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I started playing the tenor horn aged 9, mainly because my best

friend Jen (who now plays for the Chinnor Band) started playing

cornet in the School band! My past teachers include the famous

Mike Sallis and Bernard Hazelgrove who instilled in me a love

of brass banding and a hatred of scales! Whilst living at home I

played with Holst Brass Band on 1st Horn and the Berkshire

County Youth Brass Band on Solo Horn and have visited France, Germany and Austria on various band trips.

I had a bit of a break from playing in my Uni years and directly afterwards mainly because I could not find any bands in Bristol to play with, but when I moved to Exeter I decided to look a bit harder for a band and joined Sidmouth in July ‘05. After a short time on horn I moved to baritone, before ending up where I am now on euphonium.

I really like the way that Sidmouth band is a part of the town culture and community and makes an effort to get out to the people of the town, with weekly concerts in the summer and attendance at the main events of the year. We have had some good results over the past 2 or 3 years, and it is nice to know that the locals of Sidmouth support our successes!
 

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Given the opportunity to learn an instrument when I was young, I

decided to watch an orchestra on television to try and get an idea

of what to try.  The brass instruments looked like  fun, so I decided

to try the trumpet.  Luckily I was given a cornet to learn on instead,

and that’s where it all began.

I joined the Sidmouth Town Band as a near-beginner in about 1996,

after having seen the band playing every Good Friday while queuing up to collect my hot cross buns.  After spending a bit of time seat-hopping on the back row, I eventually progressed onto solo cornet.  It was Adrian who soon realised I wasn’t best suited to cornet, and so I moved to baritone before finally ending up where I am now - on solo euphonium.

Over the years I have earned a reputation for liking the cheesier pieces we play (particularly selections), for not being the most balanced person on my feet, and for getting myself into slightly embarrassing situations.  My aim for the future is to make sure these don’t keep happening on contest days. Getting a bottle of valve oil stuck in your euphonium or getting your hand stuck to your jacket buttons just before going on stage does nothing to help the nerves.

I tell people that the reason I have been in the band so long is because I enjoy the wide range of music we play and because everyone has become like my extended family.  But really it’s so that, 15 years later, I can still get my free hot cross buns and creme egg.

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