The British Trombone Society concert

The British Trombone Society performed at the Rochdale Music Service Centre on Sunday (12 September 2010).

Following on a rewarding day of master classes and rehearsals involving trombonists from all over the country, the participants came together to perform a wide range of solo and ensemble music before a delighted audience of parents, friends and members of the Rochdale public.

Among the soloists, some of whom were sensitively accompanied by pianist Fenella Howarth-Smith, were John Barber (principal trombone of Foden’s Brass Band), Kerry Baldwin, Simon Minshull (formerly of Foden’s Brass Band), Stephen Lomas, (Winner of the recent BTS Northwest Regional Solo Competition), Gary MacPhee (prinicpal trombone of Grimethorpe Colliery Band) and Brett Baker (prinicpal trombone of Black Dyke Band) who also introduced the concert.

To set the concert in motion big style the Rochdale Youth Big Band played ‘Shuffle for Uncle Guido’ and ‘Birdland’ with the assistance of the BTS trombonists. To end the concert in even bigger style the BTS Trombone choir and the trombonists (who had obviously and gloriously survived the rigours of the day) sent everyone away happy with the sound of ’76 Trombones’ ringing out across the green outside the Fieldhouse School, where the Rochdale Music Service is based.

Just before the finale, the Rochdale Borough Youth Brass Band showed just why they are so often at the top of the list when it comes to competitions by giving a most exhilarating and polished account of ‘Goldcrest’ and providing an almost absolutely perfect accompaniment to internationally known soloist, Carol Jarvis, in a delicious arrangement of ‘Autumn Leaves’. This was, for me, the highlight of an extraordinarily rewarding evening demonstrating the wide-ranging musical potential in the trombone family - instruments so often regarded as being only fit for oompahs.