Canonbury Brass – What's New?

Year 5 – Quaver Castle

Latest stuff for the Union Chapel!    

UPDATE: new videos up now!

Our new Year 5 page aims to have everything you need for the big concert. Go there, use the resources, tell me what else you need.

Please visit often 

I am still updating it so there might be new stuff the next time you look!  

Year 6 – Snakes and Beans

Latest stuff for the Union Chapel!

UPDATE: new videos up now!

On our updated Year 6 page I hope you will find everything you need for the concert

Please visit often

I am still updating it so there might be new stuff the next time you look!

Brass Ensemble – Oh When the Saints

Latest stuff for the Union Chapel!

UPDATE: new videos up now!

I have just updated the Brass Ensemble page with the latest versions and maybe they are a bit easier to read? Have a look!

Please visit often

I am still updating it so there might be new stuff the next time you look!

Tune of the Week

A new feature with a lot to listen to and think about!

There's a new tune every week; we listen to it at the start of the lesson and think of some words we'd like to say about it and this all goes on the Tune of the Week page with a word cloud and a link to the music.

Update: while we work towards the Summer Concert, we are doing Tune of the Month and Tune of the Week Replay to save us a bit of lesson time. It's still great but it's just a bit faster!

Year 6 ... Jingle Bells

Yes, we had to do it!

Year 6 did Jingle Bells for the big Union Chapel concert ...

We used our new Year 6 page for helpful resources: now it is in use again for our next big Y6 brass adventure! 

Wednesday 15 December

Q&A has a new, short ending!   

At last I have sorted this out.

Many of you - perhaps ALL of you! - have heard me moan about it in lessons. 

The outro for the tune "Q&A" on p. 4 of our book was much much too long and used to make me very cross and want to get out the scissors. 

If you go to our Simply Brass Backings page you can hear the new version (almost no-one has, yet) and you can also understand why this news item has this graphic. Enjoy!

Thursday 4 March

World Book Day!

At the Odds & Ends page you will find a new link to Ben's Trumpet, a YouTube video showing us a children's book, by Rachel Isadora, from over 40 years ago about a historical period more like 90-100 years ago. It's an interesting brass story as well as a bit of a history lesson, and has amazing artwork, so please go and look!

Wednesday 3 March

Warmups - buzz your mouthpiece

The warmup pages might just be the most important stuff on this website! Watch my Class Dojo video for today, and visit the new Mouthpiece Buzz page for five really useful reminders.

Tuesday 2 March

Wonderful tenor horn playing!

At the Odds & Ends page you'll find a link to a great tenor horn video, and on your Class Dojo portfolio you'll find some questions about it.

Thursday 25 February

Buzzy lips

To be great players we need a great warmup! The Buzzy Lips page is the newest thing at Warmups, and my video for today does the whole thing for you and then plays you a new tune on a silly big old trumpet. 

The new buzzy page has buzzy reminder points for the buzzy video. Confused? Ask me! Happy? Tell me!

Wednesday 24 February

Back to Brass

It's really happening! Watch my Class Dojo video today and visit Odds & Ends for a new card about restarting brass - in less than two weeks WOO WOO WOO!

Be there, be ready, be great!  

Tuesday 23 February

David Adewumi video

Welcome back!

A fantastic Nigerian-American trumpet player, who won a major competition, features in a lovely relaxed video which is the latest thing linked from the Odds & Ends page. Would you like to answer some questions? They are in the usual place!

Thursday 11 February

Rhythm reminder

Know your Ta from your Two with a brand-new easy revision guide, the latest card at our Odds & Ends page.

Download your own PDF reminder of the shapes, values and names. It's the good stuff!

Wednesday 10 February

Cornet and trumpet - just the same, or what?

At the Odds & Ends page you can see Dr Brian Shook explore this Frequently Asked Question. It's a good video. You can earn Dojos for answers too!

Tuesday 9 February

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Stunning! Please hurry over to Odds & Ends for a new link to a great YouTube performance.

Thursday 4 February

Warmup page changes

I've made changes at the Warmups page  to make it nicer to use and easier for you to find the information you want.

There are now separate pages for Backing Music and Horsey Flaps, and there will be pages for the other steps too … watch this space!

Wednesday 3 February

Horsey flaps

We talk about Horsey Flaps, the best way to start your day's playing, at our warmups page. If you can already do it then great, go there and practise: if not, come along now and have a try. It's a win/win.

