Ryan Garton, Baritone
I started playing the cornet when I was 7 years old but that didnt last long; I wasnt suited to it, probably mostly because it took a very long time for my front teeth to grow so buzzing and lip position was difficult. I moved onto the tenor horn in January 2003. have been following the ABRSM syllabus and took grades 1 and 2 on the tenor horn. I moved onto the baritone September 2005 and I am currently at grade 5 standard. I have been a member of Derby Music Centre almost since I began to have lessons. My brother and I spend all Saturday mornings there playing in three bands each, he plays trombone in several bands, one of them is the DMC Swing Band. I decided that I would really like to be in that band as well but couldnt be in it with my baritone so in April 2007, I started to learn to play the trombone as well and I am currently studying for my grade 6. I am on schedule to take that exam in the autumn. I have had to move over to the Trinity examination board because to go any further with the ABRSM syllabus I need to have attained grade 5 theory, which I am studying for and I hope to take that exam in the autumn, I have a lot of work to do towards that though. I gained a place in the Swing Band in September 2008. I hope to start grade 6 ABRSM baritone/euphonium lessons in the autumn but that depends on my theory.
Thanks to my good friend Charles Reed I joined Rolls Royce Training Band in July 2007, if it wasnt for Charles I wouldnt be here now. I have learnt a lot since I joined Rolls Royce. In November 2007 I won the Reg Clifton Memorial contest, I was very surprised and very proud to have won. In July 2008 I was asked to join the Rolls Royce Main Band with my trombone, probably because I had a good exam result, I am learning bass clef, so I joined playing my baritone. I am also learning tenor clef on my trombone now. In November 2008 I retained the Reg Clifton title. I think it will be very difficult to keep hold of my title this year, there are a lot of good players but I will try, no one has ever won the shield three times or at least there aren't three name plaques on the shield and there is only the name for one year missing.
I attend West Park Community School and play in three bands there, Brass Ensemble, Stage Band and their Guitar Club. I take part in a lot of music activities with school from trying to promote music in local feeder schools to taking part in the Bess of Hardwick project in 2008, playing alongside sinfonia ViVa. Favourite subjects at school are Tech, Maths, Science and of course Music. Subjects I least like are R.S., History and French. I am a member of the local scout group and I used to be a member of a Swimming Club but had to leave because there just isnt enough time in the week to fit everything in.
My mum thinks if my brother hadn't started to learn to play an instrument I would not be playing an instrument at all, I used to copy him a lot. That scares me I cant imagine life without music. Maybe brothers arent so bad after all.
