Rest of the Best 1996-2016 and this year's tour

Diane and I joined the Leeds Music Service twenty years ago. Diane, as head of Inclusive Music; I as her deputy and also as head of Steel Pans and Steel Pan Development Officer [always loved that title, as develop I certainly did!]. Playing Week was coming up, and traditionally, minority instruments and part-timers didn't participate.

Leeds Music Service Orchestra early 1990s, Colin Jones conductingLeeds Music \Service

Playing Week was when the orchestral instrument teachers paused in their weekly teaching sessions,  formed an orchestra and went on tour of Leeds high schools. The "jazzers" formed a Big Band and did the same. As Head of Music and Expressive Arts at Foxwood High School [during late 80s and 90s], I had the very great pleasure of both these ensembles' presence at my school.

Leeds Music Service jazz band with a whole lot of brass

The Orchestra played my all time favourite piece of classical music, Fingal's Cave, and Brendan invited me to dance in front of all my students. [It wasn't that I was only just back off my maternity leave that was a problem; it was that I experimenting with wearing a suit and had my school keys exploding from the jacket pocket during the jive!]

So, when we were told, as part-time minorities, to continue teaching, I opined that we could seek out all the other part-timers and form our own band; and Diane said, and we'll play all the Special Schools. Thus the most carefully named Rest of the Best was born. And twenty years later still going strong, and in some demand, sadly much more than we can ever satisfy.

We take whoever is available for as many concerts as they are available for. Sometimes a flautist might only pop in for one gig; sometimes the recorder quartet is a soloist. Sometimes players get a chance to rehearse; sometimes they just turn up at the gig. You might think it makes for insecurity, but far from it; it puts us on the spot; it gives others a chance to try out something new, or to shine, or be soloists when they were expecting backing band. With each new set of band dynamics we get inspired; it keeps us fresh.

Usually our last school is our best concert, but not this year! How did that happen? It only took twenty years, but we rocked from the start.  Day One saw us rehearse in the ArtForms Yellow Room, then we decamped to Milestone.




In rehearsal we were me, Diane, Fiona, Mike, Cathy, Bart, with first-timers: Chloe, Julia, Richard and Richard. At Milestone we were joined by Sophie.





Apart from entertaining the children with additional needs, we also lift the spirits of the teachers. They like watching the kids enjoy our tunes, interact and be moved by the music; plus they enjoy the music themselves. Then, we entertain ourselves, and in doing so bond a bit with each other, who we may not see all that often. Ships in the dark criss-crossing Leeds. At the concerts we don't sit next to the same people; we take turns taking the lead; we learn new repertoire from each other; we see what the children respond to. We meet new schools. It's like a little working holiday.

And here we are now twenty years later still at it.

Instrumentally we were keyboards, guitar, violin, sax, recorder, flute, bassoon, clarinet, steel pans, drum-kit, vocals, bass guitar,




In the afternoon we were at Brudenell, had lost Mike and Bart and gained Cathy and Tim.




Day Two found us at Rawdon St Peter's. We were now joined by Fiona and Joanna, and regained Mike. Here I meet teacher, Heather, who has booked East Steel for their summer fair in June. Love the connections.

Next we are at Green Meadows, just down the road in Guiseley. A warm reunion for me with Kevin, who I have known since he was a schoolkid at Bentley. Love the connections. Now we are joined by Sarah on violin. She was there to teach, but found herself on stage instead. Yo.

Our last stop on the 2016 tour of Leeds Special schools and schools with resourced units is at Broomfield over in South Leeds. We have lost Richard and Richard, and I find I am doing an unexpected steel pan solo. Even more unexpected I am asked to move the van just as I am about to embark on Under the Boardwalk. Keeps you on your feet, or in this case, in the carpark! [And I thought I had put it [the van] somewhere safe].






Exhausted but content, I sign off from Rest of the Best and go lead Quarry Mount Primary School's steel band at their International Evening. Possibly a gig too far.

East Steel play Bilton Gala May 2016

Well this is what comes of playing in Yeadon; we get asked to play in Bilton, north of Harrogate. And one town leads to another. At this rate we'll be in Durham before the year is out.

