East London Brass has teamed up with arranger Phillip Littlemore to offer their concert audiences a brass band version of one of the most iconic Christmas delights.

Raymond Briggs

This weekend the band will provide a brand new brass band backing score to the film 'The Snowman' — the wonderful festive tale by writer Raymond Briggs.

Different

MD Jayne Murrill told 4BR: "We really wanted to do something a bit different from the Christmas repertoire we've done in the past.

The concept has proved incredibly popular — performances are selling out and we're hoping this will bring our music to a much wider audience, especially children. It's a great arrangement and fun for the band too — and they've really thrown themselves into it."

Complete transcription

Phillip added: "I have worked with Jayne and East London Brass on a number of occasions, collaborating on programme ideas for Butlins among other things, so when we discussed the possibility of doing a complete transcription of the concert suite to 'The Snowman' I was certainly up for the challenge.

Howard Blake's score is incredibly creative, and I have tried to keep that in my arrangement. I hope Howard likes what I have done. Hats off to the band too — they have approached the whole idea with great enthusiasm.

Moreover, the entire score has to be conducted by eye — a click-track doesn't quite work, so Jayne has been brilliant in her multi-tasking!"

We can't give too much away but let's just say the kids are going to love it. Come to that, so will the adults!East London Brass MD, Jayne Murrill

Surprise elements

Each performance is 40 minutes long, including a few surprise elements before and after the screening itself as Jayne added: "We can't give too much away but let's just say the kids are going to love it. Come to that, so will the adults!"

Find out more

To find out more about the show, visit eastlondonbrass.co.uk