Tim Paton- Percussion

Tim began his musical career at the age of two (1953), shaking his bells at a Christmas concert with his Farther's Harmonica Band, The Westonics, at the Odeon in Weston-super-Mare.  This is where he grew up, although he was born in Haverfordwest.  He began piano lessons when he was seven, but his teacher sacked him because he kept filling in extra notes to make the chords complete! He started playing the drums when he was ten, because he wanted to be a pop star, but never got further than "The Statix" in Weston, never heard of them?, not a lot of people have, which is why he ended up in the Weston Youth Orchestra on timps. Weston Grammar School for Boys didn't like music, and he didn't  like them, so he left when he was fifteen, and joined the Army as a Junior Bandsman.  This is where he learnt trombone, accoustic and bass guitar. He arrived in Manchester in 1971, attending the Royal Manchester College of Music, (which became the Royal Northern College of Music).  Besides trombone, he studied composition with Thomas Pitfield, (as did John Golland). After qualifying in 1974, he spent several years playing trombone professionally, mainly orchestral and jazz.  He also taught every brass instrument, except french horn if he could possibly avoid it! In 1981, he started teaching in secondary education, which he left after thirteen years before it killed him! His brass band experience began in 1999 with Sale Brass.  Then, after a spell with Bollington Brass, and Hawk Green (Marple), he ended up with Flixton.  Here he met Julie, (1st Horn), and they got married in March 2004. Besides playing percussion (and trombone) with Flixton, Tim writes and publishes brass band music.  This can be found on www.tpmusic.co.uk