Enemy Within - for brass band

The Enemy Within

for brass band

"In the Falklands we had to fight the enemy without. Here is the enemy within."

Margaret Thatcher

The Miners’ Strike of 1984-5 marked a turning point in the history of the UK, and in particular for the industrial regions in the north of England and South Wales.  It was a time of great conflict, not only for the unions battling against government, workers against employers and striking pickets versus the police, but during this bitter dispute family members were turned against one another and communities were crushed: it is a human story as well as a political one.

My music cannot take sides or change history but, using the brass band – the musical voice of the miners – it aims to capture something of the mood and spirit of that dark time.

The music is scored for standard brass band with percussion (3 players)

• Timpani, concert bass drum, water drum*
• Vibraphone, 3 stand-mounted cow bells, tam-tam, water drum
• Concert bass drum, drum kit, water drum

*water drum – large rigid plastic containers used to deliver drinking water to offices, to be player with heavy wooden sticks (such as snare drum sticks reversed).

The piece is in two large-scale movements:

• Part 1: 6.5 minutes
• Part 2: 10.5 minutes
• Total: 17 minutes