Grimethorpe Colliery Band recently welcomed composer Judith Weir CBE, the Master of the King's Music, to a recent rehearsal, where they played through the initial sketches she had written as part of a project taking place later this year.

Judith spent some time working with principal cornet Jamie Smith, Mark Walters (flugel), Helen Varley (horn) and Andy Kennedy (euphonium) in an interactive workshop, accompanied by the band's resident Musical Director Steve Phillips and Composer in Association, Liz Lane.

She then spent the evening listening to a selection of varied pieces from the brass band repertoire, discussing scoring with Steve Phillips, and also took the opportunity to sit in the tenor horn section to experience the sound world from a player's perspective.

Great pleasure

Following the event, she commented: "Grimethorpe Colliery Band is one of the UK's iconic musical ensembles. It was a great pleasure to visit and hear some of their remarkably wide and adventurous repertoire, close-up!

My thanks got to the band members for their generosity and enthusiasm for their craft. They are brilliant ambassadors for brass band music."

Judith Weir is the first female composer to hold the role of Master of the King's music, a position that dates to 1626 and includes luminaries such as Edward Elgar and Arthur Bliss.

Her music was featured at the recent Coronation of Charles III, where the specially selected Coronation Orchestra premiered her commissioned overture 'Brighter Visions Shine Afar'.

It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Judith, and we are grateful that she gave up her time to work with us, particularly during the Coronation weekGrimethorpe Colliery Band

Thrilled

Talking about the welcome visit, Liz Lane, a former pupil of Judith Weir said: "I've kept in touch with Judith and shared with her some of my own experiences writing for the brass band medium.

She was always very interested in knowing more about it, so when the opportunity came up, I was thrilled she agreed to work with the band."

Pleasure

Band Manager Richard Windle added: "It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Judith, and we are grateful that she gave up her time to work with us, particularly during the Coronation week.

We're all looking forward to working with her and we'll be announcing more about our exciting plans over the coming months."