Tuesday 2 February

A brass solo from a 70s man in a hat! 

Hop along to Odds & Ends  where the newest thing today is a link to a YouTube video with a 1970s brass soloist playing his Huge Hit Tune - and in the Portfolio you can earn Dojos for answers.

Thursday 28 January

Warmup backings

I've added a new card at the Warmups page to talk about our warmup backing tracks. Whether you fancy a Silly Marching Band, or a bit of a Darth Vader Moment™ or simply shouting "oy!" you need to know this stuff. Read, learn, warm up, GO.

Wednesday 27 January

Main page: minor changes

Today it's just some minor changes to the Home page of this site, pointing out where there is useful stuff for you.

Tuesday 26 January

An unusual tune

If you go to Odds & Ends you'll find a link to a nice tune from Ibrahim Maalouf and if you like Dojos for answers you will find some questions in your Class Dojo portfolio for today.

Thursday 21 January

More Inauguration excitement

I am completely OTT with excitement right now because a friend composed a fanfare for the US President's inauguration and it was great. It is also a perfect example of one of the common uses of brass, an important part of our heritage as players. It is the newest thing right now at Odds & Ends - go and have a look and listen!

Wednesday 20 January

Brass playing - skilful and silly

New today on the Odds & Ends page is a US Army band being wonderful, but also rather silly. Go and see what I mean.

Tuesday 19 January

Sell me your answers for Dojos whilst blissed out to some beautiful brass playing!   

Report immediately to our Odds & Ends page for some great music - in a short clip! - and a Dojo offer you can't refuse …

Thursday 14 January

Lots of trombones

There are lots of trombones playing Don't Stop Believin' by Journey at the Odds & Ends page. No work, no Dojos, just have a look and listen!

Wednesday 13 January

Neville's rich auntie and the instruments

Sadly, I do not really have an eccentric, wealthy auntie who gave me a load of money to buy instruments. But what if I did? Join me on our Odds & Ends page for the Mathsy Music Challenge and help me to figure out what I can buy. Bring a sharp pencil and perhaps some popcorn.

Tuesday 12 January

Massive multi-trumpet video and the chance for more Dojos

Another three Dojos are on offer for work on a video!

A Hope for the Future is from last April, but it's the latest link that I have added at Odds & Ends. It has some amazing trumpet playing - please go and see. Listen, watch, learn, get Dojos …

How to avoid Quiz Answers Pain

At the same Odds & Ends page, right after Star Wars, there's some help on "How to tell me quiz answers". Try the stuff there, but always remember that you can nag me in the Class Dojo video comments if we seem not to be communicating!    

Thursday 7 January

Three Dojos for a brassy Star Wars

You can get up to three Dojos for some easy answers on a video I'd like you to listen to and watch.

This is the latest thing at Odds & Ends so please have a try. (It's also got some great brass playing.) May the Force be with you.

How to avoid Quiz Answers Pain

At the same Odds & Ends page, right after Star Wars, I've put a new card called "How to tell me quiz answers". Will it help? Well, it can't get much worse than yesterday ...

Wednesday 6 January

A Wednesday Quiz

Earn Dojos For your brilliant quiz answers!

Today's quiz is the newest thing on our Odds & Ends page. Go and look now.

You can get up to 8 Dojos for answers! YES EIGHT.

Answers by Class Dojo Messages please.

Yeah but no but ... it didn't work all that well, did it, Neville? Tsk.

Tuesday 5 January 2021

Here we are again!

Welcome back everyone! I hope you saw my video today on Class Dojo ... it is great that you have called in here for a look: well done!

Another time, I will talk some more about what this site is about and what you can do with it, but for right now here on our Odds & Ends page is some excellent brass playing and a bit of a laugh from Mnozil Brass. Enjoy it!

Friday 17 July

Term ends with some lovely Baroque trumpet playing

If you visit Odds & Ends you will find a link to a YouTube video of an exciting piece for seven trumpets and timps! I've also written you a note about what is happening next on this website, now that the school year is over. That's on the newest card at the page top – please go and take a look.

Thursday 16 July

Summertime

Well, it IS the summertime, right? So, at Odds & Ends you will find a YouTube link to an unbelievable, wonderful performance by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, two of the greatest-ever jazz artists, of this monster song written by George Gershwin, clever bloke that he was. Please go and give it a listen: your socks will explode with delight.

