Mike is our lead trumpeter and all-round great guy. He hails from Plymouth, Devon, but came to Leeds to do his nurse training - the only place that would have him, apparently! These days, you'll see Mike sporting his purple nurses' uniform, around the corridors of St James' Hospital, as he is now one of 7 Liver Transplant Co-ordinators.
Mike started learning the trumpet at school, but had a break of around 18 years, as work, children etc got in the way.
He started playing again when his son started playing the trumpet in his school concert band. Mike is a founding member of Tutti! and actually played in a number of the band's previous incarnations. He loves the friendly spirit and family feeling of the band; the music is important to him but he feels that doesn’t preclude players with less experience.
One of the best aspects of playing in Tutti, for Mike is the excitement felt when a well arranged piece sounds as it should - he is known to shout, “Let’s do it again!”
One of Mike's favourite pieces in the repertoire is the Glenn Miller Medley (arranged by Naohiro Iwai). It is a really well arranged piece that shows off the great skill of the players, with some of the very best tunes of the Swing era.
For Mike, an unexpected bonus of being in the band has been meeting and making new friends and, of course, sharing a cup of tea and cake after rehearsal. He looks very much forward to seeing his friends face to face and playing together again in (hopefully) the near future.
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