CHARNWOOD CONCERT BAND

Charnwood Concert Band represents the greatest depth of experience and is the most formally run of the three bands. Its reputation means that the band is in demand for appearances throughout the year at fetes, fund-raising concerts and public events.

Members of the Concert Band will all have attained at least ABRSM grade five or equivalent.

Rehearsals: Every Sunday evening during term-time between 7.00pm and 9.00pm at Loughborough Hospital, Epinal Way, Loughborough.

 

Judy Nicol - Senior Musical Director; Director, Concert Band

Although she had played the Eb Horn at the age of thirteen, Judy didn't take music seriously until taking up the saxophone at seventeen, followed by clarinet and flute. She attained Grade 8 in all three instruments within five years and went on to gain diplomas from the London College of Music and from Trinity College, London.

She has performed with numerous big bands including the Midlands Big Band and the original Radio Leicester Big Band (and has the LP to prove it!). She has also worked with Nottingham Symphonic Winds and with the Bardi Wind Orchestra. In 1990, she formed the appropriately named Judy Nicol Big Band, with whom she still performs. The band has toured Germany several times and has performed for the Ted Heath Appreciation Society.

Judy has taught woodwind and brass for thirty years, privately and in schools. During this time, she has run several ensembles for her pupils, including two saxophone ensembles, and has helped raise several thousand pounds for Macmillan Cancer Relief in the process. Eleven years ago, she formed a wind band, there being no local bands open to inexperienced players at that time. Charnwood Concert Band was born, later to become Bands and opened to the wider community. The rest, as they say, is history.