Meet Glyn Boyington, 60 years of musical connection

Everyone has something to give, music brings people together

Our friend Liz Buchanan met with Glyn Boyington, to hear about his 60 years of music and connection here in Sheffield.

I help with Concord Youth Music and I am in charge of their Junior band, called All-Stars. They run from about eight years old. There's no upper age but by the time they're eighteen, the kids are either helping out or they're gone.

I've always volunteered. We kids lived at the church hall doing cubs, band or whatever. Television was relatively new back in the early sixties, and there wasn't much else. Which sounds ridiculous because there's always plenty you can do, but that's how it felt and music was what I chose.

I was involved at St. Timothy's church, with the Scouts and in the choir. Each Whitsuntide our church used to be decimated because everyone would go off to the Whitsun parades. I wanted to go too, but our Scouts didn't have a band. We decided to start one. I started on the bass drum and then I got a bugle.

An older lad called Alan Greaves stuck it in my baby hands and said, 'You blow it like this.' I took it home and in another week I'd blown enough to get by. I seem to recall our next door neighbour – who couldn't blow a thing any more - sitting at our piano, showing me a tune. I can't even remember what the tune was, but I learned it. A couple of weeks later, I played on parade. It didn't seem to be a massive thing. We used to have three-quarters of an hours practise after church on a Sunday and somehow we used to manage it.

The bugle's a simple instrument. It's only got five notes (technically there are seven but for more practical purposes there are five). Years later, I decided to have a go on the valve trumpet.

In 1971, Alan and his brother and two sisters went off to have a career in pop music. I would have been about eighteen. I took over running the band and that was it. Alan and the kids had run it without adult supervision, so people didn't seem to think it was impossible. When I first started, we didn't have a lot of music. It's more sophisticated now. These days you've got a huge advantage in having You-tube. Back then, we used to go outside, listening to other bands and picking the tunes up by ear.

Everyone has some sort of skill you can use to help someone. For instance, it might be that you sing in a choir. You might say that that's for your own enjoyment, but the choir might then fall to fundraising purposes, or entertaining people, so even if you don't think you are performing for very much public good, you are. The benefits to you personally are immeasurable. They keep you alive. If you put your toe in the water, you can become subsumed.

If I was being sanctimonious, I'd say that somebody did it for me, so I feel obliged to do it for others. It might even be partially true. But I reckon I've paid that back now, sixty years later. It's actually more than that: I find it satisfying. Interesting. My role has a lot of variety. I'm not a great organiser but I can do it. I'm not a great teacher, but I can do that. I think I relate OK with the kids. I'm not a technician but I like the technical side of the instruments, too. We broke a drum head on parade and the next day I was down at HQ fixing it. I enjoy that.

The principle is going out to achieve something..... I would say 'for' the kids; it's 'with' them, isn't it? It's like being in a football team – you might not be the guy who scores the goal, but that doesn't matter. I'm in the team. I enjoy it enough of the time. Not all the time; you can't enjoy everything all the time. Without it being a huge weight on my shoulders, it's a responsibility. But then you take the group out to play a festival and it's great. Or you might just listen to a piece and think, 'that were absolutely awful, but it's a lot better than last time.'

We do a little performance in the school yard. Recently we played at Mount Fest, at the Mount Pleasant pub. It's a lot of organising for a very brief performance, but it gives the band an outing. The following week, we did the Woodseats Festival Parade.

At the moment we've about thirty-five kids. We normally have thirty at rehearsal. It's pretty chaotic, but it's great. I've got twelve brass players, but only one was with us before Covid. For us to go and perform is a real challenge, even if one or two adults come along.

We're very fortunate in that we have a section called the pit, with percussions instruments including a marimba and tubular bells. We have two or three long-standing adults to teach that and we kept a core of kids right through Covid, so we've been very reliant on them.

The more people you have helping, the easier it is. For example, a kid decides they want to play the trumpet. They need some one-to-one lessons for several weeks. If you haven't got someone to teach them, that can't happen. By six months they're playing quite a few simple notes, maybe a scale.

Having sufficient volunteers is important. It's not that they have to be brilliant musicians. I'm more interested in having helpers with a good attitude. You need some people – often parents - who'll help you our with costumes, transport, putting drinks out on a table, but you do need some musical skills to do the other work. Just having played a bit is fine. Saying that, my most recent helper had her early life in orchestral music.

We offer four free lessons at the beginning, or else how does a kid or parent know they're going to enjoy it? It might take a few weeks for the kid to find a friend. After that, it's so-much a month and we provide an instrument, relying on volunteers to do the teaching.

We do need volunteers. Historically, the way it's tended to work is that our kids stay on as young adults, but kids tend to leave home now. Covid had a bad effect in that both kids and volunteers had a few years with no band, despite all our best efforts on Zoom. Some of the good ones went off to university or got jobs then and now we've got a gap. Normally, you're feeding into that gap all the time.

I'm not sure where the point is that you've got too many volunteers, because I've never known it. If you think about a rehearsal, you need as many as you can to get our normal rehearsal routine working. One for brass, one for drums, one for a dance team and one for percussion. Each section needs one person, but it's better if you've got two. If you're teaching new kids, it's better if you can break it down, so they're not pushed in too quickly with the rest of the team. Staffed properly, our rehearsal is a well-oiled machine, although some might say that it looks like organised chaos.

You'd think it's about music but it's not just about music. It's about people. I take a straightforward view that they might be little kids but first and foremost, they're people. They want to become a little bit independent and within reasonable bounds, you let them develop that.

For example, we might let a kid take a solo if they don't think they're ready. If you let them have a go, they'll be OK. You know you've got there when some of the ones who already know they can do it, melt back out of the way, to encourage the others to achieve what they can.

We are always keen to hear from anyone who has skills we could use. If you think you would like to explore teaching brass, drums, pit or guard please get in touch to discuss without obligation. It can be very rewarding and great fun. The more of us there are the better we can make the experience for the kids.

Thanks Liz, for giving us this insight - it’s inspiring to hear how Glyn has quietly impacted so many youngsters through his love of music, connection and service. If you are interested in volunteering, please do leave a comment below and Glyn will be in touch!

If you know an inspiring and creative Sheffielder you’d like to hear in conversation, please introduce us to them, we hope to bring many new stories to you in future editions.