1646 - Issue 1

‘Everyone in the audience thought: “I can see that our children have found confidence and self-belief through music. Now, what if you could give those skills to people who are kind of on the edge of survival – that has to be really life-changing”’, Lizzie continues. ‘And then they realised that maybe this was just as important for our community; that the benefit was mutual’. The fundraising united the school community, who raised a total of £10,000 – and the tour became an important way for the School to see how the money was being spent. On tour In October 2016, the Reading Blue Coat tour group set off for Kampala. Opportunities to make music, visit the Katwe slum, go on safari, and make new friends through Brass for Africa, meant that the tour was truly life-changing for everyone involved. ‘When my friends that were on tour came back, their attitudes to a lot of things had changed’, Angus says. ‘They didn’t take things for granted so much anymore’. ‘Because the way everyone is taught music is different’, Angus continues, ‘when you go out and play next to these guys, you’re both learning from them and teaching them. You’re all sharing these different influences; you’re sharing your knowledge’. ‘There can be something in this for everybody’, says Jim. ‘And that’s the great thing about our charity; you can sit next to people who live in very different conditions, and really get to understand them – you’re all level and equal in that orchestra or that band. The key to this relationship is that it has to be transformational.’ Lizzie is now working with Jim, Reading Blue Coat Chaplain James ‘The Rev’ Stephenson, and the RBC music department to organise a 2020 tour to Uganda. The group will be made up of no more than 20 students, to allow full integration. ‘It’s Reading Blue Coat young musicians alongside Brass for Africa young musicians’, Jim says. ‘What we’re providing is transformational; we need to make sure that EVERYBODY’s going to get value out of this’. ‘You don’t even need to take the best musicians’, Angus adds. ‘You need to pick the best candidates that would get the best out of it – and would give the most’. Endless possibilities Since its inception, Brass for Africa’s reach has grown exponentially. In October 2018, the charity had its New York launch, hosted by celebrated violinist Joshua Bell and opera singer Larisa Martinez in their Manhattan home. An exciting project on the horizon is the ‘Side-by-Side Project’, whichwill see young Brass for Africa musicians collaborating in outreach activities with young British musicians and performing at the prestigious Cheltenham Music Festival with Grammy Award-winning jazz musician, Wynton Marsalis, in July. The Jim Trott factor The reason for Brass for Africa’s continued growth and success, is Jim Trott’s unflagging passion for everything that the charity does, and how his passion infects and affects everyone who comes into contact with him and draws them into this extraordinary charity. ‘You know, it’s the weirdest thing’, says Jim; ‘I’ve never been driven to do anything like this before. It surprisedmemore than anyone. It actually unlocked things in me that I never knew I had. I didn’t know I could compose for full bands or orchestras. I just didn’t know I had that in me – until I met these kids. And did this. It’s changed my life. I feel really lucky’. www.brassforafrica.org 1 9