Seven trumpets and some timps

Please see Friday 17 July for more on this.

Wednesday 15 July

Dvořák's amazing Largo

Run, don't walk to the Odds & Ends page for the very very popular and well-known Largo from Dvořák's New World Symphony. If you're playing it and anyone says "ah yes, the Hovis advert," please just smile politely and carry on with great dignity. Thank you.

Tuesday 14 July

This Old Man

Please visit Odds & Ends for the excellent and popular classic melody This Old Man (He played n, where n is a positive integer) and a tiny mathsy question about how it's written!

Monday 13 July

New page for This is my Wish

In order to give you a proper look back at our Christmas 2019 Brass Ensemble piece I've moved it to an updated page here. So now it fits in properly and works with the rest of the site. Hurrah!

Friday 10 July

Minor improvements

I've been doing some very necessary tidying and sorting out. Please read on to see what has changed.

This is my Wish

There is a new computer performance of This is my Wish at its page here, or if you just want to hear it directly without going to the page, the audio button below will do it for you. The old one was a bit horrible; this new one has better synthesized instruments and sounds more realistic. We can't do much about the computer voices: they just sing "ah" because they don't know the words!

Horn music postcard

I have tidied up the page about the postcard with horn music and added some minor but useful stuff. There is also a new question for you on the page: what does "op 31" mean there? Dojos for an answer!

Thursday 9 July

Living for the City: other voices

Two more amazing performances of our Brass Ensemble tune, one from Ike and Tina Turner and the other from Maynard Ferguson. Please join me in being amazed by what this song has inspired people to do.

You will find these two new-but-from-1974 performances in the Other versions section of our Living for the City page.

This is my Wish

Please look at Friday 10th July, just near here, for more on this.

Wednesday 8 July

Living for the City: new page, new link

Living for the City was getting a bit big for the main Brass Ensemble page, so it has moved to its own page where it has nore room to grow.

I've added another link, to a great live TV performance of the song – all the way from 1974!

Tuesday 7 July

Song performance link 

I've added a YouTube link, for Stevie Wonder singing Living For The City, to the Brass Ensemble page. There will be more developments here.

Monday 6 July

Brass Ensemble page open

We've started a page celebrating the Canonbury Primary School Brass Ensemble with music old and new and some information about the ensemble. It's early days yet and there is lots more to come, but you should certainly look at, and listen to, what is there now – whether or not you were in it before the lockdown! Pop along and visit the Brass Ensemble page for the latest information.

Friday 3 July

Susato Ronde v1

New at Odds & Ends is a lively, quick dance, Susato Ronde v1, by Tielman Susato.

Thursday 2 July

Take It Easy

Another day, another new, nice, easy tune (using just your First Four Notes) on the Odds & Ends page. Please go there and find Take It Easy – I think you might like it!

Susato Ronde

A little thumbnail picture of the new tune for Friday 3 July

Wednesday 1 July

Run Canonbury Run

Another new tune for you at Odds & Ends. Have a look. Need a backing, note names, or something else to help you? Just ask.

Tuesday 30 June

Oh When The Saints

There's another new, easy tune on the Odds & Ends page. It's Oh When The Saints, a very well-known jazz march.

Monday 29 June

Wind the Bobbin Up

Another nursery classic. Please go again to Odds & Ends where Wind the Bobbin Up is brand new today.

Friday 26 June

Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star

And why not? It is a nice little tune and (don't tell anyone) pretty easy to play. Please head over to Odds & Ends where it is the newest item today. And that A is played with 1st and 2nd valves – but you know that, right?

Thursday 25 June

Birdie, not stringy

There's a new photo of a Red Kite – the bird of prey, not the flying toy on a string – at our Pictures page.

Twinkle

This is just a tiny thumbnail picture – please see the Friday 26 June item on this page for how to get the real nusic.

Wednesday 24 June

Two horns

Continuing from Monday and Tuesday's talk about my postcard and the music on it we have two photos of horns on the Odds and Ends page for you to look at and compare. Are they the same? Really??

Tuesday 23 June

More on the postcard

I've added a lot of new content about the postcard that I introduced yesterday. You can go to Odds & Ends to see the introdution and to hear the tune, but maybe you might like to go straight to a new page about the card with a big picture and lots more information. Enjoy!

Monday 22 June

A slightly mysterious postcard and some slightly mysterious music

On our Odds and Ends page today you can see a favourite postcard of mine with a little bit of music – relevant music! – to hear too. Your questions and comments are warmly invited.

