Conductors Corner: Interview with Philip Harper

It goes without saying that Philip Harper is one of the most recognisable figures in banding. As a youngster I remember him conducting Flowers Band at the much-missed Yeovil Entertainment Contest, a combination of his bright, modern programme selections and his unique presence in front of the band. There was also at least one occasion when he got wolf whistled as he came on stage but that's perhaps best left for another day. Nowadays he is Musical Director of the world-famous Cory Band and has overseen their incredible rise to an unassailable position at the top of the world rankings and a place in history as one of the best brass bands ever seen. Since the summer, the band has competed at the British Open, The National Finals, Brass in Concert and a tour of Korea, but within this busy schedule Philip and I got together for chat about himself, his career to date and where he sees banding moving in the future. 

A Bit About You

BBH: Firstly, could you tell us a bit about yourself? 

PH: I live in Gloucester and I'm a freelance musician doing all sorts of work such as conducting, composing, being Music Editor for Wright and Round Music Publishers and working as a Music Educator.

BBH: What were your earliest experiences of playing?

PH: I started playing at the age of 7. There is no musical tradition in our family, but we had a very active local brass band (The Castle Point Brass Band in Essex) and my parents sent me along. I was given a tenor horn and set on the path of a lifetime's discovery

BBH: Which bands did you play with?

I did 10 years with Castle Point, then a little with Aveley before I went to study at Bristol University. I also did 7 courses with the NYBBGB. One of the reasons I chose Bristol was my desire to play with the Sun Life Band, which I did from 1991-1996. I then lived in Japan for two years during which time I played with the Tokyo Brass Concord, as well as my local wind band.

Your Conducting Journey

BBH: When did you decide to take up the baton?

PH: Upon my return from Japan I felt more of a pull towards conducting, so I searched the classifieds column of the British Bandsman when I resettled in Bristol and applied to be Musical Director of the Thornbury Band in 1999.

BBH: Looking back, you’ve had a broad and varied conducting career to this point, conducting a variety of bands in the South West, North West and Wales. What experiences has this journey provided you with? How did each ‘stop’ prepare you, ultimately, for your appointment at Cory?

PH: I've never really considered that I had a life plan - I just go where the road leads me. I had always felt there was some inner compulsion to conduct and it is something which comes (physically) quite instinctively to me. However, I qualified as a classroom music teacher and did that alongside conducting at the beginning. As my reputation developed I found myself being offered more and more opportunities. Flowers was a big one and I really learned what worked and what didn't work during my 8 years there. I did a short period at Leyland but the chemistry wasn't there, as it sometimes isn't. That all changed when I went to Cory and we clicked almost straight away. I consider it the best job in banding and I'm determined that, as long as I'm there, I will give everything I have to it. Since starting with Cory (apart from a couple of early years with Manger Musikklag) I have never conducted another band in a contest, for example.

Composing and Arranging

BBH: As well as being a world renowned Musical Director, you are also a prolific composer and arranger, for example arranging Cory’s Brass in Concert. When did you first discover this talent?

PH: I've been creating music for as long as I can remember, and I seem to have endless ideas in my head for future creations. It's just the way my mind works and having Cory Band at my fingertips has only fired my imagination further.

BBH: What do you love about the art of writing music?

PH: I love letting my imagination loose, and I also love creating moments and experiences which can affect so many other people in a positive way. Without wishing to get too philosophical, I think expressing ourselves through an artform is one of the most humanising things any of us can do.

The Greatest Showman?

BBH: I think it is notable that, in a concert setting, your compering style is not just relaxed and conversational, it is engaging and you have the ability to keep an audience in the palm of your hand. Is this something you practice, or is it a natural ability? Do you plan and rehearse what you are going to say?

PH: Yes, I always plan it. I am aware that I probably naturally have what it takes to do this well (although I don't think that was always the case - I was a shrinking violet as a child!) But my planning of compering is very important to what works for me. The objective is for it to seem that I am talking 'off the cuff', informally and naturally. However, for every concert we do I make up a small sheet of bullet points to remind me of what to say, and I'll have rehearsed important things over in my head too.

BBH: How important do you think it is to keep an audience engaged in this way?

PH: It's absolutely vital. Without an audience there's no point to what we do as performers and anyone who has been to any of my workshops will know that a central point to all my work is to keep 'the audience' at the forefront of all creative decisions I make. Engagement is something that banding has always been very poor at, although I think we do it very well at Cory. However, we are just one band (and many other bands also do a good job). What is more existential is how the movement engages with the population as a whole and here there is much work to be done. Who amongst the general public in the UK is even aware of the National Competition for example? There's such a big opportunity here, currently wasted.

The Banding Movement

BBH: Having been at one of your concerts recently, it is clear that you do much more to engage people in banding, including a prolific use of social media. How important a tool do you see this as being for banding?

PH: Well, everything needs to adapt to survive. The pandemic was as stark an example of this as you could imagine. We're fortunate to have a member of Cory Band, Ali Woodman, who understands how social media and marketing works and he is able to really capitalise on these new tools for engagement. During lockdown for example, when we couldn't play a note publicly, he managed to more than double our online audience, which was truly amazing. We often include interactive elements in our live concerts, and social media is a great way to do this. We're also currently trialling The Cory Choir, where the audience joins the band in a performance!

BBH: Equally, at the concert I attended, it was striking that the majority of the audience were white and middle aged (although I was pleasantly surprised by how many young people were also there). Whilst I appreciate that this has been the banding movement’s core audience for generations, what more do you think the movement could be doing to push out beyond conventional boundaries and enthuse and engage a new audience?

PH: It would be interesting for one of our national bodies to commission research into this so that we have comparative figures for audience demographic over certain periods. It always seems to me that overseas banding audiences are slightly younger, which probably has something to do with the long history of UK banding you mention in your question, but this is just anecdotal. There are many examples of brilliant projects across the UK which increase inclusion and diversity at the grass-roots level and Cory supports these wherever we can. But in all cases, some hard numbers would be very useful, which would give us a chance to make a national joined-up plan to make sure that we maximise access to banding both for participants and audiences.

BBH: A fairly open question here; where do you see banding going?

I think a lot of the general trends are not good and, as I said earlier, I think there are some pretty huge missed opportunities certainly in the UK. When my work with Cory is done I feel it's inevitable that I will somehow lend more effort to exploiting these opportunities. The problem is that banding has never been very good at collaborating and working together - everyone is just fighting for their own little bit of turf, and to be honest the cutthroat world of contesting encourages this to a certain extent. The thing that always gives me hope however is to see people's reactions to experiencing brass banding. If we can present it in a positive and engaging way then I don't see what's not to love about it - for everyone!

A bit of fun

BBH: Which is your favourite contest on the calendar, and why?

PH: West of England Bandsman's Festival in Bugle, Cornwall. Why? The pasties.

BBH: What has been your favourite banding experience to date?

PH: I think being the Musical Director of Cory Band has been a life-changing experience for me, and I often still pinch myself in disbelief at some of the opportunities I've had - touring Australia, USA, Korea, all over Europe, enjoying such unprecedented competitive success and thrilling so many audiences. The first time we won the Nationals together (in 2013) was pretty memorable - I knew nothing would be the same again after that.

BBH: If you could ask one question of any famous musical figure past or present, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I'd love to ask William Walton for some composition lessons. Everyone has their favourite composers and he's one of mine, but I absolutely love what he does with harmony and rhythm in particular and I'd love to ask him how he does it!

Thank you, Philip, for taking the time to take part in this interview for the Brass Band Hog Blog. I can't wait to see what 2023 has in store for yourself and Cory.