After receiving his new Besson 980 Eb tuba, Les Neish has wasted no time in putting it to good use.

This week saw him make a very quick visit to Northern Ireland to visit a school in Belfast that boasts no less than seven tuba players in the music department.

Paces

Les visited the school and put all of the tuba players through their paces with warm up exercises and games before each of the players performed a solo of their choice. Les also took the players through some large group pieces which included new arrangements of 'Baby Elephant Walk' and 'Londonderry Air'.

Les has been an inspiration to these young players who range from grade 3 to grade 8. I feel the day was summed up by the shouts of “GO ON SON!Organisers

Technical brilliance

Later in the afternoon, Les performed as part of the Methody Celebrity Recital Series performing arrangements including Saint Saens 'The Swan', 'Carnival of Venice', 'Fnug' and an incredible encore 'The Warrior comes out to Play'.

All works were well received by the audience and some of the younger members of the audience were amazed by the technical brilliance of Les as he leapt around the instrument with such ease. The concert then finished with a group item 'Peter Gunn' involving all of the tuba players in the department.

Fantastic

Les told 4BR: "It is fantastic to see so much tuba playing going on in one school. The players here are of such a high standard and very keen to learn and I really hope to be able to build links with the school and come back very soon. You never know, there might even be more tuba players by then!"

Commenting on the day, organiser Nathan Power told 4BR: "It’s been a real privilege to have one of the best Tuba players around at Methodist College today."

Inspiration

He added: "Les has been an inspiration to these young players who range from grade 3 to grade 8. I feel the day was summed up by the shouts of “GO ON SON!” (a popular Belfast saying) from the tuba players in the audience after Les’ blistering rendition of The Carnival of Venice.

Highlight

"Another highlight for the young audience was when Les played his own version of happy birthday where he managed to play/sing and say the words of the song!

Methody continues to foster great young brass players (Alumni include Niall Keatly and Jonathon Corry) and it appears that this recital reflects their commitment to encouraging young musicians.