| New UK trumpet choir “Sounds Ceremonial” opens for Bedfordshire at Royal Albert Hall | May 14, 2007 | |||||
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Peter Halliday writes: The idea of forming the trumpet choir ‘Sounds Ceremonial’ was born from my reading an ITG Journal article entitled ‘Trumpet Ensembles Can (Now) Play More Than Fanfares’ (June 2005, p. 74). The author Jon Burgess really echoed my thoughts that the trumpet is capable of evoking the full range of emotional responses. I was a cornet and trumpet player with the Band of the Grenadier Guards (an elite unit, the oldest band in the British Army) for about twenty-two years and was therefore used to the ceremonial side of trumpet playing, having played at many state occasions, but I have always loved the vocal qualities that the trumpet also possesses. I retired from the Army in 1992 to take up brass teaching for Bedfordshire Music and have been with them ever since. I was asked if I would like to start a group of some sort and having read the Burgess article and having investigated his list of music publishers I contacted about sixteen of the higher grade players in Bedfordshire to form this trumpet ensemble, with the idea of developing in an environment where we could all learn from one another and explore the more advanced skills in the art of trumpet playing. Our first rehearsal took place on 7th November 2006 and we have been meeting once a month since then. This culminated in “To The Stars”, a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 15th April celebrating the 40th anniversary of Bedfordshire Music and featuring all the county’s bands and orchestras plus a huge children’s choir. We had the honour of opening the concert with performances of the Hoffnung Fanfare by Malcolm Arnold and Shenandoah, both arranged by James Olcott of Triplo Music, and showing two extremes of the trumpet sounds, from the bright tone of the fanfare to the more mellow sounds befitting such a beautiful melody. The group looked and sounded wonderful and really responded to the challenge: everyone was very impressed. Thank you all at the International Trumpet Guild for helping to give such inspiration to us trumpet players. Links:
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