Hopefully the post will also be useful for anyone who plays in an ensemble.

My final article all about Schecter Guitars!

My second article about Schecter Guitars!

This new blog series is going to consist of three articles: Article 1: Why I Love Schecter Guitars Article 2: Three Schecter Guitars I'd Recommend to Other Guitarists Article 3: Which Schecter Guitar Would I Buy Next I have played the guitar since I was about 13 years old and my journey started much the same as many other youngsters. I remember hanging out with some friends and one of their older siblings was showing us bands like Green Day, Nirvana and Metallica. Playing mus

Utilizing Sound Effects in Musician-Made Videos Without Masking the Performance

It only seems like yesterday that I wrote the 'My Experience' post for the 2026 British Open. This has been a similar weekend but with our Brassed Off Live performance on the day before the contest this time. What an audience! I've performed at the National Finals five times. Twice with the Staffordshire Band, once with the GUS Band, once with the Fairey Band and now with Grimethorpe. Getting there with Grimethorpe is not easy, because the Yorkshire Regional Contest is notor

This year's British Open was a special one because not only was it my fourth British Open with Grimethorpe Colliery Band but we also performed Brassed Off Live the day after the contest in the Symphony Hall. That is usually a concert performed by other leading brass bands but from what I could tell, the tickets haven't sold well in the past, so as it is the 30th anniversary of the movie, we were kindly invited. Taking the contest applause It was such a strange feeling going b

***THIS EVENT HAS SADLY BEEN CANCELLED*** Even though I play for a Yorkshire Brass band, I was born in the West Midlands, UK and brought up on brass banding in the West Midlands. It is naturally an area that I follow and always like to support. For example, last year I was a guest soloist with the City of Birmingham Brass Band. You can check out a video from that concert - HERE! I am very excited to be the adjudicator for the WMBBA Solo contest this year (2026) which is soon

In this blog post, I am going to introduce the band's current line up and also celebrate some of the players from the past who we as a section have been inspired by.

How have I found the new Sterling after 4 months?

My experience of the 2026 Whit Friday Band Contests with Fodens.

For this blog post I am going to give you some tips on how to practice a musical instrument (or voice) in a way that makes you improve quickly but involves doing the complete opposite to what you would normally do. I am a brass player, and a lot of my examples will be directly suitable to brass playing but there is no reason that the same logic cannot be applied to any musical instrument and be suitable for a musician of any ability. I practice a lot (currently in between wat

How can musicians deal with toxic people, with strategies to help protect yourself from nasty messages.

My first thoughts of the new Sterling Virtuoso Euphonium!

This blog post outlines my experience at this year's Yorkshire Regional Championships, held in Huddersfield Town Hall, where I performed with The Grimethorpe Colliery Band.

Cheap Guitar Review, is it worth it? YES!

This is a topic I often get asked about, so thought it would be a good one to kick off 2026! I am going to write this blog post aimed more towards parents but it should be equally valuable for students and teachers to read. My daughter is only 11 (as of writing) and has only taken her year 6 SATS exams so far so I don't have much personal experience with my own child. However, I am obviously more biased towards music because I work for the Entrust Staffordshire Music Service

How good is the new Sterling Virtuoso Euphonium? I share everything I know in this blog.

The new Sterling Virtuoso Baritone is here, how good is it?

This is my review of Dan Gosling's brilliant Chop Saver lip balm!