Main content

Brass Bands

Tom Service explores the world of brass bands with composer Gavin Higgins and musical director of the Elland Silver Youth Band, Samantha Harrison.

What’s the difference between a cornet and a trumpet? How did Czech music and a hill in Dorset sell a million loaves? What happened at Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in 1853? Tom Service answers these questions and many more as he explores the world of brass bands: our witnesses are the music director of the Elland Silver Youth Band, Samantha Harrison, who’s immersed in today’s competitive banding world, and composer Gavin Higgins, who’s written a ballet for brass band.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 29 Mar 2024 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Is Music Good for You?

Next

Playing Second Fiddle (and Horn and Trumpet...)

See all episodes from The Listening Service

Music Played

  • Robert Browne Hall

    Death or glory - march for brass band

    Performer: Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Conductor: John Anderson.
    • RCA VICTOR.
    • 09026 687572.

  • John Marcangelo

    Clog Dance

    Performer: Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Conductor: Trevor Jones.
    • RCA VICTOR.
    • RCA 68757.

  • Gustav Holst

    A Moorside suite for brass band

    Performer: Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Conductor: Garry Cutt.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN-4553.

  • Christopher Bond

    Neverland

    Performer: Cory Band.
    • DOY.
    • CD-396.

  • Traditional Traditional

    El Sinaloense

    Performer: Banda Sinaloense Del Recuerdo.
    • Instituto Social de Arte y Cultura.
    • unknown.

  • Charles Crozat Converse

    What a friend we have in Jesus Tune: What a friend

    Performer: Excelsior Brass Band.
    • GBB.
    • BCD 290.

  • Henry Purcell

    March and canzona [from 'Queen Mary's funeral music'] Z.860 for trumpets & trombones

    Performer: Baroque Brass of London. Conductor: Timothy Brown.
    • BRILLIANT CLASSICS.
    • 93981.

  • Boban Marković

    Balkan Fest

    Performer: Boban Markovic Orchestra.
    • PIRANHA.
    • PIR1790.

  • Peter Skellern

    YOU'RE A LADY

    Performer: Peter Skellern. Performer: Hanwell Brass Band.
    • DECCA.
    • 250 4944.

  • Hannah Peel

    Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia

    Performer: Tubular Brass.
    • My Own Pleasure.
    • unknown.

  • Harrison Birtwistle

    Grimethorpe aria for brass band

    Performer: Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Conductor: Elgar Howarth.
    • DECCA.
    • unknown.

  • Gavin Higgins

    Dark Arteries Brass Band music

    Performer: Tredegar Band.
    • SKU: 22126.
    • TIC003.

  • John Williams

    Star wars - music for the film

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John (Towner) Williams (1932).
    • Sony Classical.
    • S2K92950.

  • Christopher Bond

    Neverland

    Performer: Cory Band.
    • DOY.
    • CD-396.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 May 2021 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 21 May 2021 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 29 Mar 2024 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

Why do we call it 'classical' music?

Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).

Six of the world's most extreme voices

From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.

Watch the animations

Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.

When does noise become music?

We like to think we can separate “noise” from “music”, but is it that simple?

Podcast