David Childs

David Childs

'I've had so many doors slammed in my face that it would have been so easy to give up,' says David Childs. Harsh words from someone so softly spoken - but a reality check for those of us who might think his journey from keen amateur bandsman to internationally renowned euphonium soloist has been easy.

However Childs' goals are clear, his drive is strong and his mettle is good. 'I am determined to create a market for the euphonium,' he says. 'It's not that there aren't players as good as me or my dad, it's just that they don't have the drive or the desire to push those boundaries.'

The young boy was always going to have more than a passing interest in things brass. Born in the Yorkshire mining village of Grimethorpe to international euphonium player Robert Childs and his cornet-playing wife Lorraine, Childs spent his childhood immersed in music. But to go on to win his class at the BBC Young Musician of the Year finals in 2000 and himself become one of the world's leading exponents of the euphonium was more than he dreamed of.

'The first time I picked up a euphonium was when it was bigger than me!' laughs the quiet but jovial 23-year-old. 'My father made me a stool with two tiers so that I could sit on the top and the euphonium could sit on the bottom.'

From Young Musician of the Year, Childs went on to make his Proms debut in 2001 with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and played the Wigmore Hall in 2003 with a sonata for euphonium and piano specially written by Alun Hoddinott.

And there was never any real doubt in his eyes that this was the life for him: 'I saw my dad and my uncle playing and I loved what they were doing. I just knew that's what I wanted to do too' he says with the conviction of someone totally in love with their art.

'I said to my dad "I want to be a euphonium soloist" and he said "that's impossible". But he has supported me all the way through and he says to me now that I've done things that he didn't think could be done. He's my biggest supporter - he's with me all the way.'

What Childs didn't realise when he uttered those immortal words was just how difficult the transition from keen amateur bandsman to internationally acclaimed soloist would actually be. The path to the top hasn't been as well paved as one would gather from listening to his commanding performances.

Childs' journey began in earnest when he became the youngest soloist, at 16, of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band. Two years later he was the first euphonium player ever to win the brass section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.

He eschewed vague schoolboy notions of becoming an architect and decided to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with his father, senior tutor in brass band studies there. Says Childs, 'My dad was regarded as probably the finest euphonium player/teacher there was so I didn't really need to go looking elsewhere!'

But for many, the prospect of following a parent's career path is daunting to say the least.

'At times you do get a negative response from people who say "You're only doing what you're doing because of your dad" and you think "I don't need this,"' he agrees in his lilting accent, a beguiling mix of Yorkshire village and Welsh hill. 'And other times I walk on to a concert stage where everybody knows how good my dad is and there's automatically a certain standard expected of me. That can be hard. But all the good things outweigh those. I play the instrument because I love the sound it makes.'

Ever the pragmatist, Childs junior ensured that he worked hard at college, getting a first for his degree and garnering the principal's gold medal along the way. He's now studying for his MA at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he also teaches.

His sound business sense also led him to make the most of what could have been a soul-destroying incident. At the age of 18 he had a serious car crash returning from rehearsals for the National Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall. His car collided with an abandoned vehicle on an unlit motorway. He crawled through the windscreen before the car went up in flames.

Badly bruised and cut, Childs had broken three fingers on his right hand - the hand he uses to press the valves down. With five days to go before the National Championships his father helped him work out some alternative breathing patterns and he practised using the fingers on his left hand instead of right to press the valves down.

Assisted by painkillers and a supportive family, he got through the performance. 'Ironically we won the contest that day and became national champions of Great Britain!' he says triumphantly.

Rather than spend his ample compensation money on all the things your average 18-year-old would, Childs invested in a commission: a concerto for euphonium and symphony orchestra from the great Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott.

'I'm really proud of it', Childs enthuses. 'It's a fantastic concerto.'

Others seem to agree as he has recently been invited to perform it at the 2004 Proms with the National Orchestra of Wales.

'There were times when I thought "Was that really worth it?" I had this piece that I'd paid a lot of money for just sitting there not getting any performances but when you get something as big as the Proms it makes it all worthwhile.'

Clearly impressed himself, Hoddinott was moved to write Childs a sonata as a present, which he premiered at the Wigmore Hall. Childs is also 'in talks' with Karl Jenkins about a piece for euphonium and voice but once again finance (or lack thereof) has intervened.

However, with three solo albums under his belt, Childs feels he is on the way to making the mark he so desires on the classical world. His first disc, Prodigy, was an eclectic mix of new and old and even featured him playing the trombone, his second instrument.

His latest CD, Hear My Prayer, is a breathtakingly beautiful collection of Childs' own favourites such as Abide With Me, The Lost Chord and The Old Rugged Cross. What could so easily be hackneyed brass band clichés in Childs' capable hands become haunting, evocative pieces. Released on Doyen Recordings, the specialist brass label that Robert Childs and his brother Nicholas set up 10 years ago, the disc is an aural testament to the emotional power of the euphonium, something that Childs says is yet to be acknowledged properly by the classical world.

The main problem is, he explains, that the instrument has only relatively recently achieved a state of near-perfection: 'It's only in recent years that we've had an instrument which is secure in intonation throughout the register and can produce a lovely big sound.

'The other hurdle, of course, is people's perception of it. The euphonium isn't a regular member of the symphony orchestra,

so it's not easily classified as a classical instrument. But then it's not a pop music instrument so there's no crossover element either. It's a real marketing challenge!' he laughs.

'And films like Brassed Off do it no favours! It's not all flat caps and marching down cobbled streets. The fact is that people such as John McCabe and Judith Bingham are doing great things to take it forward and the public isn't seeing that.'

This passion for raising the euphonium's profile led in 2003 to him being invited to become 'euphonium ambassador' for Youth Music's Endangered Species initiative.

'I thought the concept of putting new instruments into the hands of schoolchildren and generally working to raise the profile of these underplayed instruments was fantastic,' he says.

'I'm really hopeful that the initiative will help endorse true and exciting images for these instruments that young people can relate to. It is important that young euphonium players can see and hear what can be done with the modern-day instrument, rather than naturally adopting the common assumption that it's just an "oom-pah" thing.'

On his own personal crusade Childs has a recording in the pipeline of a John Golland concerto (originally written for Robert Childs) as well as plenty of other irons in fires.

'I really do have lots and lots of ideas,' he says enthusiastically.

'I have developed a lot of contemporary repertoire for the instrument over the last couple of years. Some of it may not be everyone's cup of tea but it would be a shame for it to go unrecorded.'

It seems that David Childs' dream for the euphonium is simple and rather poignant: 'In five years' time I want to be able to go out in the street and for someone to ask what instrument I play. And when I say "euphonium" I want them to say "oh right", not "what's that?" That's all I want.'

And if he carries on the way he's started, it seems that not just the word euphonium but the name David Childs will soon be sitting happily on every classical music lover's lips.

'I don't want to be the next Nigel Kennedy or anything,' he insists. 'I just want people to realise what the euphonium can do. Maybe after I've exhausted every avenue nothing will come of it. But I won't give up until I've done everything I physically can.'

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