Amersham Band

Amersham Band is a brass band based in South Buckinghamshire with roots going back to 1845. In recent years the band has flourished, attracting new members and achieving increasing success with promotion to the Second Section of the National Brass Band Championships.Amersham Band’s Musical Director is Paul Fisher. As a professional trombonist, Paul has worked extensively both in this country and around the world, touring with Symphony Orchestras, Pop Bands, Big Bands and Musicals. He is currently Principal Conductor of the Herts County Youth Brass and a lead teacher in brass for the County.

Rehearsals are on Monday evenings, 8pm – 10pm, at the Methodist Church, The Hill, Winchmore Hill, Amersham, HP7 0PA

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Amersham Community Brass

Amersham Community Brass was formed in 2014, and is aimed at developing players from Grade 3 upwards. Already at a strength of over 20 members, the band is still keen to recruit new members and we have instruments available for loan if needed. The Annual membership subscription fee is £50.
Mary Wells is the Community Brass Musical Director. Mary teaches at a local school and plays solo horn at Ellesborough Silver Band.

Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings, 7.30pm – 9:00pm, at the Methodist Church, The Hill, Winchmore Hill, Amersham, HP7 0PA

Community Brass, Christmas 2013

Amersham Beginner Band

Amersham Beginner Band provides a friendly and supportive environment for beginners and elementary level players of all ages. Sessions include group tuition and group ensemble playing. New members are always welcome and instruments are available on loan. The beginner band is run on a termly basis with a subscription fee of £10 per term.Barbara Douglas is the conductor of the Beginner Band.

Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings, 6.30pm – 7.15pm, at the Methodist Church, The Hill, Winchmore Hill, Amersham, HP7 0PA

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Events

After a busy Christmas season with carolling at many locations, we start the New Year with JazzFest 2015, a fundraiser concert to support the band’s development activities…….

JazzFest 2015 Enjoy an evening filled with music, laughter and dancing with The Keep Clear Jazz Band and special guest Gordon Campbell. Saturday 31st January 2015 from 7:30pm at Amersham Community Centre. Tickets £12.50 which include  a Ploughman’s Supper. Cash bar available. Click here for more information.

Tickets are available from band members or visit our Box Office to order on-line.

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Amersham BandAmersham Community BrassAmersham Beginner BandEvents

Jan 03

JazzFest 2015

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Events

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jazzfest finalAfter the Christmas festivities, why not start the New Year with some top-notch Jazz in the company of band-members, friends and family. All are welcome to join us in an evening filled with music, laughter and dancing with The Keep Clear Jazz Band and special guest Gordon Campbell.

JazzFest 2015 is a fundraiser concert to support the band’s development activities and will be held on Saturday 31st January 2015 from 7:30pm at Amersham Community Centre. Tickets £12.50 which include  a Ploughman’s Supper. Cash bar available.

Sorry – this event is now sold out.

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Dec 23

Merry Christmas and thank you to all our supporters

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Announcement

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carols at the plough

Merry Christmas to all our supporters. In true festive spirit, the band performed at a record breaking number of carol events, a total of 15 separate locations. At many of these we were able to raise funds for the development of the band, whilst at others we supported the general Christmas celebrations. You may have seen us out and about – for the record we played carols at;

Five Local Care Homes, Amersham and Wycombe Railway Stations, Chenies Garden Centre, Amersham Christmas Festival, The Scouts Christmas Service, Amersham Town Carol Concert, Winchmore Hill Residents, The Plough Pub, Harvey Road School Christmas Fayre, and of course our own Christmas Concert.

A very big thank you to all those who donated to our collections, we have some ambitious plans for the New Year and your contributions will help us to continue to provide music for the local community.

PS – if you are looking for something to cure the post-Christmas January blues – then why not come to our JazzFest 2015 click here for info.

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Dec 14

Amersham Band Awards

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It has become a tradition to present the annual band awards at our Christmas Concert. The awards are made on the recommendation of the Musical Directors and three well-deserving band members received the trophies.

Bandsman Trophy

Amersham Community Brass

Most improved player – Garry Petty

Junior Bandsman – Ben Collins

Amersham Band

Bandsman of the Year – Kim Speller.

Musical Director, Paul Fisher praised Kim for his commitment and dedication to the band. Kim was delighted to receive the award again, having previously won the award in 1986, some 28 years ago.

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Nov 30

Solo Competition Winners

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Marion Solo CompetitionBen and Rebecca Solo CompetitionLucy Sara and Carys Solo Competition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band held its first all-section solo competition on Sunday 30 November. There were 17 entries of solos and duets with the competition divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced sections. Adjudicator Lewis Rowlands was highly impressed with the standard of playing and had a challenge to choose the winners. At the end of the session he congratulated everyone who took part and gave some really useful advice on solo playing, based on his professional experience. Final results were as follows.

Beginner Section  –  Joint First Prize: Carys, Lucy and Sara.