Friday 19 June

Happy, a 2013 pop hit in an amazing trombone version

Today on the Odds and Ends page you can see Christopher Bill, a man with great trombone and live-performance computer skills, do a rather wonderful version of this pop song, which was hugely popular when Y5/6 people were very young.

I'm sorry about the one moment of mildly bad language – please read the note about this on the Odds & Ends page. Thanks.

Thursday 18 June

THE (pBone) CLONE WARS

Michael Munzert clones himself and his blue plastic trombone to produce an impressive and quite bizarre video. Please hop along to Odds and Ends where it is currently the top item. Don't miss this one! Also there are two questions for you, and everybody likes questions, yesno??

Christopher Bill

A trombonist who also does magic with the Ableton software – please see 19 June

Wednesday 17 June

Oink!

A very very short and quite funny piece of modern classical music for trumpet, piano and squeaky plastic pig by William Gustav Morris. It's played by a great trumpet player called Aneel Soomary and his excellent colleagues. If you want to see it please visit Odds and Ends where it is the first item today. When you get there please carefully read the content warning and make sure that you are OK to watch it. If not, please just skip it.

Tuesday 16 June

Reggae trombone legend

Moving forward in musical time, we now have a link to a fantastic album by the Jamaican trombone star Rico Rodriguez. It's on the Odds and Ends page – at least till I get something better set up. Please go and listen to at least one song there – or the whole album, if you like.

Monday 15 June

Fantastic baroque trumpet player (also not Mr Young!)

Still on older instruments, a new link shows us Alison Balsom playing the baroque trumpet. It's here on the Odds and Ends page. Go and count the valves – you might be surprised.

Friday 12 June

Fantastic cornetto player (not Mr Young!)

To follow up on my talking about and playing the cornetto in my last two videos, I have added a YouTube link on the Odds and Ends page so that you can watch an absolutely top, genius player performing on and explaining this unusual instrument. Please go to the page and have a look: she is amazing.

Thursday 11 June

Really an ANIMAL picture?

There's another new photo on the Pictures page. It was definitely there and I saw it and photographed it. Not sure about the species though – can you help?

Lene Langballe 

Please see Friday 12 June for more about this amazing player    

Wednesday 10 June

New animal pictures

There are three new animal pictures on this page. One is very cute; one is funny and noisy; and one is a bit spiky, and possibly very bad news for its intended lunch. Please go and see if you can find the new ones.

Tuesday 9 June

Last page goes online 

With backings for p. 51 of Simply Brass now online, that makes the book sort-of finished. You can choose to play any page you like from 3 to 51 and we will have a backing for you.

The website will go on changing and improving. I will talk about this more some time soon. Simply Brass might be "finished", but Canonbury Brass is not!

Monday 8 June

A scaley page

Simply Brass page 50 is all about scales: seven altogether – that's three major, three minor and a surprising slinky chromatic. Now you can play them all with helpful backings at a good steady speed. Nicer than bunny-wunnies, and incredibly good for your playing skills!

Friday 12 June

March Duet – a big piece with a big role to play!

Page 49 is the last Simply Brass page that has an actual piece on it – after that it's scales and warmups, and, sure, they are important, but they are not what I would play to impress my Granny. So please go and have a look at p. 49 and see what you could do with it!

Thursday 11 June

Simply Brass page 48

With p. 48 of our Simply Brass book we get backings for March from Carmen, which everyone has probably heard at least once, even if they don't think so, and Rooty Tooty, a swing tune with a special growl for you to work on.

I'm just going to leave this here for now …

Yes, it is a brass instrument – even if it is not made of brass, it is played by buzzing your lips. Your comments would be much appreciated …

Please click the photo, or this link, for a bigger version so you can see the detail better.

Wednesday 3 June

Bugles on the Bandstand!

A great Alan Pring backing is waiting for you on p. 47 for Bugles on the Bandstand. You need to look at this one!

Ask me nicely and I'll play it for you.

Tuesday 2 June

Simply Brass page 46

A nice little Tekka-Tekka exercise and a super-famous Mozart tune await you on page 46 of our Simply Brass book. Go and check it out!

Monday 1 June

A fun Time Trial and a posh dance

On Simply Brass p. 45 you'll find a Time Trial which you can start slowly then play faster … and faster … and faster … how fast will you go?

