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Veteran musicians tune up for jubilee

Friday, 04 April 2008

THOSE who marvel at the longevity of ageing rockers The Rolling Stones should take a look nearer home to one of the finest music ensembles to emerge from Dublin.
For five decades now, Northsiders Sean Flanagan, Eric Ronan and Tommy Durran have been performing and touring with the renowned Dublin Concert Band and are showing no signs of letting up.
As the band celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year, Sean, Eric and Tommy, alongside Floyd and Gerry Cramer, have the proud distinction of being there from the very start.
From its humble beginnings, the Dublin Concert Band has grown over the years to become one of Ireland’s premier amateur wind ensembles that have played an important role in the cultural development of the city.

More than 500 musicians have played with the band and while some of these have gone onto professional careers in music, the vast majority has found the Dublin Concert Band to be a great social outlet and a fantastic way of giving entertainment to the wider community.
Speaking to Northside People, Sean Flanagan, from Rivervalley, Swords, said he could scarcely believe how far the band has come since the day he got together with a few like-minded people in 1958 to learn to play their new instruments.
Sean (72), a cornet player in the band, revealed they were really starting from scratch.
“There were about six or eight of us in the very beginning and we were really quite poor as a band,” Sean said.
“But we have evolved over the years to the stage that we now have up to 45 members in a top class band that has achieved many great things.”
Sean has been part of a band that has won the National Band Championships on no fewer than 25 occasions and played at big events at Wembley stadium and across Europe.
But he says nothing gives him greater pleasure than seeing the number of young people that have come through over the years.
“We have two 18-year-old drummers at the moment who are great musicians,” said Sean.
“The one thing you can always say about the Dublin Concert Band is that we have never had a problem attracting new members.
“We have had different conductors in recent years who bring in their own interpretations which has kept the music interesting.
“Overall, music is just such a great pastime and I have been lucky to meet some wonderful people over the 50 years I have been involved with the band,” Sean added.
Tommy Durran, a cornet player from Raheny, said the success of the Dublin Concert Band was like comparing it to a football team.
“When we started 50 years ago you would have to say that we were a band struggling in the lowest division,” Tommy stated.
“We were still only learning our instruments and how to read music, and even had to borrow musicians from other local bands; that’s how badly off we were.
“But now we are a top premier division band who have won countless national championships and that gives me the greatest satisfaction.”
Tommy said that once the band started to take off, his commitment to playing the cornet grew.
“When you are learning to play a wind instrument such as the cornet, you must build up the muscle in the lip and that only comes with practice over time,” he added.
“But for us, once we had fully mastered our instruments, we also had to learn how to play in perfect union as a band.
“The band became like an obsession for me and I have always been totally committed, giving up every single Sunday to playing and practicing.”
To celebrate its Golden Jubilee, the Dublin Concert Band will be playing an anniversary concert at the National Concert Hall on October 9.
As part of the celebrations, the band is seeking to trace all past members, who are urged to contact Hazel Mander at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Alternatively, you can get in touch with any current member of the band.

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