Patrick Sheridan was in Toronto last weekend to perform with the Hannaford Street Silver Band. He played in two school concerts on Friday, adjudicated a solo competition for young musicians on Friday night, gave a masterclass on Saturday morning and performed once more with the Hannaford Band on Sunday afternoon. I was fortunate enough to be at the Friday evening concert, the Saturday morning master class and the Sunday afternoon concert.

At the master class Patrick spoke at length about “The Breathing Gym”, his approach to proper breathing technique for brass players and, despite the early hour, had us all up out of our seats and enthusiastically learning to relax and breathe properly.

At the Sunday afternoon concert I was totally in awe of Patrick’s astounding technique and musicianship but the thing that really impressed me was his ability to engage the audience with some very funny stories and his willingness to hang out in the lobby and chat with folks during the intermission before heading back on stage to wow once once again.

Thanks to Hannaford for once again bringing a brass musician of the highest calibre to Toronto and for supporting brass music so well.