Intermediate Section  –  Joint First Prize: Ben and Rebecca; Joint Runners up: Barbara and Poppy.

Advanced Section  –  First Prize: Marion; Runners up: Kim and Caroline (duet); Highly Commended: Fred, Philip and Rod.

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Nov 20

Join in at our festive Christmas Concert

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Events

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xmas 2014 poster v5Our Christmas Concert features all three bands playing seasonal music and has plenty of opportunity for the audience to sing traditional carols. Come along to join in with the festive spirit. After the concert there will be refreshments and a chance to meet with the band members, musical directors and friends.

Sunday 14 December, 3pm at Amersham Free Church, Woodside Road, Amersham HP6 6AJ

 

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Nov 11

Band launches Music of the Great War

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Marlborough House

Marlborough House

On Tuesday 11 November the band had the privilege of playing at Marlborough House at an inaugural event to launch the Music of The Great War initiative. The aim of this is to encourage bands around the world to play a WW1 medley on 11 November 2015. We performed a new arrangement of  WW1 songs composed by Rob Wiffin. The event had the support of Her Majesty the Queen and following the performance the band received an inaugural  certificate presented by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. The event was recorded and will be featured on the Radio 2 programme “Listen to the Band” on Thursday 13 November.

A website to promote Music of the Great War features Amersham Band playing the medley. Visit www.musicofthegreatwar.org for more details. You can also watch a video of the event on YouTube.

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Nov 07

Amersham Band becomes the lead BAND-TIME Partner

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Announcement

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Amersham Band are delighted to be the lead brass band partner for BAND-TIME, which is a new brass teaching method for schools.

The long term future of the brass band movement is dependent on a supply of young musicians and it is great to see a new initiative to introduce children to the fun and pleasure of group music making. The structured approach offered by the BAND-TIME method will help children develop their listening and teamwork skills; abilities which are all-important when progressing into band and ensemble playing.

Fred Harrison, Chairman of Amersham Band, said “I think it is clear that the BAND-TIME method will give children a flying start into a lifetime of enjoyment and appreciation of music, For those that want to progress into the brass band world, it will provide the ideal foundation.”

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Oct 30

Community MusicFest achieves record audience

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musicfest3A sell-out audience of nearly 300 people had a highly entertaining evening at the Elgiva on Saturday (18 October). Amersham Band held their highlight annual Community MusicFest event, now in its fourth year, and was joined in concert by two local choirs and top trombone player Gordon Campbell. The concert opened with Beacon Voices, comprised of over 60 boys from the Beacon School and led by Liz van Tromp. Liz said “we were delighted to be part of this community show and it was a great opportunity to try out our programme in public before a trip to New York later in October.”

Next on stage was the highly accomplished Jackie Palmer Girls’ Choir. Formed just a year ago by Musical Director Sara Lawson, the choir performed a popular selection, including Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm and Fields of Gold by Sting.

The band took to the stage for the second half, together with guest soloist Gordon Campbell who is the lead trombone player with the BBC lead big band. Gordon delighted the audience with several jazz classics played with great style and wit. The band finished the set with an energetic latin-style brass arrangement “Jubilo Jubilo” which is also the title track of their newly released CD recording.

As a finale, the choirs joined the band on stage with an enthusiastic rendition of Happy by Pharrell Williams. Band Chairman, Fred Harrison said “I think we might have broken all records at the Elgiva with 90 singers and a full brass band on stage together with a capacity audience. It was a great demonstration that music is alive and thriving in our local community.”

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Sep 30

New CD gets praise from composer

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In June the band spent a busy weekend recording a new CD. This is our third CD and the title “Jubilo Jubilo” perfectly captures the band’s enthusiastic and joyful playing of a wide variety of musical styles which include new compositions, jazz standards, classical and traditional brass band music.

Composer of the title track, Martin Cordner tweeted “thanks for an energetic rendition (of Jubilo Jubilo)”

You can buy the new CD for £10 from any bandmember or via our on-line shop

 

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Sep 17

An Exciting Future For Us . . .

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General Update

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Vision booklet

We are a brass band committed to high quality music making through developing and nurturing local brass players. The band provides appreciation of music together with cultural and social development for its members and entertains the local community though concerts and events.

We have created an ambitious vision for the future, with three key aims;

(i) For Amersham Band to achieve an increasing standard with higher levels of recognition in regional and national competitions and delivering high quality concerts and performances.

(ii) To develop Amersham Community Brass as a full strength band able to perform at local events and concerts.

(iii) To extend the beginner group to train and bring through more musicians and to be accessible across the local community. Our aspiration is to eventually establish a brass academy serving the local area.

You can help us by…

  • Making a charitable donation, big or small, via www.localgiving.com/charity/amershamband
  • Book the band for your event and/or come to one of our concerts
  • Do you have links to organisations which may be able to help?

Download Band Vision

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