It was bucketing down at the beginning. We were me, Bex, Vicky, Wanda, Lynn, Wendy, Pippa, Sophie, Trish, with guests: Ash on kit and Georgia and Patrick. Actually Patrick's role was just to be passed about from person to person. I guess someone has to do it, and he really is the only one small enough.



Becky took most of these lovely photos from all angles.

Foxwood Steel play Belle Isle Family Centre

Well, no Foxwood gigs since 2015 and now two in four days. That's the spirit. I feel a season coming
on. On the day it was really raining, so it was an indoor do, but who's complaining. It's bouncy castle, Easter bonnet, face painting and buns. Ace.

We were me, Bex, Daisy, Amy, Natalie, Georgia, Gary, Charlotte, with three Smalls playing percussion on a pan case.

Local councillor, Paul Truswell gave a introductory speech. We played a lot; we loved the gig; everybody got to hold the baby;

Nothing went wrong. We all went home buzzing [well I think we did]. This blog is mostly pictures.

Foxwood Steel at Queens Hall Art Exchange

I cannot believe we got to April before Foxwood got its first proper gig of the year. Not counting Gig and me at the Station. Anyway Debbie S contacted some of the bands who had played Oakwood Market, and after crossing and uncrossing a few wires, we finally got to do some board-treading.

We were me, Bex, Ash, Sheeks, Amy, Sophie, Gig and half of Daisy, half of whose double seconds lay slumbering under the stairs in my house, and in the wrong case. We wrote a setlist that would be relatively quiet and asked Debbie to tell us if it ever got too loud. Which, of course, it did.








Becky [arriving on motorbike with Ash] turned out to have a really good eye for a picture, as you will see from those that adorn this blog. Queens Hall was particularly photogenic, and we were given tea and buns. Just the best. The event was a fund raiser for St Gemma's.

We packed the van and I introduced the band to the telephone extension that Lola and Daisy bought me, and had another cuppa.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows play Leeds Town Hall

When I offered my lovely Sparrows to play at the CLYM [City of Leeds Youth Music] Prom in March, I wasn't anticipating being thrown across the London Tube carriage in February. And so by the time the day arose they were self-directing while I could only watch and admire.



They were George, Millie, Milly, Georgia, Alice, Owen, Deangelo with support from Chloe, Natalie and Yi Bai. Their schools are or were Allerton Grange, Abbey Grange, Park Lane, Lawnswood, Bruntcliffe, Oulton [PS], Allerton High,

We/they played the Music For Youth set of Raindrops Keep Falling on My head, Fix You and Hold My Hand. And, to fit with the movie theme we/they played I Dreamed a Dream. Now several slightly untoward things here, and showed what consummate professional players they nearly already are.

1. Half of them went back [correctly] to a repeat in Raindrops but some of them, by now playing by ear I guess, went on to the final line. And, oh beauties of ensembility, they all just fell in together.

in rehearsal

2. For Fix You [a quiet, intense, sensitive piece], the audience decided to clap along, sadly not exactly in time with the Sparrows. The band, however, always stayed in time with itself. From the stalls I was unable to dissuade the audience from this course of action. [But next time I'm at the Oval, I will be clinging onto the safety rails].

3. Hold My Hand rocked the hall without disaster. That only leaves I Dreamed a Dream, for which Millie had her version of the music copied. This is the version with the first two line repeat not identified. After that I am not sure anyone was, musically speaking, with anyone else, but they did all end at the same time.

Note: This unwillingness to part with the original version of a song is a common phenomenon with all three steelbands [Sparrows, Foxwood, East Steel]. Players get attached to that first piece of paper, on which they added their notes, such as how they voiced which chord, or what rhythm is for which bar or section, and when I have made the structure clearer, or added Charlotte's belated picture, it makes no difference!

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows is an ArtForms CLYM ensemble. They tumbled out of their nest in 1999, have played all over Leeds and beyond, won awards, trod the boards at London Royal Albert and Festival Hall, and in June, with three teachers, three Sparrows are playing in Lille, Leeds twin city in France. Band leaders are Victoria Jaquiss and Bex Ainge.

The Lovely Teacher Trainees of Huddersfield in Halifax

In the all the excitement that was the London Underground I forgot the blog for Huddersfield and Halifax. So here it is, irritatingly for me, one blog out of sequence and making absolutely no difference to the reader. [Reader, I live in hope!]

