Those who’ve known my musical tastes for a long time might be wondering what the title is about. I’m not sure I qualify as a metal-head any more but my primary area of interest when I was starting to play bass was around the hard rock and heavy metal sounds of bands like AC/DC and Iron Maiden. More recently, one of the projects I’ve been working on is playing bass with a local wind band, the Charnwood Symphonic Wind Orchestra, and, through that, I’ve recently had the opportunity to acquire a number of brass instruments.

The ones I picked up today (along with a wooden-bodied flute for Jane) were a Bb trumpet, a marching band (forward-facing) euphonium and an Eb tuba. That last one, in particular, is the most literal ‘heavy metal’ instrument I’ve ever played. I’ve not played brass instruments before so I was pleased to be able to get some sort of note out of all of them.

The one I’ll focus on first will be the tuba. If I can pick up the basic technique to play notes over a reasonable range, my musical background will help me quickly get to the point of being able to start using it, at least with the Training Band. Actually being able to use it with the wind orchestra (nominally made up of players at grade 6 or above) might take a little longer but would be a longer term goal if I get the foundations established. Early days yet though – I’ll be chatting with the trumpet player at church (and fellow band member) tomorrow to find out what I need to know on the basics of caring for a brass valve instrument and see where it all goes from there.