Like staring at a cow

That's how Aaron Copland described the music of Vaughan Williams.

Our music doesn't sound like that - although our studio is on a dairy farm, so we do spend a lot of our time cattle-watching. It's the perfect place to write music, surrounded by the green hills and cow-pats of sunny West Dorset.

Big Shiny Brass sprang into existence in 2008. We wanted some fun and lively brass music to play at Christmas, so we got Matt to write us a couple of medleys. People said they were pretty good, so we got him to write some more...

That's the idea behind Big Shiny Brass. We like our music to be fun to play, exciting to listen to, and just that little bit different. We don't want to churn out music like there's no tomorrow. So we don't. If it doesn't make us laugh, smile or go 'oooh' then it goes in the bin. A simple philosophy, but a good one.

You can find out more about what we're up to through our fortnightly newsletter. If you're cool enough, you might be able to find us on facebook and twitter.

Feel free to pop by and see us if you're in the area. And don't forget to bring your wellies!

Matt Kingston

Matt came to be a composer quite by accident. He was quietly minding his own business, trying to avoid getting a proper job, when somebody politely suggested he write a piece of music for their brass band. "Alright" said Matt. "How hard can that be?".

Well, it wasn't too bad. The horn players didn't quite know what to make of playing in four sharps, but generally they liked it.
Suitably encouraged, Matt wrote them something else. "This time it will be in F major", he said. "Much better", chuckled the horns.

Five years later, Matt has arranged getting on for 200 brass pieces, has had his music performed on six continents, written a moderately popular trumpet method book, and still hasn't needed to get a proper job.