Festival of Hobbies - Band Leader
Rob Skeet is half of Skeet + Coutie architects at Harland Works.
Before being an architect Rob used to be a professional musician. His hobby now is linked to his earlier career. He is the band leader of a big band.
I know that Rob has a busy family life, alongside his work running Skeet + Coutie, and being a band leader sounds like a demanding role to fit in… I wondered what it involved, and what motivated him to have it as a hobby.
“It involves waving my arms around in front of a 20 piece jazz orchestra. Taking rehearsals, organizing gigs. And I get to play my clarinet with them as well. We play a few gigs around town, a few events and we have a hoot. We rehearse probably every fortnight. And then do gigs maybe every two or three months and more around Christmas.”
This seems no small commitment as a hobby! What’s so compelling about it?
“It's in an area that I used to work in professionally as a saxophonist. Although I still do some paid work, it isn’t my main job anymore. And the nice thing for me about the big band it IS non-professional - the rehearsals are as much fun as the gigs! If we were all professional musicians, we wouldn't rehearse as much, we'd just practice the parts, turn up, do the gigs.
But with the band, there's a real sense of being in a team of players. And over the years we have more fun, we have more tunes, we do more stuff.
And what do I get out of it? I think it's a fantastic distraction from the rest of life, from family, from work. And even from the other ‘professional' music making.
What’s so great about making music?
“I think making music's the best hobby! I'm sure everybody says the same. First and foremost, it's really social. It isn’t always - but I think the best music making is playing music with other people who you know and trust, musically. You're all involved in the same music at the same time. At it’s best it can be quite emotional and uplifting.
The social side is great and you get to meet great people. And as a musician wherever you travel or whoever you speak to, if you meet another musician, you instantly have a bit of respect for each other and can get on at that point. It's a great sort of common coin. Being a musician has got me out of lots of scrapes in lots of places. And it feels like a privileged thing to do.
Rob describes one of the special things about the band being the fact that people have been involved with it for such a long time.
“For example about half of the people in the band have been in it since they were at school. They were those kids who were having trumpet lessons or clarinet lessons at school, and at the time, they all wanted to get into this band because it was a cool band to be in. Then for one reason or another, they carried on with it outside school. And now, all these years later, it's still that thing that they all do. Over the years they have got really good! So there's that satisfaction of developing a skill, a lifelong skill that you share with other people and can share with an audience.
I asked him how he came to take on the role - as it sounds quite a bit commitment for someone that has quite a lot of other responsibilities!
“I used to play bass in it because I wasn't a really good bass player and it give me a chance to practice as they didn't have a bass player at that time. And my wife also plays saxophone in the band. So I went to help out and got hooked. When the bandleader at that time moved abroad no-one else wanted to take it on, but it just seemed the obvious thing to do. I didn't really have the time to do it, I still don't have the time to do it, but it's one of those things. To have the opportunity to lead a proper big band fall into your lap and to not take it, is a mistake.”
I asked him whether, as he’s setting off for rehearsals, he has that feeling of “oh no, why am I doing this?”
“Yes. Absolutely yes. Because me and my wife are both in it, and we have too many children, the hours before band practice are fraught with finding music and replying to texts and organizing replacement musicians and printing things off….. It's all crazy and everybody's trying to eat and get the kids to bed. And then we get in the car and we go in the rehearsal room and the stress goes. You play that first tune and everything’s okay. It's great! It's a great relief. It does induce a lot of stress in our lives, but it’s worth it.”
I asked Rob what he’d recommend to someone if they were thinking of taking up music as a hobby.
“I would say “Yes, just do it”. I think it's satisfying at every level. I used to teach adults and children and the process of learning is very satisfying. You get to put those three notes together and play Three Blind Mice, and you can see the lights go on in somebody's head. It is very satisfying at all levels. And you are never finished: you never think, "Right, I can play this now." There's always more want to do.
If you've got kids you can encourage them to start at school. And if you're a grown up, maybe find someone to teach you first off. Ask around. People advertise and whatever instruments it is, there will be certain names that crop up. Approach them, ask them. Ask people if they have spaces. I think the key is just finding an instrument that you love, that lights you up when you hear it. That when you hear a piece of music you are drawn to that sound. And for me it's always been the saxophone. Other people, it's the guitar, it's the bass, it's the drums. Wherever it is. For some people it's even the violin! But it needs to be something that you love spending time with. Because if you don't love the act of doing it, it can seem a bit of a chore.”
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You can see the Langsett Dance Orchestra at their next gig, Yellow Arch Venue, 16th February. Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/617568005665816/
Link to our fb page: https://www.facebook.com/TheLangsettDanceOrchestra/
Sheffield Music Hub has a list of accredited music teachers which could be a good place to start if you want to find a teacher https://www.sheffieldmusichub.org/pages/accredited-teachers