MUSIC lovers can use a railway map and a smartphone to find music by brass bands across the North-East.

John and Karen Topping have created the piece called Connections which shows a map of the pre-Beeching cuts of the 1960s.

Visitors can see Connections at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum in Shildon and also at Durham Railway Station.

The railway stations have been replaced by codes which, when scanned by a smartphone, direct the user to footage of brass bands in County Durham.

It was commissioned by Durham County Council and it has been unveiled as part of Brass: Durham International Festival 2014.

It is one of four Brass: Pitch commissions created for this year’s Durham festival.

The other three Brass: Pitch displays this year are Attaya Projects’ Cycles of Brass which is at the DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery.

It opens tomorrow (Saturday, June 28) and it features two brass cornets suspended in water tanks.

Edwin Mingard and musician Isaac Sakima have created a film entitled Hjem which will be on show at The Music School, on Palace Green, in Durham.

This runs from Friday, July 11 to Sunday, July 20.

The final piece is the music Electro-Brass which will be performed at the Gala Theatre, Durham, on Saturday July 12 and Sunday, July 13.

It forms a double header with John Kefala Kerr’s Steamsong which was written to help mark the 75th anniversary of Mallard becoming the world’s fastest steam train.

Details on BRASS: Pitch and this year’s commissions can be found online at brassfestival.co.uk