Dr. Dan Price

Current positions

Lecturer in Music

Biography

Born in the Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire I took a keen interest in music from an early age playing tuba in the local village brass band.

After school I continued my musical interests with several local brass and wind bands and developed a semi-professional career playing double bass, sousaphone and bass saxophone with a number of jazz, mainstream and swing ensembles in London and in the Midlands including the internationally acclaimed Pasadena Roof Orchestra. In addition to performing I continued my interest in composition whilst developing a reputation as a brass band conductor in my local area.

In 2003 I returned to higher education and enrolled on the Band Musicianship course at Salford University where I studied composition with Prof. Peter Graham. Whilst studying I received my first commercial success with a commission of the flugelhorn arrangement That’ll Do for soloist John Doyle and the Black Dyke Band. Shortly after this, my test-piece An Elgar Portrait was selected as the 4th Section set work at the Swiss National Brass Band Championships in 2007 and was also used the following year at the Pontins Championships. Further success was gained in 2009 when my test-piece New World Sketches was set as the 2nd Section test work for the British Area Contests.

In that same year I became a ‘Composer in Association’ with the Cory Band assisting them with their winning program at the Brass In Concert contest and have since continued to produce original works for the band and its soloists.

I have also held the position of ‘Arranger in Association’ with the Black Dyke Band and have been involved with a number of exciting projects, including the Danger Global Warming Project – Recycled; a ground breaking multimedia campaign to heighten awareness of global warming and also a collaboration with British composer Tolga Kashif for his 2012 Olympic Anthem Let Your Light Shine.

In addition to a full time appointment at the University of Salford I remain the ‘Resident Composer’ with the world famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band and continue to write new and innovative works for some of the leading brass, concert bands and brass soloists in the United Kingdom, America, New Zealand and Europe.

Areas of research

Composition, Brass Band, Repertoire Development, Band Pedagogy