the London Borough of Hillingdon and for the last ten years under its present Director of Music, Eric Matthes. In 1974 the school Military Band and the Dance Band gave a series of very well received concerts in Ontario, and plans are going ahead for a similar visit to West Germany.
Youth in 1973 when they gained the Outstanding Award. The age range of the players is from 13 to 18. The present Band Leader is Barry Graham.
Pupils of Kingsdale School are encouraged to be versatile in their approach to music, to be able to play in different styles, and to play more than one instrument - several have become professional musicians.
Doghouse (Brian Harrison) Our opening number is based on the traditional blues in a semimarch idiom. It gives opportunity for improvisation to some members of the band over an eight-bar chord sequence, and is an excellent test of a band's ability to play in a true jazz-rock idiom.
The Dance Band, which was formed in 1968 as an offshoot from the Military Band, under its Band Leader, Edward Martin, first entered the National Festival of M usic for
Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein) This beautiful arrangement from the musical 'West Side Story', opens with a short introduction with the full band, followed by the saxophones
playing the melody in unison. The other sections then enter to bring the arrangement to a splendid climax. Hawaii Five-O (Mort Stevens) This number from the wellknown television series is a good test for the brass and percussion sections. We have chosen this piece because of its popularity with the pupils in the school.
Darlington Youth Big Band 6~ "' fl~~ ,:l !.,o; '
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Darlington Youth Big Band boasts a complement of 22 teenage musicians (18 boys and 4 girls). They started out five years ago, under their present leader Mr Alf Hind, with only eight or nine players. Mr Hind, instrumental instructor for Durham County, has recently acquired the assistance of Mr Ron Cockfield, who played lead alto saxophone with Ray McVay and the Johnny Howard Big Band.
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Leader: Alf Hind
Switch in Time (Sammy Nestico) © Banes Music Marranne (Martin Bunce) © Stanza Music Off-Duty (John Dankworth) © Stanza Music
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their TV debut in April of this year, in the Tyne-Tees Television Programme 'Zig-Zag'. They also played a 40-minute programme at an international festival at Horsham, Surrey, in July, alongside top music groups from America and Europe. Their national acclaim has brought them invitations to audition for the National Youth Jazz Band, and also an offer of a concert tour of America in 1976. Switch in Time (Sammy Nestico) © Banes Music This attractive up-tempo minor blues comes from a Count Basie record 'Basie-straight Ahead'. The trombone solo is taken by John Tobin and Michael Prior plays the piano solo.
Today, the Darlington Big Band make the swinging sound of youth, with five trumpets, five trombones, nine saxophones, piano, bass and drums. They play music mainly in the style of the Count Basie Band, but they do have arrangements by other bands and composers including Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini. Their success and confidence has built up over the years, by giving many performances at charity concerts. and the past 12 months have reall~ put them in the limelight. One of their most exciting ventures was 15
Marranne (Martin Bunce) © Stanza Music This was written for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra by Martin Bunce. It starts with piano '<1 la Beethoven' and becomes chiefly a fliigelhorn solo alternating between C minor and C major. Off-Duty (John Dankworth) © Stanza Music John wrote this originally as the title-track of an L.P. for Fontana in 1968. It starts with arresting brass chords and then features the trombone section, which states the melody. The trumpets play the counter-melody and then there is a full ensemble section before the solos. The themes are recapitulated before the final sustained chords and exultant final unison tonic note.