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FORGET FLAT CAPS AND WHIPPETS. IN THE HANDS OF DAVID CHILDS THE EUPHONIUM IS A MAJOR CLASSICAL PLAYER. HAZEL DAVIS IS BLOWN AWAY PICTURES BY LYNDON EVANS

’ve had so many doors slammed in my face that it would have been so easy to give up,’ says David Childs. Harsh ‘Iwords from someone so softly spoken – but a reality check for those of us who might think his journey from keen amateur bandsman to internationally renowned euphonium soloist has been easy.

However Childs’ goals are clear, his drive is strong and his mettle is good. ‘I am determined to create a market for the euphonium,’ he says. ‘It’s not that there aren’t players as good as me or my dad, it’s just that they don’t have the drive or the desire to push those boundaries.’

The young boy was always going to have more than a passing interest in things brass. Born in the Yorkshire mining village of Grimethorpe to international euphonium player Robert Childs and his cornet-playing wife Lorraine, Childs spent his childhood immersed in music. But to go on to win his class at the BBC

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‘IT’S ONLY RECENTLY WE’VE HAD AN Young Musician of the Year finals in 2000 INSTRUMENT WHICH there was so I didn’t really need to go and himself become one of the world’s IS SECURE IN looking elsewhere!’ leading exponents of the euphonium was more than he dreamed of. INTONATION But for many, the prospect of following THROUGHOUT THE a parent’s career path is daunting to say ‘The first time I picked up a euphonium REGISTER’ the least. was when it was bigger than me!’ laughs the quiet but jovial 23-year-old. ‘At times you do get a negative response ‘My father made me a stool with two tiers so that I could sit from people who say “You’re only doing what you’re doing because on the top and the euphonium could sit on the bottom.’ of your dad” and you think “I don’t need this,”’ he agrees in his lilting accent, a beguiling mix of Yorkshire village and Welsh hill. From Young Musician of the Year, Childs went on to make his Proms ‘And other times I walk on to a concert stage where everybody debut in 2001 with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and played the knows how good my dad is and there’s automatically a certain Wigmore Hall in 2003 with a sonata for euphonium and piano standard expected of me. That can be hard. But all the good things specially written by Alun Hoddinott. outweigh those. I play the instrument because I love the sound it makes.’ And there was never any real doubt in his eyes that this was the life for him: ‘I saw my dad and my uncle playing and I loved what they Ever the pragmatist, Childs junior ensured that he worked hard at were doing. I just knew that’s what I wanted to do too’ he says with college, getting a first for his degree and garnering the principal’s the conviction of someone totally in love with their art. gold medal along the way. He’s now studying for his MA at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he also teaches. ‘I said to my dad “I want to be a euphonium soloist” and he said “that’s impossible”. But he has supported me all the way through and His sound business sense also led him to make the most of what he says to me now that I’ve done things that he didn’t think could be could have been a soul-destroying incident. At the age of 18 he done. He’s my biggest supporter – he’s with me all the way.’ had a serious car crash returning from rehearsals for the National Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall. His car What Childs didn’t realise when he uttered those immortal words collided with an abandoned vehicle on an unlit motorway. He was just how difficult the transition from keen amateur bandsman crawled through the windscreen before the car went up in flames. to internationally acclaimed soloist would actually be. The path to the top hasn’t been as well paved as one would gather from Badly bruised and cut, Childs had broken three fingers on his right listening to his commanding performances. hand – the hand he uses to press the valves down. With five days to go before the National Championships his father helped him work Childs’ journey began in earnest when he became the youngest out some alternative breathing patterns and he practised using the soloist, at 16, of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band. Two years later fingers on his left hand instead of right to press the valves down. he was the first euphonium player ever to win the brass section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. Assisted by painkillers and a supportive family, he got through the performance. ‘Ironically we won the contest that day and became He eschewed vague schoolboy notions of becoming an architect national champions of Great Britain!’ he says triumphantly. and decided to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with his father, senior tutor in brass band studies there. Says Childs, ‘My Rather than spend his ample compensation money on all the things dad was regarded as probably the finest euphonium player/teacher your average 18-year-old would, Childs invested in a commission:

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a concerto for euphonium and symphony orchestra from the great Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott.