After that is a rather good Gavotte, a posh, stately, perhaps even courtly dance. Well worth a look.

Friday 28 May

Castle Keep March

All of Simply Brass page 43 and most of page 44 is just one tune, the epic Castle Keep March. This exciting and grand duet is perhaps what p. 5's Castle March wanted to be when it grew up! To finish off, p. 44 ends with a wiggly lip slur exercise for the wiggly lip slur experts amongst you.

Thursday 28 May

Simply Brass page 42

Simply Brass p. 42 has the popular round Row, Row, Row your Boat and a very lively Alan Pring-backed piece, Skips.

A Canonbury euphonium

Here is a ❗John Packer JP174 euphonium just like the few Endangered Species examples that we have left. You would like to discuss euphoniums? Sure, we can discuss euphoniums. Off you go: what's your first question?

Wednesday 27 May

Tricky tricky, but then popular …

Simply Brass p. 41 is a bit of a monster, inroducing the tricky but excellent 6/8 time signature. But I talk you through it then give you huge long backings to just play around with, for as long as you like, so please have a look. The good news is that you can then play For He's a Jolly Good Fellow using your new skills.

Tuesday 26 May

Two new backings: p. 40

Please have a look at Simply Brass page 40 for two new backings. For one of them Alan says "slides only" – are we going to let that stop us?? I think not.

Monday 25 May

A Bank Holiday

As it's a Bank Holiday today there's nothing new on the site, but I thought you might enjoy a quick excerpt from Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, a wonderful piece for brass and percussion. There's a big noisy start from the percussion, then the trumpets begin as in this short sample. The horns join them in a second line then more and more brass and percussion – it's a big build-up to a very exciting finish! I will play you the whole thing someday when we are back together. 

Friday 22 May

At last – some animal pictures

Well it has been much talked-about, and often promised, but the Animal Pictures page has now started. I have more to do to it, as this is all quite new to me: it doesn't, for example, work on mobile devices yet. But it will! Enjoy.

Thursday 21 May

One huge tune occupies all of p. 39  

Come to Simply Brass p. 39 for the new tune Road Runner, an epic melody taking up the entire page, with a lively backing by Mr Pring himself. It's a great tune and quite hard work, but if you ask me nicely I will record it for you!

Ibrahim Maalouf

Ibrahim is a great French-Lebanese jazz trumpet player who does really amazing things with the Arabic musical flavour of this special 4-valve instrument.

These are all ❗ external links: photo by Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Wednesday 20 May

Some new stuff, and an old one reheated 

New scales to learn – Bb and D majors will make you think! Also on p. 38 of Simply Brass we revisit the Can Can but this time it's in the higher key of D. Slightly more tricky but it sounds great! Finally, there is a rather good Warmup in Bb Major – lots of slurs, with a lovely waltz backing. Go and see!

Tuesday 19 May

Simply Brass p. 37

On page 37 you'll find an expedition right up to D, and a very impressive piece that uses it!

Monday 18 May

Page 36 joins the fleet

Simply Brass Page 36 has a great, science-fiction-ish march, Red Alert, with a top backing from Mr Pring himself. Then Slippin' and Slidin' will let you test your fast driving skills at four different speeds from 100 to 160 BPM – that's fast!

Friday 15 May

Two new backings on page 35

How are your triplets? These tunes both need you to think Tri-cy-cle quite a lot. Warm-Ups is an amazing lip-slur exercise that slides down through 0, 2 and 1; Triplet Tune is, erm, a tune with triplets! It also has a slightly amusing musical joke in its middle 4 bars – it is a reference to a much more famous piece of music. Can you spot it?

Thursday 14 May

A great tune – duet or solo?

Simply Brass p. 34 comprises just one tune – but it's a monster! It can be a duet or a solo, and if you need a duet partner I will make you a special recording. I play it, both parts, in my Class Dojo video for today. 

Sheona White

Possibly the top tenor horn player in the world! I am just about to get her new album – please ask to hear a bit when we are all back together again. She's a fantastic player.

Wednesday 13 May

A haunted house comedy and an OTT backing

Simply Brass page 33 offers you the jokey (or is it jokey-spooky?) Hootchy Cootchy with an Alan Pring backing, and then Run Around, a simple scale exercise in which I got a bit carried away with the backing ... enjoy.

Tuesday 12 May

Simply Brass p. 32

Two different scales, one major and the other minor. Then you can play a bouncy tune called Study.

