OUT OF THE BLUE: BEATRIX BRASS

- Who are you?
I'm Beatrix Brass from Hilversum.

- What do you do for Beatrix?
I play the trombone, and because the trombone section of Beatrix Brass is a little short on members I join in with my friend, John, every now and then. This article isn’t about me; it’s about Beatrix Brass. Just out of the blue, a great group of the Beatrix family.

- How many hours per week do you practice?
Well, I play every day, but I can’t speak for the others. Some members are good enough to rely on their experience from the past. While I’m playing veil trombone sounds, Pim and the other guys behind me produce a sound that would make the average trumpet player quite jealous. This also applies for some others on the Tuesday evening. Luckily for me, not everyone is a star player, but practice certainly gets us somewhere. And from that point of view it’s just like the old days and today’s Beatrix’ Drum & Bugle Corps.

- How did you get to know Beatrix?
I have known (Jong) Beatrix for around fifty years and I also witnessed the foundation of Beatrix Brass. Beatrix Brass is a great way to be involved and gives you the opportunity to make music with people from many different generations of Beatrix.

- What do you believe to be Beatrix’ power?
I travel from Drachten to Hilversum, and the rehearsal nights are terrific. You just get to play music. Most of the pieces aren’t too difficult, even though we do have a few challenging parts. And as said before Beatrix Brass holds a lot of Beatrix history. Take Pim, for example. Who doesn’t know him? You don’t? Have a listen to this music fragment:... From 1975...

Or download the MP3 here.

Picture: Pim de Vries, solo in action

I can tell you about more members with an illustrious past; sometimes musically and sometimes on other fronts. Willem, for example, has more anecdotes about himself than there are honorary members (I saw that on the list at our building).

- Are you going to make it?
Beatrix Brass is definitely going to make it! We enjoy making music and the atmosphere is always very good. It would, however, be great to have more members in the group. Pick up your instrument again, or borrow one from the club and try playing one more time. There are members from recent generations of Beatrix’ as well as people from my generation, but there are also some generations missing. John is a unique person and it’s fantastic to play along with him.

- Do you have anything left that you would like to say?
Music always lives, so there is life after Beatrix. It’s called Beatrix Brass.