Study Brass Instruments London

Teaching

As a brass player you will receive high level instrumental training alongside the opportunity to get involved in a huge variety of different bands, ensembles and projects. You will be challenged to discover and pursue your own fields of interest whilst building a foundation of technical and musical excellence.

All Brass students, both postgraduate and undergraduate, receive Individual Tuition in their principal study instruments. All Principal Study Professors also offer group tuition sessions, in which all their students study together in groups of no more than seven.

Every undergraduate student is additionally entitled to eight hours of Principal Study Enhancement (PSE) time throughout the year. You can choose:

lessons on a doubling instrument
lessons on a related period instrument
lessons on an associated or complementary instrument
lessons to keep up an instrument on which one has achieved a good standard previously, such as piano or voice

Each week, all those who play one instrument meet together and work with a leading exponent of their instrument on specific and wide-ranging topics. These might focus on anything from technique to sight-reading or performance anxiety.

You will have weekly chamber music sessions both in Brass and in mixed ensembles.

Performance

We encourage you to take every opportunity to refine your skills as a soloist, ensemble and chamber performer, from playing in large ensembles,to exploring chamber repertoire and improvisation-based work. Our ensembles include: symphony orchestra, brass ensemble, chamber orchestra, opera orchestra, contemporary music group and musical theatre band.

Under the direction of our acclaimed teaching staff, you will benefit from regular chamber music coaching which encompasses both standard groups such as quintets and dectets as well as more unusual combinations. We also encourage you to work with students from other genres, including cross-discipline groups, mixed media and improvisation.

Instruments

The Brass Department holds a large collection of instruments that students may borrow, often on long-term loan. These include:

Piccolo trumpets, E flat trumpets, cornet, flugelhorns, alto trombones, tenor trombones, bass trombone, contrabass trombone, bass trumpet, euphonium, tubas in B flat and C, alphorns, natural trumpets, cornetts, hand horns, alto, tenor, and bass sackbuts.

Masterclasses

Our varied masterclass series involves brass players from around the world coming to provide you with the benefit of their expertise and experience. Recent visitors include Nikolaj Viltoft, Byron Fulcher, Andrew Bain, Frank Lloyd, Szabolcs Zempléni, Philip Cobb, Thomas Hooten, John Wallace, Brandt Attema, Dudley Bright, Zoltan Kiss, Paul Milner, Sérgio Carolino and Patrick Harrild.

Graduates

Our brass graduates are working across the country and internationally:

Sarah Butler is Principal Trumpet of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Bernard Doughty plays trombone with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria.

Ian Parkes is horn soloist with the Seville Royal Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Royal Opera House and the London Brass Consort.

Rob Croft is Head of Brass at Berkshire Maestros.