I hope you have enjoyed reading and learning something from an interview with the German Hornsound.
For the second post of this series, I would like to share an interview with my former teacher, Richard Bissill, where we discussed about
London Brass. Again, the post starts with an interview summary and if you are interested to read the full script, it will be right after the summary! I would like to sincerely thanks Richard Bissill for taking his time answering my interview!
London Brass (photo from londonbrass.net)
Interview Summary
London Brass definitely carries
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble legacy in many ways, notably for their
instrumentation and the ensemble virtuosity that aims to demonstrate what brass
instruments are capable of beyond the confines of an orchestra. The ensemble is
a limited company registered in the UK and has to submit accounts to the Inland
Revenue every year. Each member of ensemble is paid per project. Even though
running and managing the ensemble is very time consuming, London Brass does
not have any management team. It is run by member of the ensemble. Andrew Crowley
is the current manager. Richard Bissill admit that “the group's success relies heavily on the
energy and tenacity of the person charged with running it. This manager has to
be really on the case, chasing work, following up leads, sending out publicity,
maintaining social media, setting up meetings and never giving up on the
pursuit. All orchestras, for example, have huge marketing and publicity
departments to keep the players in work.” I wonder if this manager got paid for doing
this extra work. Now, the ensemble starts to hire (per project) outsource to
help with admin and travel arrangement. Similar to German Hornsound, the
group budget comes from engagements but patrons nor sponsorship.
There
is enough repertoire for 10-piece brass ensemble due to the success of its
predecessor. The ensemble also has had very good arrangers who contribute in
expanding list of repertoires for this set up which most of them are published
by BrassWind publication or selling on their own website. Richard Bissill said
that the only disadvantage of this 10-piece set up is that horn player has to
compete with another forward-facing instrument. However, Prof. Bissill
choose to be the only horn player in a group as it is easier for him to find
ways to adapt in any situation for the best possible outcome. The main problem, for whole ensemble, is transport related
such as flight delayed for example.
Program
ideas of London Brass usually suggested by Andrew Crowley. There
is also a standard formula program where the ensemble does older music in the
first half and more recent music in the second half which often incorporate
jazz to feature their jazz specialists. Sometime, the group will be told by
their agency in Germany what to or not to include in their program. The only
different from the German Hornsound programing is that there is no
staging aspect includes in their program. It can be understandable as it would
be more difficult to stage ten people than four. The ensemble does not have
regular rehearsal schedule but one or two rehearsals before each performance to
refamiliarize with the piece and the ensemble. If there
is disagreement on something, they compromise. They don’t want to fall out and
they want to have fun.
Younger generation are encouraged to take the advantage of today’s
social media. Also, doing educational or community projects are a good route to
get young (newly set up) ensemble to get work and exposure. Lastly, Prof. Bissill
gave a very useful advice to young players. “…be determined to succeed to
make their marks on the music world. Enthusiasm and dedication are paramount.
If they want to enjoy a long, successful and enjoyable career they must be
armed with a thick skin to withstand everything they will encounter. An inner
self confidence is vital to help sustain through the ups and downs that they
will experience. The ability to self-examine is useful too! Be sociable and
always treat your fellow musicians with respect, especially the older ones.”
______________________________________________
Full interview transcript with Richard Bissill and London Brass
1. How did the
ensemble start? What was the aim? What is the ensemble philosophy?
London Brass grew
out of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. When Philip retired, he didn't want his
name to continue so the group continued under the name London Brass. The aim of
the group, as it always was with PJ, is to entertain and inspire audiences with
musicality and virtuosity and to demonstrate what brass instruments are capable
of beyond the confines of an orchestra. Our philosophy always has been to enjoy
ourselves. We all get on well - we have all known each other for years and some
of us were even students together. Plus, we all meet regularly outside of the
group in various recording studios or on concert platforms. So, when it comes
to London Brass we only tend to accept projects that are going to be enjoyable
and a refreshing change from our other day to day bread and butter work. After
all, we're all getting on a bit! When I joined the group, there was a huge
amount of work, a legacy from Philip’s determination to establish the group’s
brand and recognition. In my early days too, there were very few well-known
brass ensembles in existence so London Brass carried on the work with very
little competition.
