Tubalaté January 2001 Newsletter



Happy New Year to all our FroTs!
2001 is a special year for Tubalaté.
A decade has almost passed since our formation.
We are planning to celebrate with a series of 10th anniversary concerts - watch this space!

(Click here for the 1999 newsletter)

(Click here for the 2000 newsletter)



(Click here for the 2002 newsletter)
Contents
John Powell - The Biography
Rock on Rhondda!
New CD :Earth & Moon
Composer profile - David W Solomons














John Powell - The Biography

I was born at an early age in Keighley, an old, ex-mill town nestling in a valley in the heart of West Yorkshire. There is a preconception that every town and village "Up North" has a brass band and other working class pastimes such as ferret, whippet and pigeon racing, not to mention fish and chip, black pudding and pie eating contests. Keighley was much less culturally developed and only had a brass band. No-one ever left Keighley except in a box on their last journey to Oakworth Crematorium.
There was a great feeling of isolation and a way of breaking free from this was to develop an interest in the only musical pastime available - the local brass band. My sister played tuba in the band and enjoyed the social life of a friendly group who shared an interest. I started to play at the age of 8 but found this to be too early for me - I just wanted to play Top Trumps (an early version of Pokémon) and read biographies of Marie Curie and Captain Falcon Scott.
Then, at the age of 10, I discovered, incorrectly it would seem, that it was cool to carry an instrument case and be a member of the band.
After 3 years of hard practice I had passed my Grade 8 practical exam - even though my music teacher said I'd never achieve anything in music! Incidentally, I never got a date with any girls during this period - apparently the case I carried my cornet around in was a nappy bag! I also wore a tank-top, flares and platform shoes - not too trendy!!
I always wanted to get into a better band. I asked Howarth Band if I could join them, as I had heard they needed a euphonium player - they laughed!
(In 1990, two weeks after playing in the winning performance at the Royal Albert Hall for the National Finals, they asked me if I would help them out for a concert - my reply was a similar response to theirs 18 years previous!)
Undaunted I joined the 3rd section band in Skipton, 10 miles away, on 2nd euphonium. Soon I was playing solo euphonium and the band had been promoted to the Championship section. We went on a number of very successful tours of Germany and I gained my first high quality solo experience. It was at this stage I realised I wanted to pursue music to a high standard so took up a place, on the foundation course in music, at Huddersfield Technical College. I joined the college band - Tecol. Their conductor was the cornet star, Philip McCann and the band went on to become the successful Sellers Engineering Band.
At the end of my time at Huddersfield I decided I didn't want to study music anymore - I wanted to play for my living to some degree! In the old days, factory and mining jobs were offered to suitable brass players, who would work for the company and also undertake concert and contest commitments. I applied for a position, teaching and playing, with the Rotorua Brass Band, in New Zealand - I backed out because of the prospect of travelling such a long way to rehearsals!
I opted to join the CWS Glasgow Band, the best Scottish Band. We won all the major contests in Scotland and the CWS Brass Quartet became the Scottish Champions.
I worked at the "Co" for 2 years as a supermarket manager and bandsman. Supermarket management was not my calling and after over ordering 125 cases of banana yoghurt and a mountain of chocolate eclairs (my favourite!), the management decided to "let me go". The International General Manager of the Co-op even visited my warehouse to marvel at the river of old banana yoghurt oozing from the rubbish compactor - this was the first time I had received national recognition for my work!
Over my 2 years in Scotland I gained 'buckets' of experience and decided it was time to move on, taking a place at one of the best music conservatoires in the world - the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Here I absorbed as much of the varied music as possible and squeezed as much as possible out of the teachers and visiting masterclass performers as I possibly could. These were the formative years of Tubalaté - which took up a lot of our time. I was now ready to face the music industry and about to start my real musical education.
John Powell



What happened to John's tank-top and flares?
Did John ever manage to get that elusive date?
Did Scotland vote for independence as soon as John had moved back south over the border?
Find out the answers to all these questions, and more, in the next issue of Tubalaté News.







