Blog

October 7, 2012

In October 2012 I took over as President of the British Trombone Society (BTS). I have been Vice President for a couple of years and before that was a member on the Board of Advisors. I have had a few projects which have been incorporated into the Society already, including the introduction of a Social Media team (to keep Twitter and Facebook up-to-date), the introduction of e-subscriptions (enabling people to receive digital versions of the quarterly magazine that the Society produce). This kind of area is something that many mainstream magazines are doing and we need to keep up with the times as people move more towards the use of smart phones and tablets.

I have many other ideas and projects that are currently in the pipeline too. I am in the process of introducing a long list of exclusive member benefits and discounts for our members, revamping our magazine editorial team, introducing some new regional representatives, a new reviews coordinator and a World Record attempt is also in the pipeline! I am also very keen to have more high profile competitions, the first being the ‘Carol Jarvis Jazz Trombone Competition’! I won this competition 13 years ago (before it was named after me!) and it hasn’t run since, so I was keen to try and see if it would be possible. International Trombone Association President, Jiggs Whigham, was also keen when I approached him, as it was his sponsors who supported the scholarship for me all those years ago and it was Jiggs who I went to study with on the scholarship on the West Coast of America. The BTS are going to be running a Jazz Day in April 2013 where the finalist will be chosen and they will jet off to America on their scholarship in the summer 2013!

I have also been recently invited to join the Board of Advisors of the International Trombone Festival which is a great honour. The most recent International Trombone Festival was held in Paris this Summer and it was noted that there weren’t any female guest artists. I would hazard a guess that 90% of trombonists across the globe are male, so I didn’t actually notice that there weren’t any female artists involved until it was mentioned. I am very used to being the only female in trombone sections and often the entire brass section in gigs I do around the world. Being a member on the Board of Advisors I will be actively involved in introducing artists to their annual festivals that may not have been considered in the past. I look forward to being able to help in this area and hope to get along to another ITF sometime soon in the future.

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