‘Niobe’ – theme for the first Canadian Navy ship

I came across this little march back in about 2019 on a trip to the British Library where a copy of it is held in the reference library along with another three pieces published in what appears to be a fairly rare band journal called the “Standard Band Journal”. This is a journal of which…

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Gabriani – most definitely NOT another George Allan march!

One of the things we always hear about George Allan is his excellence in the brass band contest march format. He’s the gifted amateur “march king.” you say. It’s certainly what he’s best known for nowadays – and when I say ‘best-known’ I mean ‘just about only known for.’ We know that the brass band…

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That “Eureka” Moment!

If I were to exclaim “Eureka!” you’d be forgiven for thinking I’d discovered something – after all it’s an expression probably best associated with Archimedes discovery that if he plopped himself in a bath tub filled to the brim with water then, lo and behold, all of the water that spilled over the side would…

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Exploring the Sounds of Victorian Shildon, with Queen Victoria’s Consort

While researching the music of George Allan and Tom Bulch mainly as a writer I have found that there are dimensions to what we would love to understand that are difficult, if not impossible, to explore without the help of others. Usually this involves commissioning someone’s help. But occasionally something helpful happens that is incidental.…

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Aronia – a George Allan march mystery

One of the pure joys of the festive season is that it occasionally yields a little time to explore and research – and there has been little opportunity for us to do that of late. So on having a little time to indulge I thought it would be good to dip into our collection of…

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A Family with Military Tradition – and Music.

This piece has been inspired by the fact that I have just rendered an arrangement of one of Tom Bulch’s military descriptive fantasias – The Young Recruit – in Sibelius software, a recording from which will be featured in this post. It had me reflecting upon how important the military tradition was within the Bulch…

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Coming Home in Glorious Colour for Covid’s Unwanted Anniversary

One of the things I wrote about during 2020 was our Project Homecoming which we created in partnership with our Project Manager, Alison Lister, and Greenfield Community College with Greenfield Arts which was funded in part by Northern Heartlands, one of the Great Places schemes, the County Durham Community Foundation, National Lottery Heritage Fund with…

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Greenfield Academy’s Unfinished Symphony

It was almost a year ago that the Friends of the Wizard and the Typhoon started work on a project, called Project Homecoming, with the young people of Greenfield Academy school with support funding from Northern Heartlands, a Great Place Scheme. That project involved engaging experience arts facilitatators to help the young people explore the…

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Covid Times – The Jubilee March

It’s hard to believe that the last time that we heard anything new in person from our collection of George Allan and Tom Bulch music was back in August 2018 when we had our first concert at Ushaw College. A second concert we had planned, in partnership, was to have happened in April this year…

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