2. Were there any
official process of setting up an ensemble? If so, what were they? Did you have
to register it as an organization? Is it easy to set up a professional ensemble
in the UK? Who runs the ensemble?
Anyone can start an
ensemble. You don't have to register it as such but once it starts to earn
money it's advisable to get some advice on how to administer its finances.
London Brass is a limited company registered in the UK and has to submit
accounts to the Inland Revenue every year as would any company. Some of the
players are company directors who would be ultimately responsible for the
financial state of the group in extremis. London Brass Ltd pays the players per
engagement and we as individuals pay tax on the fee at the end of the financial
year along with all other income. Over the years, various members have run the
group. This in an extremely time consuming job and the group's success relies
heavily on the energy and tenacity of the person charged with running it. This
manager has to be really on the case, chasing work, following up leads, sending
out publicity, maintaining social media, setting up meetings and never giving
up on the pursuit. All orchestras, for example, have huge marketing and
publicity departments to keep the players in work. As a business model,
classical music is not to be recommended! It's some sort of miracle that most
outfits go on for years, never really making a profit but managing to be
successful and providing its players with an income. We now pay someone on a
project by project basis to help with the admin, travel arrangements, etc. It’s
the sort of job that most musicians hate doing.
3. How are you being
funded or supported? Is the ensemble being funded per year? Do you need to find
your own sponsorship or patrons?
We
have no funding but rely on income from engagements. As long as our bank
account stays in the black, all is good! We charge a management fee on top of
the players’ fees per engagement to make sure that we always have some money in
the account. On a 2 week tour the management fees can keep the account quite
healthy. If we end up with a large surplus, then that money can be put towards
other projects that we might like to do such as putting on our own concert or
making a new recording. The group will continue for as long as we want it to.
None of us relies on it for financial security so in that respect we’ll keep
going for the foreseeable future.
4. Obviously, London
Brass instrumentation is probably influenced by the Philip Jones Brass
Ensemble. When London Brass was set up, did you want to try different set up
then? What about now?
I
don’t think that there was any discussion about changing the lineup when the
group name changed from PJBE to London Brass. Obviously, all the repertoire was
already there to be used and the format was well established. As you know,
being the sole horn player in a ten piece is disadvantageous! With the bell
facing backwards we have to put in double the effort compared to forward-facing
trumpets and trombones. This is especially tough in a terrible acoustic. If the
acoustic is really dry and unhelpful and I find myself blowing into either
nothing or thick curtains then, I’ll try to find a table and stand it upright
on one pair of legs to provide a surface to blow into to reflect my sound back
out into the audience. Of course, if I’m positioned quite close to a rear wall,
say in a church, then I have no trouble being heard! I’ve often thought that it
would be a good idea to have two horns; I think some ensembles do this. But actually,
I quite like being the sole horn player; it means I can adapt as necessary
without anyone else knowing...
5. Does London Brass
publish and sell their own music and arrangement? Are there enough repertoire
for this instrumentation?
Most
of London Brass’s arrangements are published by BrassWind Publications as part
of its London Brass Exclusive series. The group has had very good member
arrangers over the years (Chris Mowatt, Roger Harvey, David Purser, myself etc)
whose arrangements have been published by BrassWind. We the arrangers receive a
few pennies every now and then from BrassWind when someone buys a copy of one
of our pieces. I now tend to sell anything that I write from my own website.
That way I can maximize any income without signing away most of it to a
publisher. There seems to be plenty of repertoire for the ten-piece format. LB
has commissioned many pieces over the years from well-known composers so the
format is here to stay I expect.
6. What is your
thought process in creating a performance program? How do you manage your
relationship with different types of audience?
One
of the trumpet players, Andrew Crowley (who is the current manager too) tends
to come up with programme ideas. We generally work on the formula of older
music in the first half and more recent music in the second, often with more
jazzy elements to feature our 2 jazzers, Richard Edwards and John Barclay. Most
of the older music repertoire has been arranged of course but the newer music
can be both original compositions and arrangements. Often the agents who book
us will ask for certain pieces or tell us that they don’t want us to play
pieces we played last time we were in a certain place if we are going back there
on tour. Generally, the audiences, especially abroad, are very enthusiastic to
whatever we play. In fact, much more so than in the UK. I think UK audiences
are spoilt for choice when it comes to concert going so can be rather
apathetic. Perhaps this is down to the large brass band tradition here. German
audiences are particularly appreciative and we always enjoy touring in Germany.
