Kingdom Brass have been busy over the festive period strengtheing the ranks for a serious tilt at the Scottish Championship title in March.
Kingdom Brass are delighted and honoured to announce that their latest signing is the legendary James Smith LLCM LGSM (Hons).
James will take over as the principal cornet and will add a completely new dimension, drive and focus to the band.
A spokesman for Kingdom said today "It is a real coup for Kingdom to have James Smith sitting in the end seat; he is without doubt the highest profile signing in Scotland this year.
James is currently Head of Brass for North Lanarkshire Education.).
James has been Principal Cornet with Scotland's top bands over the years including Scottish Co-op for 3 periods and at Kirkintilloch, was Resident Conductor while being Principle Cornet.
He has amassed a huge amount of prestigious playing awards including 7 times Scottish Solo Champion; Terrence Gold Medallist 4 times and Skol Champion 6 times to name but a few.
He has travelled extensively throughout the world both as a soloist and a musician and is currently a consultant clinician to the Royal Marine Band.
He was presented with The Instrumental Tutor Of The Year award in 2004 and these skills will be an invaluable asset to Kingdom where James will not only play Principal Cornet but will be Associate Conductor to the band when Musical Director Craig Anderson's busy schedule requires his presence elsewhere.
James will also perform the roles of clinician and band trainer with a view to hopefully guiding Kingdom towards "greater things".
In addition to James's signing, the band has also recently brought in several new players to strengthen the contesting team. These include Warren Lindsay, signed from the front bench at Scottish Coop, Lynsey Paterson on percussion from Whitburn, Randi Holm, who plays 3rd seat down at Manger Musikklag in Norway and is currently studying in Edinburgh, and Matthew Hinckley, who is signing on percussion from Besses O' The Barn.
Also returning to the band after a spell away are Michelle Cain on flugel, and Martin Edwards on soprano cornet.
Band Chairman, Bill Sandell, said of the recent additions "These signings are all fantastic for the band, and will help us get closer to the standard of performance we want to be producing. 2007 started off well for us, with 4th place at the regional and a win at the Fife Festival contest, but the second half of the year wasn't so successful by our standards. Hopefully these players coming in will ensure we have a fantastic 2008. We see James Smith coming to join us as a statement of our intention to progress through 2008 with a renewed drive and focus on climbing to the pinnacle of Scottish Banding"
No sooner had the dust settled on that announcment when the band produced another signing coup in the form of Marion Brackpool DRSAM. ARCM. as the band's new Principal Trombonist.
Born and raised in Kilmarnock, Marion's brass banding career started with Kilmarnock Concert Brass with whom she remained for over twenty years. She was Principal Trombonist of the Scottish Champion band of 1979 and won the John Campbell medal for best trombone on that occasion.
On leaving school, Marion was awarded a MacFarlane scholarship to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She won the Governor's Recital Prize for Brass during her final year there, a singular honour.
She has subsequently worked with some of the main Scottish orchestras - BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Opera, RSNO and BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra. She was Principal Trombonist of the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland, Strathclyde Schools' Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. For the last ten years Marion has been Principal Trombonist with the Kirkintilloch Band and has participated in all of the major band contests including The British Open, National Finals, European Championships, Grand Shield, Brass in Concert etc. Marion again won the John Campbell medal on both occasions that Kirkintilloch Band won the Scottish Championships. In addition to brass bands, Marion also plays regularly with big bands - Tommy Sampson, George McGowan and Andy Mears. She is also part of "Slide Rule" ,a trombone sextet with rhythm section.
Marion works full time as an instrumental instructor for East Dunbarton Local Authority. Having spent many enjoyable years playing with NYBBS, Marion has subsequently been a tutor there and also with West of Scotland Schools' Symphony Orchestras and Concert Band.
The Chairman of Kingdom Brass Bill Sandell comments "It is a real coup for Kingdom Brass to attract a player of the immense reputation of Marion Brackpool, she is undoubtedly one of the finest trombonists in the country and it is an honour to have her in our team. This is further confirmation of Kingdom Brass's resolve to reach the pinnacle of Scottish banding in 2008".