Personnel
Director of Music
Dr. Tim Thirst
FVCM FNCM FCCM FCAM FMCM
PGCert(Music) PGDip(Music) TD(Music) MSc PhD NABBC
As well as being qualified in music, Tim Thirst is a Chartered European Engineer, qualified in Mechanical,
Environmental and Telecommunications Engineering.
He also comes from a musical background.
His mother is a professional
musician and teacher, his father was leader of Stalham Brass Band, and also ran
a dance band in Norfolk. Tim's great-grandfather Walter Gales was a renowned
folk singer, recorded for the BBC by the composer E. J. Moeran in 1946.
Tim joined the Stalham Brass Band, forty five years ago, at the age of nine, as a collector, while
his father Gerald and the rest of the band 'mumped' around the wintry streets
of Stalham and district at Christmas time. "You never went out without four
or five layers of clothing on" said Tim
"and in those days a
collecting bag of old style pennies got very heavy. The upside was the hot
toddies, sausage rolls and mince pies at nearly every stop"
A year later and Tim was playing second cornet, stepping up
to front row cornet soon afterwards.
For 30 years he supported local branches of the Royal British
Legion, by performing Last Post & Reveille at Remembrance Services on more
than 70 occasions. "The
first service on Remembrance Sunday was always at Stalham. It was always
nerve-wracking there. The War Memorial is inside the church, and my grandfather
and aunt's names are recorded on it. Two minutes Silence is always at
11am. The next engagement was a few miles away. The church there has an outside
war memorial, so I had to sound Last Post & Reveille at 11.30. I
always felt somewhat apprehensive about rushing away from Stalham Church so
quickly." said Tim
"I think the most engagements I had on a Remembrance Sunday was five! Some
years at the outside memorials the weather was so bad, my fingers nearly froze to the valve tops on the
cornet."
In recent years Tim has once again returned to playing Last
Post & Reveille in support of younger players.
While at university in London he played Principal Cornet in top
section bands, whilst still returning home to cover Stalham Band's commitments.
At this time he also tutored junior members of bands and undertook his first
training as a conductor. When work took him to North Wales he conducted a lower
section band and played front row with another top section . " I always felt
that I still needed to be playing with Stalham" he says.
"Luckily I didn't have to drive back each time as the company I worked for
had a plane
flying regularly between North Wales and Norwich!"
In 1977 the foundation headteacher of Stalham Middle School,
John Wellings, invited Gerald Thirst to help him start a brass band in the
school. This
association continued for 26 years with Gerald and Tim going in on a voluntary
basis in school time and at weekends, as well astaking the band to music
festivals and the Royal Norfolk Show.
Continuing to coach
young players as well as adults, and adjudicating for Youth and Lower Section
competitions he gained brass instrument teaching diplomas for all age groups.
As well as
playing for Stalham, he played for Norwich, and Sprowston, also
playing Principal Cornet and becoming Chairman of Taverham Brass Band until 1983.
As a Vice-President of the East Anglian Brass Band Association, Tim and his
father promoted the introduction of a Youth Band section into the annual contest
at Norwich. When rising costs threatened the evening concert in Norwich by the country's top brass
bands, Tim sponsored it, enabling the tradition to continue. Youngsters from the
Stalham area also were given free admission to the concerts.
Continuing with his postgraduate music
education he gained five Fellowships from London Colleges of Music,
in Directing, Teaching, Composition, Performance and Musicology.
In 1998 Tim took over as director of the Stalham Brass Band,
a position his father had held for 50 years. As new young players joined the band, a
shortage of serviceable instruments, especially larger ones, became a problem.
It would take three years to raise enough money just to start buying new ones. To get over this hurdle, until the band could raise enough funds, Tim, and
another local donor, subsidised the cost of the first new cornets, trombone and
euphonium from their own pockets. These were the first new instruments the band had
been able to buy for fifty years. "With
young players it is important that their development does not stall. Even a few
months lost at that age can be disastrous. At our summer concert, a surprise
presentation was made to young players of new instruments. The
smiles on their faces said it all."
said Tim.
Unfortunately since the 1980’s music has nearly disappeared from the education
system, and Norfolk is one of the worst areas in the country. In the 1970’s
nearly every child in the primary school system would have received specialist
training in recorder and singing, which continued until the age of 16. In a
recent survey of over 6000 school children in East Norfolk only 400 had been
given any instrument or singing tuition and most could not even sing one hymn or
Christmas carol. Music education has always been known to increase the ability
of pupils not only in social skills but also in maths and science, and the
educational standards in the area are reflected by the lack of music in schools.
In 2002 Tim decided to start a training scheme to support young people through
music training in Norfolk. An initial appeal for donation of redundant
instruments produced a poor response. Not to be put off, he purchased with his
own money second-hand instruments for children to use, and the Stalham Jubilee
Training Brass Band was formed. In 2004 he was able to sell those instruments on
as the Local Network Fund, and Awards for All gave maximum grants in backing the
scheme, to enable instruments and additional teaching aids to be
purchased. Training could also be made available to adults as well.
Stalham Brass Band and Stalham Jubilee Training Brass Band were the first bands to be accredited to SAFE standards, and have child protection
procedures and officers in place.
In 2003 the Stalham Brass Band were nominated by the local
community, for the new Queen's Golden Jubilee Award.
Evaluation of the band's contribution towards building a better community in the
Stalham area took place over the following six months. Officers, and players in the
band as well as members
of the community were interviewed, and the band observed during performances. At the
beginning of June 2004 it was announced that Stalham Brass Band had won the coveted
Award. Only two brass bands in the United Kingdom are privileged to hold this award.
"Keeping
a brass band alive, in a rural area, is very hard work"
says Tim "it's not a
hobby, it's a long term commitment. For a band to be successful, players have to
turn out for every practice and every event. They all depend on each other.
That's why it's a Band, and when things don't go right from time to time,
as happens in all organisations with a long history, you just have to dig deeper
and work harder. We are here to ensure that Stalham's Brass Band has a long
future ahead."
Recording a new album for
charity, in London
with Liza, Bob and David Childs and Nick Hudson, for release Autumn 2007
Interviewed June 2004