7. Does London Brass
do any community project (such as playing in a hospital or jail)? Is it
important to engage in different community?
We
don’t get involved in those sort of projects. I know that some ensembles do,
especially when starting out and trying to get established. Going down the
‘education’ route is a good way to get work and exposure. I think that music is
very powerful emotionally and it can bring joy and relief to all sorts of
people who don’t normally come into contact with live music and experience its
interactive quality.
8. As social
media has become part of today’s life; how important it is to be active online?
Would this model change in the future?
Engaging
in social media is the modern way to get noticed. I grew up in an age before
computers and still feel a bit awkward when it comes to selling myself on the
internet. That’s the reason that I don’t do Facebook as I’ve never been good at
shouting ‘look at me’ from the rooftops. Today’s students are encouraged to
engage in self-promotion and seem unselfconscious in doing just that. I think
it would be seriously disadvantageous to not take advantage of all social media
if you’re an aspiring artist. I can see the benefits of it so maybe one day
I’ll catch up!
9. As you are
all extremely busy musicians, how often do you rehearse together? What is or
have been the group rehearsal technique? What did you do if some disagreement
occurs?
If we
have a patch of work coming up we will generally have just one or two
rehearsals beforehand. Often, we will be playing repertoire that we’ve played
many times before so it will just be a case of refreshing our memories and
trying to get some strong chops back! Also, there might be one or two deps who
don’t know the repertoire and would appreciate the rehearsals more than the
rest of us…
The LB pad is not for
the faint hearted! We play through the pieces, stopping when required if
someone has a question, decide who’s going to start each piece and who’s going
to bring everyone off at the end. You know the sort of thing. If we disagree on
something then we compromise as would anyone else. It’s only music after all.
we all know each other too well to fall out, and remember that our prime motive
is to have fun.
10. What are the
problems that the ensemble has encountered so far and how do you solve them? It
would be great if you could list as many as you can or at least few significant
ones.
Honestly the problems
that occur are mostly transport related. Almost without fail when we tour
something will go wrong. Examples are: planes being delayed so that we have to
dash straight from the airport to the venue with no time for sounchecks etc,
instruments not appearing on the carousel and having to use borrowed
instruments, music getting left behind in the previous venue, foreign bus
drivers who get lost (this happens a lot), hotel rooms not being ready when you
arrive after a long journey just when you desperately want to have an afternoon
sleep, finding nowhere open to eat when you need food, etc. Luckily Andrew
Crowley is very unflappable (at least externally) and always seems to find a
resolution. It’s much easier touring with a small group of friendly brass
players than with an orchestra and all those temperamental ‘others’! Last
minute illnesses are quite tricky. Finding say a tuba player to be free for a
10 day tour the day before it starts is problematic. That’s when I’m glad that
I never became an orchestral fixer. Image having to deal with people phoning in
at the last minute with all number of excuses why they can’t make the date.
11. What is the
ensemble future goal?
The group will
continue for as long as we carry on being engaged by our agents or other random
opportunities crop up. As I wrote earlier, we all play with the group for fun
and musical fulfilment, not fortunately really for financial necessity and as
long as we all feel that we want to continue, we will. We get to go on
enjoyable tours and give lots of joy to lots of people in our concerts. For example,
this December we will be in Germany touring with the Hanover Boys Choir. We did
this four years ago and it was really satisfying to hear the boys singing
Christmas music along with us, a group of British musicians at a lovely time of
the year.
12. Any word of advice for young professional musicians who are about to
go to into the ‘real’ world? What do they need to prepare?
Life
continues on and there will always be a new crop of young players starting out
and trying to establish their reputations to take over the mantle from the
older generation. That’s the way of the world. Young players need to be
determined to succeed to make their marks on the music world. Enthusiasm and
dedication are paramount. If they want to enjoy a long, successful and
enjoyable career they must be armed with a thick skin to withstand everything
they will encounter. An inner self confidence is vital to help sustain through
the ups and downs that they will experience. The ability to self-examine is
useful too! Be sociable and always treat your fellow musicians with respect,
especially the older ones. As for conductors, however...