In what is optimistically called the spring term half term holiday, I woke up before I normally go to bed, and was in Halifax before I normally get up. Ralph picked me up from the station, and took me up to Trinity.

After the shock of getting up at 5am the workshop was ace. Hazel let me loose on all her pans; the students were to a woman and a man, lovely [thanks to Lucy for dancing], and the biscuits - Garibaldi [say no more!]

I love teaching music graduates, especially those thinking of teaching. They have all the talents and all the skills while still being happy to go back to the beginning: chord, and an other chords, change chords, share out chords with a partner, songs with two chords in, with three, with two chords in one bar [now that's advanced] tunes for a bar, for two bars, what you want to the whole eight bars! A sixteen bar song?

And I met Kevin, who was Head of Service, who looked at me and said, "Music For Youth 2005?". And then he recalled seeing the Sparrows walking on stage at the Birmingham Conservatoire; he was sitting behind the judges; he said you walked with I can only describe an interesting set of teenagers, and you started to play. Words to the effect that the hairs on his arms stood up; the judges in front of him stopped writing and slowly rose their heads. At the end they just said "Wow".

Confidence jumped off the stage and decided to conduct

Thinking back, that was our first year, and was 2006; I think we started, as ever, with something slow and haunting, and it was probably Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet. I asked Kevin if he had any more stories like that. So good for the self-esteem. [Have now looked back through records and that we played Clocks and Swan Lake calypso].

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows play M4Y and Joanne takes a stand

Well, it's the time I always dreaded: university and other distractions claim half the Sparrows in one go. The others are all in the sixth form and/or have jobs, and can't do every week. Only Milly S is a regular safe hand. Two Year 8s [Kirsten and  Lucy] have joined from Wanda's wonderful Oulton School

Band, and Caitlin from Natalie's City of Leeds class. Sometimes there's only four of them. Then, here's Alice from Allerton Grange; Ashley has a burst of really regular attendance; in November Deangelo newly arrived from Turks and Kakos joins us, and late January Owen appears [still at Oulton Primary but good and bold enough for us]. So, if you count Claudia and Georgia as one player, that's a regular attendance of seven or eight. Then sometimes Millie C pays a flying visit, and we have Yi Bai, me and Bex who can play, and really, it's another fine ensemble. Good enough for Music For Youth.

Bex has arranged Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand; Coldplay's Fix You has been podding along nicely for a while; we add Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head [David/Bacharach] for contrast. Suddenly this half new, half older band is a contender. We are now totally proud and confident to be taking them out.

Then in February racing driver Tube train-driver takes me out [not on the tracks you understand, was thrown across the carriage]! I'm in St Thomas's Hospital, big operation, back up to Leeds in an ambulance, and I had only gone to London for an MU Teachers' Section Meeting!


Next two weeks Bex does the honours on her own, polishes up all those songs, and now we are Harrogate bound. Alice introduces the songs. I handle not setting up or leading the band on stage quite well. But glad to take a bow at the end, not feeling quite so much a guest at my own party.

There was a sour note, which was a bit sad really. We were due to play at about 12.45 as the last act of the morning session. We were determined that the Sparrows should see and support as many of the other ensembles as possible and aim to be there from 11. Georgia even borrows the car so she can bring her three children to watch all the acts. But now I can't drive at the moment and Wanda can't pick me, Deangelo and parent, Sandy up until 11a.m. and we will miss some of them. Turns out four bands don't turn up and everyone else has played by the time Dee and me arrive. Oh well.

Mark announces, "Leeds is here, hope you wait to hear them". Joanne [Sparrows parent] hears an adult from band behind her say, "Why should we, they weren't here to hear us?" Joanne took a stand, and declared that that wasn't a fair comment. I am proud of a feisty Sparrows parent; she was still upset when she told us. I think she would have been more upset if she hadn't put the other person straight.

Then, of course the tuck shop, without which no gig is complete. Mark P at St Aidan's has, as usual, made as feel welcome, and although it a trek to either Harrogate [or Garforth] it's always nice.

The music? Oh yeah, Fix You made me and Gig cry. So proud. Millie S held the melody on her own for two tunes, and the rest of the band kept the mix down in order to accommodate. Yo. New Sparrows - worthy successors.

Owen receives award

Pads watches it over again on ipad