

Whilst it wasn’t the first instrument I learnt to play, the saxophone has become the bedrock of my musical endeavours and certainly the instrument I am most fond of. To those who know me as a musician, I am a Saxophonist foremost, a Flautist secondly and a hobby Pianist very much thirdly (at best). What drew me to the saxophone was not just the infamous sound and pleasing aesthetic – but also the surprising versatility of the thing.

Stronger together

As a young musician initially focussed purely on solo piano studies, I had not experienced much in the way of ensemble playing. That was until I picked up the shiny yellow parp machine and had a good old blow. Here was something that was far easier to play, sounded way cooler, and opened up loads of opportunities to honk along with loads of other cool musicians. What was not to love?

Now, I appreciate that the notion of a school wind band or orchestra is not exactly what most would describe as being “cool”. But when I sat in the middle of one, the just about recognisable strains of “Chariots of Fire” washing over me, experiencing the thrill of knowing that I was a large part of what was making that big sound without being fully responsible for it, it seemed pretty cool to me.

And that was the crux of it. Without the pressure of being the only performer, without the weight of knowing that any one individual mistake could cost me the entire performance, I was finally enjoying playing music. Plus, it sounded far more impressive since there was loads of parts all playing at once – which only added to the enjoyment.

Discovering a passion

I was immediately hooked, and moving beyond the school orchestra at the age of 10, I started attending a local community Wind Band (shout out to the West Bergholt Concert Band) to hone my “mad skillz”. This opened up a world of music that I would never have otherwise been exposed to and of course, a different class of musician from whom to learn.

From here, I made my way up through the band’s hierarchy, eventually making lead Alto Sax when I was about 14. There were a couple of talented musicians my age who rose with me, helping to revitalise and reinvigorate what was at this point a somewhat stagnant band going through one of the most difficult times in it’s otherwise rich and illustrious history. This journey taught me an awful lot about working as part of a team, managing the expectations of more experienced people and of course, performing under pressure.

There were a number of other wind bands and orchestras that I joined throughout my teens – most notably was the Essex Youth Symphonic Wind Orchestra based in Chelmsford. This was the most prestigious Wind Band in the region and I was even lucky enough to do a tour of the Netherlands whilst playing in this ensemble.

Strength to strength

Of course, I tried my hand at a few different styles of saxophone playing, briefly flirting with the Essex Youth Jazz Orchestra and similar ensembles along the way – but improv was never my strong suit, and whilst I still do hugely appreciate listening to the intricacies and sheer musical intellectual brilliance of jazz, I’ve never been very good at playing it. My strength has always been in reading the sheet music, understanding my place within it and delivering it reliably - if not always terribly stylishly…

It was due to this that I so very much enjoyed playing in a Wind Band, where the part of the Alto Saxophone is so often about knitting and blending the softer winds and harsher brass parts together. I had a real purpose. I provided real value-add.

When I went to university, naturally I signed up to play in the Wind band on day one. If memory serves, there were more than 130 musicians who turned up to that first rehearsal to form the largest functioning Wind Band you could find pretty much anywhere. We were fortunate to have an entire concert hall to rehearse in – even so, it was tight for space.

As you can probably imagine, the sheer scale of the orchestra, the standard of the players and the quality of the acoustics and space we were let loose in rather dwarfed my previous experiences. This was the Wind Band dream. After a few terms of getting to know my fellow musicians and establishing a bit of pecking order, I moved into the lead role in second year, taking solos and generally doing my best to lead the section by example. I am particularly proud of this as I had the cheek to not even be reading Music at university at the time. The physicists were taking over!

Taking it to the next level

In my final year, I took the next step from Workstream Lead, if you will pardon the parallel, to Chief Architect and auditioned for conductor. I was flattered when the audition turned out successfully and was honoured to share joint conductor-ship with a colleague for the entirety of 3rd year. It’s important to note that this was not my first foray into the world of conducting having taken some rehearsals for various bands over the years – but it was my most prestigious.

Conducting and playing in an orchestra or band are two very very different roles. However, there are some parallels. Both require excellent music and sight-reading skills for example. Both require you to have an understanding of how different parts work together in the piece to know when to come in. What a conductor needs though is a much more detailed and far broader understanding of all of the different parts, how they should be played (according to their own vision of course) and then the listening skills to be able to provide the correct feedback and course correct towards this during rehearsals.

It also requires precise physical coordination, patience, technical understanding, impeccable rhythm, timing, rapport building and many many more things besides in order to bring into being an excellent, technically-sound and enjoyable performance for an audience. I suppose what I am trying to say is that there is quite a bit more to it than just standing at the front and waving your arms about…

Today

Since leaving university I have been focused on my career which has meant that over the years, my musical contributions and connections have invariably slipped. One day, I should like to become more involved in local music community projects again in order to provide the same sorts of opportunities that I was afforded growing up. I am doubtless that I have these opportunities to thank for being where I am today.

If you fancy having a listen to some of the work we produced during my conducting days, and/or fancy a bit of a giggle watching my dodgy conducting/dancing/general jiggling around, do check out the videos here..!