I am amazed to see the reaction that Philip Harper's brand new Euphonium Solo 'In Gardens of Peace' has received. I have had the privilege of performing 'In Gardens of Peace' on around 10 separate occasions, in various situations from summer concerts in the park to just plain normal band concerts and following each performance, stories of lost relatives and visits to the battlefields have been related to me, 'In Gardens of Peace' touches on a part of history which is still fr

The art of collaboration is one of the best tools available to a musician. In this instance, the art of collaborating with composers. Another question I often get asked is, “How do you commission a new piece of music from a composer?”.......The simple response would be, you ask a composers to write for you. But I know nothing but the most detailed response would suffice. When I commission a new piece of music the work begins before I even approach a composer, I write a short

Time has accelerated since the start of 'The Young Brass Musicians Blog' with so many experiences passing under the bridge in the 4 years that this blog has been running. It has been a year since I was awarded with a First-Class Honors Degree in Music and time has passed rather quickly since then. I have completed my first year in Supply Teaching, basically being a jack of all trades and master of none. It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride but I am pleased to say that I have l

I wanted to feature a newspaper article from The Coventry Telegraph about the story behind the recent commissioning of Philip Harper's New Euphonium solo 'In Gardens of Peace' was commissioned by myself and Wolfgang Weichselbaumer in commemoration of my Great Grandfather Henry Nichols who was killed in action on 11th March 1917 and is now buried at Assevillers New British Cemetery in France. In Gardens of Peace was inspired by my trip to the Somme Battlefields in August 2014.

One of the key parts of my original blog were interviews with top euphonium players from around the world. So continuing with this theme I would like to reintroduce my blog with the very first interview I did with Boscombe Salvation Army Principle Euphonium and a very dear friend of mine John Starkes. When did you start to play the euphonium? Although I started playing the cornet when I was 4, a music teacher at School, who was to become a huge influence on my early banding c

Welcome to The Blog of a Brass Musician. I originally started this blog under the title of 'The Young Brass Musician' in 2012 and when I closed the blog in 2014 I had over 2 million views. I wanted show the trials and tribulations of a young musician navigating the brass band world. I never expected that this blog would reach the audience that it did. So after 3 years at university I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours First Class in Music Performance, and worked f