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Case Study: The Great Big Trombone Band, Manchester

December 3rd, 2013 | 1 min read

By Chris Fower

We were very excited to be involved in The Music Show, the first music education show in Manchester hosting The Great Big Trombone Band.

This was an initiative with Greater Manchester Music Hub to give 3 schools the opportunity to have 3 sessions with pBones absolutely FREE with our own Chris Fower! And if that wasn’t enough, they then got to perform at The Music Show with some professional trombonists, like Jiggs Whigham Bones Apart and Mark Boonstra (New Trombone Collective).

The session was a great success and we heard from our Education Ambassadors – Bones Apart, we had a come and play session for the more experienced players where they played Warwick Music’s – Frankie and Johnny, and finally we got to hear the real stars of the show. The children from 3 schools in Bolton performed We Will Rock You with added extras from the fantastic Jiggs Whigham!

A fantastic day for all involved!!

Chris Fower

As an undergraduate Chris studied Jazz at Leeds College of Music and then became a member of the Advanced Studies, post-graduate performers course at the Royal Academy of Music and Principal Bass Trombone with the European Community Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. He then spent 25 years as a busy freelance performer based in both London and the North of England working with a wide variety of ensembles and artists, including being a member of Grimethorpe Colliery Band, The British Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Shirley Bassey’s Orchestra and the Creative Jazz Orchestra.

Alongside this Chris has worked extensively in all areas of music education, latterly as a leading deliverer and trainer in informal, large group practice. This included roles as Leader in Wider Opportunities at Hertfordshire Music Service, Leader of Instrumental Development for Derbyshire City and County Music Partnership and as a face to face trainer on the Trinity Guildhall/Open University “Whole Class Instrumental Learning” national training program.

He became a key member of the team that created pBone, the plastic trombone in 2011/12 and has been involved with pBone Music in various roles since then. Chris is currently the Director of Creativity and Innovation for the company, a role that includes overseeing product development and improvement, quality and education.