As an undergraduate Chris studied Jazz at Leeds College of Music and then became a member of the Advanced Studies, post-graduate performers course at the Royal Academy of Music and Principal Bass Trombone with the European Community Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. He then spent 25 years as a busy freelance performer based in both London and the North of England working with a wide variety of ensembles and artists, including being a member of Grimethorpe Colliery Band, The British Philharmonic Orchestra, Dame Shirley Bassey’s Orchestra and the Creative Jazz Orchestra.
Alongside this Chris has worked extensively in all areas of music education, latterly as a leading deliverer and trainer in informal, large group practice. This included roles as Leader in Wider Opportunities at Hertfordshire Music Service, Leader of Instrumental Development for Derbyshire City and County Music Partnership and as a face to face trainer on the Trinity Guildhall/Open University “Whole Class Instrumental Learning” national training program.
He became a key member of the team that created pBone, the plastic trombone in 2011/12 and has been involved with Warwick Music Group in various roles since then. Chris is currently Director of Creativity and Innovation for the company, a role which includes overseeing product development and improvement, quality and education.
Last year, the world's largest music show - NAMM - was cancelled because of the pandemic. Instead the NAMM Show organisers put together an amazing virtual event for educators, music enthusiasts and students as well as the music industry - they called it Believe in Music Week.[...]
As a Halloween treat here are two sets of BrassTab charts from WMG Education Ambassador Grant Golding, one for trumpet in Bb and one for trombone. You can have fun playing along with the original Ghostbuster’s theme and the Skeleton’s remix (find them on Youtube!).
I'm sure nearly every brass teacher and conductor has had that sinking feeling when a pupil arrives for their first lesson or rehearsal after having braces fitted. We all know that the stress and pain of a brace will be worth it for the wearer in the long run but what can we do[...]
In this vlog Chris Fower discusses where pBuzz has been used in Whole Class Instrumental learning and other large group settings and the resources now available to support this work, some of which are listed below with links and/or supporting videos.
It's nearly ten years since we launched pBone, the world's first plastic brass instrument. At the time pBone created what was quite simply a trombone revolution as the trombone world took our humble instrument to its heart. Since then pBone has become the largest selling single[...]
It's been a long time since we first began work on pBuzz and to be honest it's been a very interesting journey. So much has changed in music education over pBuzz's life time and now pBuzz is becoming much better understood and accepted. In fact we have made over 60,000 pBuzz[...]
After the success of our unique, brass starter instrument: pBuzz, many upper brass teachers loved the idea of a simplified foundation instrument but felt that pBuzz is, in essence, a lower brass instrument. Despite the fact that I carefully tried to make pBuzz the easiest way to[...]
I was lucky to recently meet (virtually!) award winning composer and leading brass educationalist Lucy Pankhurst. During our conversations about the numerous and exciting projects that Lucy is involved with she mentioned a new, free resource that she has created as part of an[...]
"Whether it's singing, creating, playing an instrument, or enjoying listening to music, evidence shows that engaging with music from a young age has many benefits. Plus, it's great fun!" - Music Mark Warwick Music Group are delighted to be supporting Music Mark’s “Get Playing”[...]