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Rock on Rhondda!
Last August Tubalaté were invited to organise a project at the Rhondda Special School in South Wales. The project was funded by Live Music Now! - an organisation founded by the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin, to take music to places that would normally not have access to it. The Rhondda Special School was the perfect venue! The project was spread over four days and was to culminate in a performance for an audience of parents and school governors - so we knew it had to be good!
The first morning began with introductions, we split into pairs and played familiarisation games. We managed to get the children on our side - it certainly helps when working together towards a deadline! We had to develop ideas of themes to be incorporated into our performance - it was unanimous that jungle noises would be the inspiration.
This theme gave us many opportunities to explore different sound worlds. It also stimulated the children to create forms and structures within a piece - everyone was having so much fun making all the noises. (It should be noted, at this point, that John's baboon impression is alarmingly realistic!)
With the younger children we decided that our own "Carnival of the Animals" would provide us with the most opportunity to explore the wide range of animal sounds and movements. From fast to slow, loud to quiet and high to low, a whole host of animals were selected to be in our carnival - elephants, snakes, lions, monkeys, crocodiles -even tortoises! The older children enjoyed creating a more improvisational work, directed by myself, entitled "Tarzan's Walk in the Jungle". No two performances of this piece could have been the same, and the experiences of 'ad-libbing' and improvising were enjoyed by all.
Throughout the project there was a feeling of working to a deadline, to which all the pupils and staff responded to positively, creating a great sense of teamwork. Everybody was involved including the kitchen staff and the head master - all were superb. The music teacher joined in with our performance on her flugel horn, which gave the whole school a sense of unity. The concert climaxed with a joint rendition of the school's song "Be Happy" - and we were!
Needless to say, the performances of both pieces were flawless. Tubalaté also performed a selection of pieces during the concert. The whole event was a great success - thanks once again to the Rhondda Special School!
Ryan Breen




New CD :Earth & Moon
We are extremely excited to announce the release of our fourth CD, entitled Earth & Moon.
Earth and Moon This recording features original works composed especially for Tubalaté. The composers featured on the disc have funded the project.
The CD includes our popular concert item, The Heights of Halifax and a work by this issue's featured composer, David Solomons.
For further details please write to us at tubalate@hotmail.com
CDs are available for £12.00 (plus £1 P&P).
(also available at tutti.co.uk More details about the Earth & Moon project in the next issue of Tubalaté News.

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Composer : David W Solomons

David was born in Oxford in 1953 and has lived in various parts of England, France and Hong Kong. He graduated from Oxford University in Modern Languages, but preferred to go his own way in music and to teach himself the art of singing, guitar playing and composing. His compositional style is relatively retrospective, concentrating on the lyrical, and he makes full use of the possibilities offered by the use of modes, especially various oriental modes (Middle Eastern and Japanese), and the dorian and octatonic modes, as well as the better-known major and minor modes. He currently lives in Sale, Cheshire and works in Manchester as a translator.
He sings alto with various choirs at Manchester Cathedral and composes secular and religious works, some of which can be occasionally be heard at the Cathedral (most recently a Christmas Song for SATBB choir called 'Alleyways') and many other places throughout the world, from Latvia to the USA.
Some of his compositions and performances can be heard in mp3 format on various webpages, in particular: David W Solomons' Music Ste


David's interest in brass music began when he went to workshop run by Tubalaté in the mid-90s, at which many of the musical possibilities for tuba - euphonium quartets were demonstrated to great effect. As a direct result, he wrote them a suite of pieces in the octatonic mode (Pieces of Eight), which appears on their fourth CD, Earth & Moon, and even a set of plainsong variations (Prayer before the Close of Day), which appears on their third CD, "Move".
Various other works for the quartet are in the melting pot, including a waltz and also a jolly Jewish dance based on 'freylachs' motifs.
David is also responsible for designing and updating our website - thanks David!



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Should you wish to contact us you can write to us at :
Tubalaté
5 Turnberry Drive
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 2QW

email us at: tubalate@hotmail.com

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