This evening's (Thursday 18th June — 7.00pm) Brass Bands England's (BBE) Development Programme Online session will be led by trombonist, conductor and educator Chris Houlding, who will discuss the topic of 'Practice techniques and preparation for auditions and solo performance'.
A former 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.
No stranger
He is no stranger to brass bands, having served as Professional Conductor with the likes of Stocksbridge, Whitburn and Yorkshire Imps and continues to promote banding at home and in Europe but especially in Germany where the movement is growing.
His presentation is aimed at all ages, and looks 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.
Additional help
Chris is currently working with musicgurus.com and Warwick Music. Their free online teaching videos presented by Peter Gane and Chris are free until 30th June by entering the discount voucher code MUSICTOGETHER.
He has also put together a listening list of Pierrot's 'Tanzlied' from Erich Korngold's Opera 'Die tote Stadt'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGR6bH5D2Dw
Sign up
To sign up to the zoom webinar please go to: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9215882779877/WN_ri6TCkSwQTWXjRQ0VuBdTA
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.
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
Questions and pub 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 popular aspects of the sessions is the invitation to come to the 'BBE Pub', to join in conversations and discuss topics of interest.
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).
His presentation is aimed at all ages, and looks 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 performanceBBE
Sign up and enjoy
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.