Monday 11 May

Clementine, and other good stuff

Now have backings online for page 31 of Simply Brass and you can play the favourite Clementine from … several generations ago. We also have a bouncy tune full of the Tim-ka rhythm, and a tricky slurring workout that you can turn into a Mega Exercise.

Friday 8 May

Bank holiday 

Because of the Bank Holiday and the VE Day commemorations there's no new Simply Brass material, but I thought, in view of the significant date, that you might like to hear a military bugle sound Last Post.

You can listen to the tune in the sound gadget below, and along there → is a photo of that sort of instrument. If you imagine playing your cornet or tenor horn but without moving any valves, you'll have a good idea of what it is like. Try it!         

It's a pity but I don't know who the bugler is in this recording: it's not me.

Thursday 7 May

Tricky rhythms, a wedding favourite, and a filmic extravaganza! 

Mr Pring has really surpassed himself with Simply Brass page 30 – an epic nine lines of varied music! Please go and see.

A bugle for VE Day

This is my ex-army bugle, like you or I would use to sound Last Post. Important point: no valves.

Wednesday 6 May

Two very dancy classics

Simply Brass p. 29 is online now with Alan Pring's own backing for Lord of the Dance and a great big orchestra waiting to play the Can-Can with you!

Tuesday 5 May

A bit of Bach and some technical cleverstuff

Now we have page 28 with the whole C Major Scale and its Arpeggio: serious exam work, but also fun to play! Then you can enjoy J S Bach's lovely Minuet.

Monday 4 May

Three great items on p. 27

We've added Simply Brass p. 27 today: visit Alan's website for the backing to a stately dance, or on this site do a Speed Trial (ask me for a faster version if you dare) and have fun with an old favourite.

Friday 1 May

Scaley!

Simply Brass p. 26 features that C Major scale that many of you are so keen on playing, along with a great AP backing for a Fanfare, and a gentle warm-up for you to get super-smooth.

Thursday 30 April

Page 25 and more Pring mega-backings

Page 25  is another one where Alan's website has the backings you need. Go and see – these are two more top tunes.

Work in progress

Here is my Band In A Box software with which I am working on p. 26, High Point.

Wednesday 29 April

News about page 24

I've added Simply Brass page 24 to the list. Two pieces, both with fabulous Alan Pring backings … it's good stuff: please go and look and play.

Tuesday 28 April

Page 23 and two great tunes

Page 23 backings have erupted onto your website with the backings score:
Pring 1–1 Young. Go immediately and check it all out.

Monday 27 April

Simply Brass page 22

Please go and see what we have for page 22 – a fantastic piece called Stately Dance which you can play as a duet or on your own! It has a splendid backing by Alan. 

Friday 24 April

Page 21 with one AP and one NY backing

We've added p. 21 with Alan Pring and me sharing the honours on the backings. Don't tell anyone, but his is better than mine … at the moment!

Thursday 23 April

Simply Brass page 20

Hmmm. Well, I was thinking of stopping at p. 20, at least for a while. Take a look at it and see if you can guess why I felt I couldn't stop right there, right now!
(There's nothing actually wrong with the tunes there … well, not exactly … erm … go and look!)

Wynton Marsalis

The legendary American trumpeter – a wonderful player in both jazz and classical styles

Wednesday 22 April

Page 19 brings you three more goodies

Visit our Simply Brass backings and investigate p. 19 which has just arrived, with a very strong contrast beween its first two tunes and the last one! Go and have a look …

Tuesday 21 April

We add page 18 to our backings

We've added Simply Brass page 18 to our collection of backings. There's a slithery smooth warmup slurring exercise and a great duet – or is it two solos? – with surprising five-beat notes to play!

Monday 20 April

Three amazing tunes from page 17

Page 17 has come along to join us with backings for a very agricultural version of Old MacDonald, an old holey (but not holy) favourite, and a slurring study that will make you a mega-player*, in time!
*Terms and Conditions apply.

Friday 17 April

Page 16 online

Page 16 is the latest to join our collection of Simply Brass backings with a couple of technical challenges and one tune that seems oddly familiar …

Thursday 16 April

Two more backings - it's page 15!

We now have the backings for page 15 online. There's a brilliant slurring exercise and a fabulous new backing – never before heard in a Canonbury classroom! – for Concert Fanfare.

Stop that at once!

This small dog is NOT properly authorized to operate that piccolo trumpet. Tsk.

