Interview Series: Richard Bissill (and the London Brass!)

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.” 

And here is the London Brass performing a cool piece by John Bull called the Chicken!

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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...

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More information of London Brass can be found at http://londonbrass.net/ or on their Facebook page.

Richard Bissill (photo courtesy of Yamaha UK)

Richard Bissill is currently a principal horn at the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, UK, as well as a long time horn professor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is also a highly sought after arranger and composer especially music for horns which can be heard from the two London Horn Sound series CD from Cala Records. He is also a Yamaha Artist.

More information can be found at http://www.richardbissill.com/ or
https://uk.yamaha.com/en/artists/r/richard_bissil.html.

Fat Belly Blues by Richard Bissill

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Heads up to Thai readers!

Richard Bissill is coming to Thailand!! as a jury of the 5th Princess Galyani Vadhana International Ensemble Competition in Bangkok. He, along with other jury members, will give a performance on July 22, 2017 at 7pm, and will give a master class on July 24, 2017 from 9am to 4pm! All events are at Sangita Vadhana Hall, Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music and are all free of charge!