‘I’m really proud of it’, Childs enthuses. ‘It’s a fantastic concerto.’

Others seem to agree as he has recently been invited to perform it at the 2004 Proms with the National Orchestra of Wales.

‘There were times when I thought “Was that really worth it?” I had this piece that I’d paid a lot of money for just sitting there not getting any performances but when you get something as big as the Proms it makes it all worthwhile.’

Clearly impressed himself, Hoddinott was moved to write Childs a sonata as a present, which he premiered at the Wigmore Hall. Childs is also ‘in talks’ with Karl Jenkins about a piece for euphonium and voice but once again finance (or lack thereof) has intervened.

However, with three solo albums under his belt, Childs feels he is on the way to making the mark he so desires on the classical world. His first disc, Prodigy, was an eclectic mix of new and old and even featured him playing the trombone, his second instrument.

His latest CD, Hear My Prayer, is a breathtakingly beautiful collection of Childs’ own favourites such as Abide With Me, The Lost Chord and The Old Rugged Cross. What could so easily be hackneyed brass band clichés in Childs’ capable hands become haunting, evocative pieces. Released on Doyen Recordings, the specialist brass label that Robert Childs and his brother Nicholas set up 10 years ago, the disc is an aural testament to the emotional power of the euphonium, something that Childs says is yet to be acknowledged properly by the classical world.

The main problem is, he explains, that the instrument has only On his own personal crusade Childs has a recording in the relatively recently achieved a state of near-perfection: ‘It’s only pipeline of a John Golland concerto (originally written for Robert in recent years that we’ve had an instrument which is secure Childs) as well as plenty of other irons in fires. in intonation throughout the register and can produce a lovely big sound. ‘I really do have lots and lots of ideas,’ he says enthusiastically. ‘I have developed a lot of contemporary repertoire for the ‘The other hurdle, of course, is people’s perception of it. The instrument over the last couple of years. Some of it may not euphonium isn’t a regular member of the symphony orchestra, be everyone’s cup of tea but it would be a shame for it to so it’s not easily classified as a classical instrument. But then it’s go unrecorded.’ not a pop music instrument so there’s no crossover element either. It’s a real marketing challenge!’ he laughs. It seems that David Childs’ dream for the euphonium is simple and rather poignant: ‘In five years’ time I want to be able to go ‘And films like Brassed Off do it no favours! It’s not all flat caps out in the street and for someone to ask what instrument I play. and marching down cobbled streets. The fact is that people such And when I say “euphonium” I want them to say “oh right”, not as John McCabe and Judith Bingham are doing great things to “what’s that?” That’s all I want.’ take it forward and the public isn’t seeing that.’ And if he carries on the way he’s started, it seems that not just This passion for raising the euphonium’s profile led in 2003 to the word euphonium but the name David Childs will soon be him being invited to become ‘euphonium ambassador’ for Youth sitting happily on every classical music lover’s lips. Music’s Endangered Species initiative. ‘I don’t want to be the next Nigel Kennedy or anything,’ he ‘I thought the concept of putting new instruments into the hands insists. ‘I just want people to realise what the euphonium can do. of schoolchildren and generally working to raise the profile of Maybe after I’ve exhausted every avenue nothing will come of it. these underplayed instruments was fantastic,’ he says. But I won’t give up until I’ve done everything I physically can.’

‘I’m really hopeful that the initiative will help endorse true and You can catch David Childs on 5 July at the Cheltenham Music exciting images for these instruments that young people can Festival. On 2 September at the BBC Proms he gives the London relate to. It is important that young euphonium players can see premiere of Hoddinott’s Concerto for Euphonium (with the BBC and hear what can be done with the modern-day instrument, National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Grant Llewellyn) rather than naturally adopting the common assumption that it’s just an “oom-pah” thing.’ WIN DAVID CHILDS’ HEAR MY PRAYER CD – PAGE 51 >

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