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

Saturday 21st March – The London and Southern Counties Regional Contest will be held at the Stevenage Leisure Centre. This is the first time the band will be competing in the Second Section and rehearsals of the test piece are already underway,

Tuesday 17 March – The band will put on a pre-contest mini-concert featuring the test piece on at Watford Music Centre. Entry is free and all are welcome to attend. Contact us if you would like more information……..

Sunday 19 April – Horn Workshop – We are running another of our popular workshops, this time for horns. This workshop is free to attend and open to horn layers of all abilities. Click the events tab for further information.

Sunday 26 April – Amersham Band and Amersham Community Brass will be joining forces to march in the St. Georges Day parade in Aylesbury. The parade starts at 3:15pm.

Saturday 9th May – In Concert with Mike Lovatt.  We are holding our Spring concert featuring Amersham Band and Amersham Community Brass and special guest – trumpet virtuoso Mike Lovatt, The concert will be held at the New Kings Church, Amersham and the Box office will open shortly.

 

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Amersham BandAmersham Community BrassAmersham Beginner BandEvents

Feb 28

Free Horn Workshop – 19th April

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Announcement, Events

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old hornCALLING ALL HORN PLAYERS

The band is running another workshop, this time for horn players, both tenor horns and french horns. This workshop will be held in Winchmore Hill on 19th April and will be run by professional teachers James Dickinson and Richard Wainwright. Players of all levels of ability are welcome. The workshop is free to attend courtesy of a grant from Chiltern District Council.

More information

Please register in advance if you would like to attend. This will help us to plan the sessions. Click here to register

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Feb 04

Beginner Group gets ready for Monster Brass Day

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General Update

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Monster

Monster Brass – click for info

Amersham Band’s Beginner Group are making preparations for the forthcoming Monster Brass Day which is to be held on Sunday 8th March.  Barbara Douglas, conductor of the Beginner Group said “we agreed to provide the foundation band for the Monster Brass workshops which will be a great opportunity for our beginner players to experience playing in a larger group. We have started to practice the pieces for the workshop and I am delighted at how quickly everyone is picking up the new music.”

Monster Brass is organised by local brass teachers Kathy Gifford and Nick Care. Now in its 17th year, it provides free workshops for beginner, intermediate and advanced brass players. Monster Brass will feature the internationally recognised trumpet virtuoso Crispian Steele-Perkins and will take place at the Court Theatre, Tring. The workshop is free to attend and open to all local brass players. Click the Monster logo for more information or make an enquiry via our contact page.

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Jan 31

Foden’s help the band to prepare for 2nd Section Debut

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Fodens logoOn Saturday 21st March, the band will take to the stage to compete in the Second Section Regional Contest for the first time in its history. MD Paul Fisher is leading the band through intensive rehearsals of the test piece “Variations on Maccabeus” by Kevin Norbury. To help the band step up to this next level of performance, a crack team of musicians from the championship level Foden’s band traveled down to Amersham to run a whole day workshop with the band.

Foden’s conductor Mike Fowles, who led the workshop, complemented the band, saying “Amersham Band is a terrific example of community music-making. Honest, hard-working people coming together for fun and friendship in this most creative of hobbies. A thoroughly enjoyable day in the company of a great bunch of people !”

Wish us luck in the Contest on 21st March…..

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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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Announcement

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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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Events

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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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