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Brass bands: "like a family"

British-born trumpeter, teacher and conductor Vickie van Uden talks about embracing the brass music whanau of Christchurch. Video, Audio

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Vickie van Uden Photo: Supplied

Vickie van Uden grew up in the north England city of Salford.

Barely in her teens, she joined her father and grandfather in the Salford band.

She studied and worked in London where she met a Kiwi, eventually persuading him to return home to New Zealand with her.

Now van Uden has thrown herself into the Christchurch brass band scene, conducting the Sumner Silver Band, the Woolston Learners Group, Woolston Junior Band and the National Secondary Schools' Brass Band.

Speaking with RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump, she says brass bands are more than a collection of musicians - they become like a family.

On top of all her conducting, van Uden is working to bring in a new generation of brass players in Christchurch through a scheme she brought with her from London: the Wider Opportunities music programme.

The idea is to give children access to instruments they otherwise couldn't afford, by providing them with trumpets, trombones, tubas and horns made of plastic.

She told Crump plastic is not only cheaper, a "P-trumpet" will fare much better than a brass one if someone drops it.

Van Uden also talked to Crump about her desire to get more girls playing brass instruments. She's encouraged the latest edition of the secondary schools band she directed in October had a boy/girl split of almost 50/50.

Her own idol was fellow English trumpeter Alison Balsom who was a few years ahead of van Uden at London's Guildhall School of Music.

Balsom's example inspired her to form an all-female trumpet quartet with fellow students, Bella Tromba.

Sadly, van Uden had to leave the quartet behind, but maybe between lessons and rehearsals she'll find time to form a Christchurch version.