Play Along Resources: Trumpet, Trombone, Cornet, Tenor Horn and Bass

August 11, 2021

Scottish-based brass teacher Grant Golding has been busy over the last few months creating what he hopes will become one of the largest 'play-along' brass instrument resources on the YouTube media platform. He spoke to 4BarsRest about his work.

Learn to play

Alongside his teaching commitments, Grant is also an education ambassador for Warwick Music Group and apart from regular vlogs he also worked on the groundbreaking resources www.brasstabs.com and "Learn to Play pCornet & pTrumpet".

He told 4BR: "During the pandemic, we all felt isolated and there were great inspiring videos appearing from musicians around the globe, Not having weekly lessons has been a challenge for all young brass players so I finally managed to put some of my teaching materials online."

Youtube.com/brassblastuk has a huge resource of theory quizzes and more importantly play-along backing tracks with the score on screen.

Tunes, tunes, tunes

He added: "It's crucial these days to connect to our students through their musical culture so every tune on the page was requested by my students."

The resource features music from video games, the latest chart hits and some classic tunes — so there is everything from Shostakovich to Franz Ferdinand, Minecraft to Herbie Hancock and more.

"Immersion is key. Backing tracks just make practice so much more fun," he said.

As liberating as it is to be free from the restrictions of the school run and busy termly timetables, it can be a daunting prospect to fill all the free time that the summer holidays offer our children. We've put together some musical-themed activities to help you keep the kids entertained.

Sweet Child o' Mine

"There was no surprise that pupils ask for tracks like 'Blinding Lights' and 'Sweet Child o' Mine', but one asked what it was like to play in an orchestra so we simplified the parts to Dvorak's '9th Symphony' just so he could see what it was like to count the bars rest!

As a brass teacher, I'm very aware of the lack of play-along material for Eb tenor horn but now with a playlist of 110 songs I think that'll keep my horn students busy for a while!"