Tredegar Town Band

“I would never have learned to play or read music without the free education I received from Tredegar Town Band as a child. ”. – David John Roche, Composer

The Vale of Glamorgan Festival is thrilled to be collaborating with the Tredegar Town Band on a new commissioning process for emerging composers.

Aspiring music makers of any age, from all around Wales, are invited to engage in this process with the goal of creating new music for the world famous brass band.

The project aims to to seek out hidden, ignored or missed Welsh talent, of any age, from both traditional and non-traditional musical backgrounds.

Supported by the Arts Council of Wales and Ty Cerdd, the outcome of the process is entirely up to each individual music maker. This is a truly person-specific process and there is no standard approach. 

The process

6 music makers will be chosen to take part in this process and will receive between 6 to 8 hours of one-to-one mentoring sessions with David John Roche. These will either be in person or on-line, to be mutually agreed based on the needs and locations of the people involved.

Each music maker will have access to the Tredegar Town Band – it’s musicians and resources – and will be invited to attend rehearsal sessions (either in person, or digitally) to get to know the Band’s people and its sound world. They will also have access to, and receive advice from, internationally renowned Composer, and VOGF Artistic Director, John Metcalf.

Traditional musical notation support (if required) will be provided by David John Roche. Connection and collaboration with the other participants in the process is encouraged, as will be mutual skill and experience sharing between all mentees. Delivery of the self-identified aims of each mentee is the end goal in this process, whatever those may be.

For even more information on the process, and to find out more about the timescales and who’s involved, download the information pack here:

Information Pack – Person-specific, hands-on compositional training

How to apply

Applying for this process is easy. We’d like to know a little bit about you and your creative practice to date so have created this quick and straightforward application form:

Application Form

Questions can be answered in writing, or by video/audio file and we’d like you to upload or link to 1 to 3 examples of your work. And that’s it!

Applications need to be submitted by 5pm on Friday 2 December 2022.

Interested in getting involved?

If you are:

• An aspiring music makers or composers, based in Wales, from any musical background
• A music teacher from schools in Wales who would like to encourage composition skills and experiences within their classes and cohorts
• A local council, government group, LEA or Music Service who would like to promote the project throughout their networks and communities
• Anyone else at all who wants to be involved in any way!

Then email producer@valeofglamorganfestival.org.uk to be kept in the loop of everything happening with this project. Or even better, to receive news straight to your inbox, sign up to our Tredegar Town Band Project mailing list below.

David John Roche

David John Roche’s music is direct, determined, and loud. Strongly influenced by heavy metal, lush orchestral music, and his working-class Welsh background, David’s work has been praised for its “passages of intense expressive power” (Thomas Adès), described as “exquisite” (Adam Walton, BBC Introducing), and marked out as “bold, exciting, and beautiful” (Sir James Dyson). His compositions have been broadcast, televised, and written about internationally to millions of people.

Be kept in the loop

Fill out this simple form to receive every update on this exciting project straight to your inbox.