Workshop in Castlerea - Ireland

I have just returned from a very succesfull trip out to Southern Ireland and a place called where I performed a small recital and put the brass section of the Roscommon County Youth Orchestra through their paces!!

This was my first trip out to Castlerea to hear the youngsters play, in what is a very ambitious project by the Roscommon County Council and Roscommon V.E.C. with the support of Mid-South Roscommon LEADER Company. They want to develop participation in music by young people (something which I am very keen about) and in the coming years they want to develop a Youth Orchestra in the county. This is a very ambitious task as they will be building up a youth orchestra from scratch, section by section!!

I performed Dumitru Ionel's Rumanian Dance No. 2, The Swan, Variations in Olden Style by Thomas Stevens, Monti's Czardas and I couldn't resist performing the Posthorn Galop on a hospepipe!!

I then took the youngsters through some fun warm up and breathing games before I took them through the two pieces they were preparing for Chrsitmas. The youngsters did very well as some of them had only been playing for a few months or even weeks!! They made a great sound and I was very impressed by the level of playing. They were a great bunch and joined in well as I picked on a few players highlighting the importance of good posture and breathing to help with a good sound!!

It was a great day, well organised by Nathan Power and I am very much looking forward to heading out there again in the near future to work with the youngsters again!!


For more info on the project http://www.roscommonarts.com/

Tuba Travel Troubles!!!

Les Neish may have eventually returned home from the USA, but his beloved tuba took a much more interesting route home...

After a fantastic week out in Michigan with the Brass Band of Battle Creek, including the American Premiere of Brass Band Battle Creek, tuba star Les Neish enjoyed a rather eventful journey home.

After mechanical failure on the plane from Detroit, Les, Martin Armstrong and John Rudkin were heavily delayed into New York, which meant them missing their connection home to Manchester.

At this point the trio were put on the same flight the next day and put up in a rather suspect hotel, minus their bags which were full of expensive Christmas presents.

The next day and after the 7 hour flight home, the lads arrived at 9am into Manchester Airport to find all their bags had arrived except Les's tuba!

'Nil desperandum!', as Les, who now had less than 4 hours before he performed with the Tubalate group that afternoon called Ben Thomson, who depped for him.

Frantic calls to Delta airlines were made and all they could tell Les was that it his prized tuba was lost and they were trying to trace it’s location. That they did - in Madrid!

Eventually it was flown back via Frankfurt in Germany and delivered to Les's house by courier, still in one piece!!

The joys of being an international traveler!

Fnugg Video

Here is a recent video of me performing Oystein Baadsvik's Fnugg. I do enjoy playing this fantastic piece and it is always well recieved wherever I play it!! This is from a masterclass in a school in Northern Ireland!!

Enjoy!!!

Les

Badinage Recording

The CD "Badinage" is due for release on the 15th December. Just in time for Christmas!!!

I had a fantastic weekend recording the CD and am very much looking forward to hearing the finished article. To see some more pictures from the recording session click here

To pre-order your copy click here


Les

My travels with my tuba!!

Well I have decided to add a few pics of my travels over the last few months!! I have been performing all over the UK, with numerous performances in Northern Ireland and in Scotland.

Hope you enjoy these first few pictures!! Just click on the slideshow to start and then move your pointer over a picture to enlarge it. If you would like to see a larger version of the picture and see other features available just click on it!!

Enjoy!!

Les

Welcome to my new blog!!

After a few years of having a blog featured on http://www.brass-forum.co.uk/, I have decided that rather than just updating my blog with long paragraphs of text I'm going to try and keep it updated with pictures from my travels with my tuba!!

Hopefully this will be more interesting to read and give you a better insight into my life as a tuba player!! The next few months will see me performing all over the UK, in Europe and America and I hope I will have some great experiences to share on the blog!!

Also, check out the links section of my page. If anyone would like a link added to the page then please contact me and I would be happy to add it to the list. Check out the news feed from http://www.4barsrest.com/ too. This is a great website which must be visited by anyone who has an interest in brass playing and especially brass bands! Just click on any of the news items from the feed to find out more!!

Well, I think that is enough for now!! I'll be updating the blog very soon!!

Les