Had another rehearsal last night with B&R. Greg got stuck a work but Matt was back. 2nd piece in rehearsal was.....ZAMPA of course. And........we played it top to bottom, Alan said "Much better cornets", and we turned it over! Guess the 2 1/2 hours I spent on it Wed. and Thurs. paid off. Funny moment … Continue reading Grrrrrrrrr! UPDATE

So......last night at B&R we (in the front row) had our butts handed to us.  For 10-minutes, the three of us (Matt was stuck in Bristol) went over and over a rather sticky spot (2nd page) in Overture to Zampa by French composer Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold and arr. by Rimmer.  We had read it for … Continue reading Grrrrrrrr!

Important things first: On Saturday late afternoon, I was able to go out with Richard and Sean for a mini-pub crawl.  Richard and I took the train to Marsden and convinced Sean to come back out to the pub.  Sean had already been at the pub basically all day.  However, it was easy to convince … Continue reading Hodge-Podge

This past weekend B&R were part of the Royal Northern College of Music (RCNM) Festival of Brass.  In addition to B&R, the 3-day festival featured Dyke, Corey, Leyland, Foden's, and Grimethorpe.  Basically all the big groups.  The way it works is the host/organizer Paul Hindmarsh tells each band what works they are going to play … Continue reading Conductors walk a fine line

You'll enjoy Sarah's editing of our sledging outing a couple of weeks ago.  This represents a major technical advance in her editing chops.  Notice the transitions.  Notice the scrolling words.  Notice Kate splitting her sides laughing at ME!............ Cheers, B-

This week B&R is doing a whole bunch of extra stuff due to the concert at Royal Northern we have on Sunday (part of a big brass festival there and most of the top bands are playing). Lots of OK music that we really have not seen before. Though I'm "Dep" for Mick this week, … Continue reading Stepping in it! OR “When in doubt, leave it out.”

Huddersfield Town 2, Southend 1! In November we made plans to attend a Huddersfield Town football (soccer) game today 16 Jan.  When B&R scheduled a rehearsal on top of the game I thought long and hard before making sure I could miss and go to the game.  Thanks Mick for taking the rehearsal and I'm … Continue reading The Beautiful Game (updated)

Colin's computer has been fixed and he is taking your questions at Cornet Corner with Colin. Have a look.  He'll change your life. Cheers, B-

More snow last night which of course made the girls hopeful for a snow day. This morning @ 6AM West Yorkshire had 5 schools closed.  By 6:30AM there were more then 100 closed. At 7AM Hannah's school was still listed as open so she took a shower, had breakfast, and put on her uniform.  By … Continue reading Snow….a tale of two schools….

Couldn't resist posting this as so many in the US think European economic policy is horrible for economic growth. Check it out:   http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/european-decline-a-further-note/ P.S. Man the Philadelphia Eagles got crushed by the Cowboys in the first round of the NFL playoffs yesterday. For my Eagles fan friends, just remember you could be fans of … Continue reading Econ: USA growth vs European growth since 1980? (not about banding)