Brass tactics

PREPARE to be blown away... next month County Durham will resound to the sound of brass bands when Brass, the fifth Durham international festival blows in.

Brass bands from all over the world will be playing in 24 venues, from the Cathedral and theatres to streets and open spaces.

This is brass all right, but possibly not as we know it. Thought you knew the sort of music brass bands played? Think again.

There’s folk – The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Band in Durham cathedral, jazz – Chris Barber at the Gala, opera – NASUWT Riverside Band at Consett Empire and the Bowes Museum. There’s even hard funk hip-hop with the Soul Rebels Brass Band from New Orleans.

As well, of course, as all the bands marching through the city on Gala Day.

Brass bands have played the soundtrack to North-East history for a hundred years or more, closely bound up with the life of colliery and chapel.

“There was a time when every tiny village had its own band,” says Susan Hayton, Esh Winning born and bred, secretary of the Northern Regional Brass Band Trust and a brass band player for over 40 years.

“There used to be hundreds of them – not counting all the Salvation Army bands as well.”

Susan always vowed not to join a band, until at the age of 13 she just went along to help and was instantly and irrevocably hooked. “I was smitten and desperate to play the cornet but when they got the instruments, they ran out of cornets before they got to me.” She had to make do with half shares in a tenor horn, the instrument she’s played ever since.

SHE’S played with bands at Esh and now at Lanchester, played at the Royal Albert Hall, played when she was pregnant – “though they wouldn’t let me march and play on Gala Day. I marched anyway” – and when her children were small.

“Esh band, which I played for then, was self supporting, so we’d often be out all weekend playing. My mother was great looking after the kids.”

Brass bands are in the blood.

Susan’s grandfather played tenor horn in a band, many of her cousins play. Son Anthony played the drums “We used to have two drum kits in the house and I’d hear him as I was walking up the street from work.”

Daughter Amanda also plays the tenor horn in Craghead Colliery Brass Band, in between holding down a full time job at the University of Durham and studying for her just completed MA.

But despite the enthusiasm of many more like the Hayton family, the bands and their traditions are dwindling. In the past 40 years, the region has lost well over half of its bands. Those that are left are smaller – often just a dozen instead of the 25 or more needed – combining for performances and special occasions, helping each other out.

“Many villages have rescued the old colliery banners and restored them,” says Susan. “They’re very proud of them but when it comes to Gala Day they haven’t got a band any more to march with the banner and so have to draft one in from another part of the country. But bands and banners go together, all part of the same tradition.”

She fizzes with enthusiasm about the bands. “I love the music, the people, everything,” she says. “The bands didn’t just teach me to play an instrument, they’ve given me so much. I’ve travelled all over the country, made a CD, done so many things, made so many friends.

“Wherever I am, I can tune in to any brass band playing anywhere near. If I’m at the seaside, on the beach and there’s a band playing somewhere the I’ll hear it and find it.

On Gala Day I’m high as a kite, running up and down, talking to people, seeing old friends, and loving the music.”

She loves the idea of the Brass Festival “Too many people still think of brass bands as beer-swilling old men in flat caps playing traditional music. But really we’re a family with lots of different things going on. In the festival you can hear the whole range of it, all the great music. I think it’s quite a surprise for a lot of people.

“It’s a great chance for young people especially, to hear what bands are really about It’s not just what they might think of as stuffy music, but all sorts of styles and bands, some of it very new, very different. I like the traditional stuff, of course, but I love all the new ideas too, all the new technologies. It’s all taking brass bands into the future. There’s so much going on. I get dead excited by it all.”

Brass bands have always played with a mix of ages and the challenge now is to give more children the chance to play.

“There’s some great work being done. Around Ouston, for instance, in the last few years a marvellous man called Norman Walker has encouraged lots of children to start with instruments Six schools have bands now and Pelton Community Band is all youngsters, which is great.”

The Brass Festival should be inspirational and if any youngster is keen to join in, there are plenty of opportunities.

The Brass Band Trust is keen to encourage as many young players as possible, working with schools and local bands.

“We know it’s getting harder to provide music tuition in schools when times are hard but we do it all for free, or maybe just something like 50p a week,” says Susan, who works as a domestic assistant at Durham University. “I start early and am finished by early afternoon, which gives me time to do all the work for the bands, including going into schools.

“We provide the instruments, and the tuition, the music and a band to play in. There are lots of youngsters out there who would love to have a go and it’s just a case of letting them know what’s on offer. If they turn up, we’ll do the rest.

“I’d also really like to run residential weekends. For everyone to get together.”

Brass Festival – brass as you’ve not seen or heard it before – features musicians from France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Romania and the US in different venues across the county.

Neil Hillier of Durham County Council, one of the supporters of the festival, says: “It gathers an outstanding array of talented musicians bringing the streets and concert halls of the region to life – an entertainment wow factor.”

For Susan Hayton and her fellow musicians it all helps to inspire the next generation.

“We have a great tradition of brass bands in County Durham. With luck we should have a great future too.”

• Brass: Durham International Festival takes place from July 1-17.

For details go to brassfestival.co.uk or contact the Gala Theatre, Durham. Tel: 0191-332-4041.

• For details of the Northern Regional Brass Band Trust and how you could join a band and learn an instrument go to brassbandtrust.co.uk. Or tel: 0191-373-3205