The Brass Perspective
Hi, I'm Mark Allen, 3rd Trumpet and I'll be providing a brass perspective for the blog. I promise not to discuss mouthpieces or embouchures or trainspotting.
Well, I was quite disappointed this morning to see 2 names already signed in - I try to be early in the hope of getting some practise done, although I normally end up writing emails or reading the paper! So, here is the inaugural:
***Early Bird of the Week Competition***
And the winners are - Shelagh Watson and Ettiene Cutajar (Horns)
NB The management are not included in this - we all know they work much harder than us (what a creep!)
Ettiene is our new 3rd horn player, he's very young and from Malta. I think he's already thoroughly bored of being called a Malteser and being asked "How do you make a Maltese Cross?" Ha ha. Look out for the Maltese Cross on his mute.
This is a funny time of year for us - we come back from our summer holidays straight into a whirlwind of Proms and Edinburgh Festival. I won't tell how many days my trumpet lay all alone and un-blown in its case! But I think we all play better, feeling refreshed and ready to go.
Our 2 Proms last week were great - I especially enjoyed Heldenleben (obviously, being a brass player). The hardest thing for me was trying to control the adrenaline - leading up to The Battle my heart started going like the clappers, my palms were sweating and my breathing became shallower and faster. I wasn't really nervous, it's just the sense of occasion, excitement, oh and being absolutely terrified!! But all went okay, hopefully, and we had a few drinks afterwards. (The reader can interpret "a few" as they wish) It was nice to see Martyn Brabbins in the bar that night, not so good seeing him barely 8 hours later in the next day's reahearsal!
We're currently reheasing for next week's Proms; we travel down on Tuesday and have a bit of free time, so it'll be good to see some friends and relax before 2 busy days. That's enough from me, I'll write again on our return.
