Over the last 25 years, Richard Harvey has played trombone across the world; on Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia, at Wembley Stadium and the Royal Albert Hall to name a few! Having appeared as a soloist, conductor, arranger and composer, Richard's passion is to give children the same opportunities to make music that he had. This has led to him founding ‘Blast Off™ Brass’, delivering inclusive and interactive pBuzz workshops to schools.
Richard shares with us how a recent workshop went at Stutton Primary School...
"Pulling into the car park of Stutton Primary School at 9 am, I had that feeling that it was going to be a good day. I’d worked with some of these pupils before and, being a relatively small school, there is considerable scope to achieve significant progress. Mrs Janette Newbould, Key Stage 2 teacher, met me with a smile and a cup of tea, and I spent the next 40 minutes or so setting up for my whole school assembly; a wide array of brass instruments, my ‘hosepipe horns’ and carrot trumpet all laid out for the children to see, not to mention my plethora of bright red pBuzzes.
The assembly started at 10 am, and the children really engaged with my demonstrations of the instruments, asking relevant and intelligent questions about a whole manner of music-related matters. As usual, the highlight seemed to be when I played ‘Ode to Joy’ on a carrot, particularly when I took a bite out of it to demonstrate how the length of an instrument affects its pitch!
After a brief break, we started Workshop 1, where we talked about breathing and posture before getting stuck in with the pBuzzes. Some of the pupils who had taken part in my workshops previously seemed to pick up on what they had learnt before instantly, which was great to see, and this allowed me to incorporate some differentiation into the session to stretch and challenge them.
Following what was almost certainly the nicest school dinner I have had since about 1978, we commenced Workshop 2. This is geared towards the final performance and uses my multi-tracked backing track to James Brown’s I Got You (I Feel Good). The pupils were doing so well that we also added some choreographed dancing and extra notes, using F and G as well as the Bb and A.
At 2.40 pm a steady stream of parents flowed in and took their seats for the inaugural performance by ‘Stutton Brass Superstars’, which the children had very democratically decided upon as their monicker earlier in the day. After a brief explanation of what we had been doing during the day, the pupils demonstrated the knowledge they had gained by answering an array of questions I put to them on the spot. It was then time for the finale and the performance of the piece. The Stutton Brass Superstars peaked at exactly the right point, absolutely nailing it in front of a crowd of beaming parents – they really did themselves proud!
All in all a very enjoyable and rewarding day for all involved."
You may also like recent blogs such as Pennthorpe School Gets the Buzz or Why music matters in Schools.
Rich Harvey
Richard Harvey MMus BMus(Hons) FRSM AMusTCL was born in Slough in 1973 and began learning the trombone at the age of eleven. Leaving school at sixteen, he joined the Royal Marines Band Service and studied under the renowned orchestral trombonist Albert Thompson. During his time under training Richard won the prestigious Cassel Prize – an annual instrumental competition, and was subsequently awarded a silver medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
In 1994 he was drafted to the band onboard Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia and spent the next three years travelling extensively around the world, performing to world leaders such as Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, as well as Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the Royal Family. Richard began conducting in earnest in 2003, and after completing the year-long Bandmasters’ Course at the Royal Marines School of Music, he enjoyed tenures as the conductor of the Warsash Community Band and Southampton Concert Wind Band – an ensemble consisting of over fifty instrumentalists – and during his time with them he led the band on a very successful tour of Bavaria.
In 2007 Richard was selected for commission, promoted Captain Royal Marines and appointed a Director of Music, and over the next six years he ran three RM bands, took a year’s sabbatical to study for his Master’s degree at the Royal Northern College of Music and served on a six-month operational tour to Afghanistan as the Adjutant of the United Kingdom Medical Group – a challenging yet rewarding experience. In 2012 Richard became the first member of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines to be admitted a Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music before retiring from the Service after a full military career in 2013.
In 2015 Richard was appointed Bandmaster of the prestigious and historic Royal Hospital School in Suffolk; only the sixth incumbent of the role since 1906, and over the next three years was responsible for running the concert band, parade band, brass ensemble, orchestra and big band; the highlight of which included a performance for HM The Queen at Newmarket.
In September 2019 Richard took up his current position as Lecturer in Classical Performance and Conducting at the University of Salford, where his duties include conducting the famous university brass band. In February 2020 Richard led the band to victory at the UniBrass contest, competing against prestigious institutions such as the Royal Northern College of Music. Richard is also the founding owner of Blast Off Brass; a workshop-based initiative to introduce brass playing to primary school pupils using the revolutionary pBuzz instruments, and in September 2020 he was incredibly proud to assume the role of Education Ambassador for Warwick Music Group. Richard said: “I have worked alongside WMG on various projects over the last five years or so, and have always been impressed by their innovative approach to music education. I am a fan of the pBuzz and use it to great effect in my workshops, and I am looking forward to incorporating the new pBugle into my sessions. I am incredibly excited to have been given this new role, and I am keen to get involved in as many projects with them as I can.”
