Starburst

Starburst was composed in 2014 and is dedicated to the Greater Manchester Youth Brass Band, who gave the premiere performance at the Bridgewater Hall. The work demonstrates my ongoing contribution to the development of original band music and is an initial consideration to the function of band repertoire and its relevance to twenty-first century audiences and younger performer tastes.

Historically the role of the brass band has been to provide entertainment for the working classes through the performance of arrangements of popular music, and in the main this is a role it continues to uphold. With a wide range of multi-media options now readily available and accessible to the general public, the brass band, amongst other ‘classical’ music-making groups, is commonly seen as a nostalgic pastimes rather than viable diversion within existing social context.

The simple aim of the research is to produce a work which is both attractive to participants from the youth music movement as well as providing music with popular and current appeal. Rather than composing music that intentionally imitates the style of alternative genres, the work instead aims to integrate prominent characteristics of a range of current popular styles within the common practice of brass bands. This combination preserves band heritage yet creates a hybrid genre that is appealing to non-specialist audiences and remains largely unique to the medium, providing innovation within familiarity. The work makes use of ostinato and riff-based ideas combined with complex and frequent textural manipulation, both traits of contemporary music trends such as R&B, Funk and Dance.

Since its publication in 2015 the work has grown steadily in popularity, with regular performances at community and university level at festivals and competitions. The work has also begun to attract global interest with performances in Australia, New Zealand, America and Norway.