The buildup has already begun for one of the most eagerly anticipated dates on the Drogheda Brass Band’s calendar. From the Saturday 21st July right through until Friday 27th the band’s annual “Summer Sounds” school of music will take place.

This year sees the return of Alan Bourne again taking the senior band through their paces for the week. With him, Alan brings wife Claire Bourne who will be principal conductor of the Drogheda Youth Brass Band. Summer Sounds newcomers Alice Jones and Claire Higgins will help with tuition throughout the week.

The course will begin on Saturday evening and ends with a concert in the Droichead Arts Centre on Friday 27th July which will showcase the work that has gone on throughout the week.

If recent years are anything to go by this is a concert not to be missed!

Just a quick note to say the band has been featured on the home of brass banding, 4barsrest. I would like to thank Iwan Fox for posting the short article I sent him regarding the events over the last few days.

The link to this is http://www.4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?world=uki&id=5772

For the Drogheda Brass Band, the June bank holiday weekend means Townley Hall and the longstanding “Art in Action” festival. Art in Action is a unique event in Ireland’s cultural calendar encompassing the arts, crafts, philosophy and music, all held in the grounds of Townley Hall, two miles outside Drogheda.

The Drogheda Brass Band have been privileged to been invited to perform at the festival for the past several years. This year the band performed on Saturday 2nd June, the day following their “Showstoppers” concert in the Droichead Arts Centre.

After much uncertainty, the weather was kind to the festival and band, who proceeded to play a selection from the night’s previous concert, including some crowd-pleasing numbers such as Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” and some more adventurous fare such as their national championship-winning interpretation of Peter Graham’s “Gaelforce”, “Vitae Lux” and Cole Porter’s “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”, featuring Brian Murphy on solo trombone.

Occupying a prime position in the centre of the grounds, the band entertained the crowds for some ninety minutes before returning home to Drogheda.

>> View all pictures from this event

June 1st was to see the Drogheda Brass Band’s first concert of 2007, entitled “Showstoppers!”.

Opening with “Boogie Woogle Bugle Boy”, our return to the Droichead Arts Centre was, from the opening, a series of show stoppers. This feature – composed, amazingly enough, by Prince – shows off the front row cornets’ abilities to the full. This was only the first of a number of challenging pieces for all the sections of the band.

Next on the agenda was an abridged version of Goff Richards’ “Oceans”, one of the pieces with which we won the national band championships earlier in the year. The many movements of this piece evoke imagery of seas and oceans around the world, from the laidback waters of the Caribbean through storm-laden seas to regal clipper ships returning home from the great oceans.

The band likes to feature their youth band in all their performances; it is wonderful experience for the players who will, before long, be sitting along with the senior band itself and an amazing demonstration of the talent prevalent in the young people of Drogheda. Under the baton of principal cornet Stephen Murray, the band has improved in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. At this concert they performed for nearly half an hour, playing such challenging pieces as “” and “Deep Harmony”. Stephen and band were rewarded with rapturous applause.

After a few moments, the senior band returned to the stage. There was a distinctly Celtic flavour to this half, incorporating as it did Peter Graham’s “Gaelforce” and Bill Whelan’s “Riverdance”. Introduced to the band many years ago in a “Summer Sounds” course by Archie Hutchison, “Riverdance” is, for the Drogheda Brass Band at least, truly the showstopper of them all.

Following the concert, the venue was Corrigan’s in Georges Street for a post-concert party. Band members, friends, relations, ex-members and audience members joined together for food, drink and dancing into the wee small hours.

Also at the party, conductor and musical director Michael Maher was presented with a card and token of appreciation for his sterling work and dedication to the band, without which neither tonight’s concert not a victory in this year’s national band championships could ever have been possible.

>> View all pictures from the concert and party