Wednesday 15 April

Simply Brass p. 14

Two excellent p. 14 tunes, with one slightly dodgy backing from Neville and one really ace one at Alan's site. Map and compass provided.

Tuesday 14 April

Back to work!

With the Bank Holidays out of the way, let's have a look at p. 13 of Simply Brass where you can play the excellent Muscle Builder and, at long last, we have a proper backing for the classical megatune A Little Beethoven. Go and be that London Symphony Orchestra!

Monday 13 April

Easter Monday

It's another Bank Holiday today, but the Easter Bunny is fitting in some brass practice.

Please click the photo for a bigger and (slightly) more heroic version

Today's Bank Holiday Sound Snippet is a brilliant horn solo, played by Alan Civil, on "For No One" by The Beatles.

Friday 10 April

Good Friday

It's a Bank Holiday today so let's all have the day off!

But before you go off and chill … just listen to this amazing brassy fanfare from the beginning of J. S. Bach's Easter Oratorio. It's played on old-type trumpets, with no valves, like the one in the photo.

Thursday 9 April

Page 12 for two more tunes

Now that we've got page 12 online, you can play Hold Your Breath as well as the mega-favourite Lightly Row.

A Canonbury tenor horn

Here is a ❗John Packer JP072 tenor horn just like yours:

Wednesday 8 April

Page 11

Here's another chance for some great tunes as we add page 11 to the site. Lots to do here!

Tuesday 7 April

Page 10: something different

We now have page 10 up on the website but there is something different and new about it compared with all the others so far! Can you see what it is?

Monday 6 April

Here is page 9

Now we have page 9 online for the latest tunes from Simply Brass (SB). There's lots of good work to do here, and one barnstorming monster song! (Ah-Ha)

Friday 3 April

Simply Brass – page 8

Page EIGHT! Say "woo". The wonderful Bubble Gum, the fantastic Study, at two different speeds … and oh yes there seems to be another tune here too …

Thursday 2 April

Page 7

Look for Page 7, just added to the Simply Brass page, bringing you three favourite tunes. Don't play in that rest! … oops

A Canonbury cornet

Here is a❗John Packer JP071 cornet just like yours:

Wednesday 1 April 2020

Simply Brass page 6

Page 6 is now up on the Simply Brass page, with some great tunes including the classic Jumping Beans at three different speeds.

Tuesday 31 March

Online safety

External links – that is, pages outside this website – are being marked with this symbol:❗which means be careful, and please read up here if you need a reminder.

Please show what a sensible computer user you are by taking online safety very very seriously!

Monday 30 March

Simply Brass page 5

Page 5 is now online on the main Simply Brass page. Three new songs from Roll Along  (or is it Mary?) through Castle March to Easy Es are there right now for you.

There are plenty more pages to come, so please keep checking.

Friday 27 March

Simply Brass

Page 4 is now online on the main Simply Brass page. All the songs from Up Up Yeah! to Q & A are there now for you.    

Thursday 26 March

Simply Brass backings

Page 3 is now online on the main Simply Brass page.  

If you are one of those people who always wants to go back and play Acoustic Thing – this is your moment!

About Simply Brass

I've started an information page which will explain about the book and how we use it. There's lots more to follow.

New logo

Three valves - there's a surprise!

Wednesday 25 March

Brass instrument notes and piano notes don't match!

Aaargh! What is going on? Why have people been lying to each other about Cs and B♭s and E♭s for, well, centuries?

Read a new article that tells you how someone playing another instrument at home might be able to match your notes!

Top Tip: they might want to get a Nice Cup of Tea first …

Newsflash: now with an exciting music notation version!

Odds & ends page launched

The new article above is the first on the Odds & Ends page, where I plan to bring you all sorts of, er, stuff …

Tuesday 24 March

Horsey flaps!   

Added a portrait of a horse to the Warmups page. Just in case.

Go Prrrrrrrrrrrr for a slow count of 4 then do it again a couple of times. Don't forget to pause for a breath in between!

Monday 23 March 2020 

New site design

It looks nicer and works much better on mobile devices 

New logo

I got a bit bored with the old one so I borrowed some valves from a free online art site and then put a nice splash of Canonbury Orange behind them.      

Warmup inspirations

I've put in links to some of the musical ideas behind our warmups. Have a listen! You can jump straight to the Warmup page to read "Warmup Inspirations".