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Christopher Bill at Dawkes Music

15th September 2025
Featured in The Trombonist, magazine of the British Trombone Society

In late April, we were delighted to welcome trombonist and YouTuber Christopher Bill to Dawkes in Maidenhead. The event came together at fairly late notice, but the opportunity arose for us to host a workshop with Christopher, kindly supported by Denis Wick, with whom Christopher is an endorsee (he plays a Wick 12CS mouthpiece.) Many thanks to the British Trombone Society for featuring the event in their magazine, The Trombonist.

Thanks to our recent expansion and refurbishment, we now have a permanent live stage in situ and the ability to seat up to 80 people for gigs, events and masterclass sessions. As such, we could happily accommodate a session with Christopher, and it was pleasing to see a wide range of players in the crowds. We had some youngsters from the excellent Chiltern Music Academy and many adult players who knew Christopher from his @classicaltrombone YouTube channel, where he has nearly 300k subscribers!

Inside The Masterclass

Having hosted numerous events over the years, it’s always interesting to see how artists approach a masterclass or a gig. Christopher was fantastic to work with. He had planed out a good number of topics to discuss during the session, along with practical playing and theory examples to support his points. Some of the topics discussed included: embouchure development, practice techniques, diaphragm support, and some time on basic improvisation. Christopher was very flexible and mindful of the varying levels of experience in the audience and managed to find a way to include everyone in the mass playing ensembles.

Building Blocks of Success

Interestingly, Christopher also fielded several queries during the Q&A session about his YouTube experiences and how to become ‘known’ for playing on various social media platforms. It was a great opportunity for him to share his musical journey with us, including his experience of starting out as a classically trained player at college who then strayed to the ‘dark side’ of funk, jazz, pop, and more. What stood out was the fact that practice, perseverance and making musical connections with your peers are all still the most important building blocks of success.

After the audience departed, we had arranged to record some videos with Christopher, including some video shorts covering various FAQs around playing and equipment. These are being released on the Dawkes YouTube and Instagram channels. We’ll also have a longer interview with Christopher released late summer via the new Dawkes YouTube Podcast series, which will feature conversations with various leading professional musicians. Make sure to subscribe to get notifications of any new content.

Final Thoughts

A big thanks to Denis Wick for supporting the event and to all the players and parents who came out on a Sunday afternoon. It’s very heartening to see younger people, especially, being inspired by leading professionals who reinforce the power of music and possibilities that are out there if you do the hard work.