About Tommy Tynan

26-year-old musician in South Wales

Tommy Tynan is a musician based in South Wales, most notably recognised as the Principal Tuba of Cory Band since the start of 2022.


Age
26 years old
Location
South Wales

Born in the banding heartland of Saddleworth, Tommy was exposed to brass bands at a very early age. Having started out on cornet but shown a keen interest in the drums, he made his first steps into top-section banding as a percussionist, joining Marsden Silver Prize Band under Glyn Williams at the age of 14.

During this time, Tommy was taking tuba lessons from Les Neish and seeing this, Glyn, acknowledging Tommy's potential on the tuba, offered a full-time BBb Bass seat at Marsden Band.

Whilst at Marsden Band, Tommy became a member of the The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB) under Bramwell Tovey, and later the Principal BBb Bass. Along the way, Tommy picked up two acclaimed awards:

  • Tom Atkinson Award for "Most Promising Bass" in 2014
  • Katie Ogden Solo Award in 2015
Tommy Tynan sat with a bass on his lap

Tommy spent a year with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band at the age of 17, being a part of their most recent contest winning performance in their 2015 British Open triumph. After this period of time, Tommy went back to his home town and joined the Oldham (Lees) Band, where a career in catering was taking off. Tommy helped the band enjoy plenty of contest success in the four years that followed.

Tommy also worked closely with Oldham Band's conductor as an associate during the very successful years. This led to numerous rehearsals and sectionals on various repertoire, including some bespoke arrangements by Tommy for the band to perform in their concert season, as well as being featured as a soloist on many occasions.

Tommy gained further experience outside of the local brass band bubble, spending time playing for local amateur orchestras, the Halle Youth Orchestra, wind bands and concert bands. Tommy was also a conductor, conducting his school band and local bands, leading a band to a top six finish at the Yorkshire 1st Section regional and the Spring Festival Competition at the age of 20, where they consolidated their position in the contest.

Tommy's intuitive talent coupled with his obvious ability on the tuba makes him a formidable musician one to watch for the future.

Dr Robert Childs

Times called for a change and the lure of top-level playing was too much to ignore. In 2019, Tommy decided to deviate from the catering career and take up studies at the University of Huddersfield, studying Tuba with Les Neish.

It was close to the start of his studies that Tommy, who was always known as a BBb Bass specialist, really connected with the EEb Tuba (mainly thanks to a global pandemic) and subsequently joined the Fairey Band.

Tommy's connection with the University of Huddersfield certainly was a fruitful one, having left with a First Class (Hons) degree in Music Performance. Tommy was subsequently awarded the Music Department Brass Award thanks to his work with the University Brass Band as a conductor, and also compiled the programme and commissioning a work for their "Best Entertainment" winning UniBrass 2022 programme, where Tommy was also the featured soloist.

Tommy was heavily involved in the Brass Band, Symphonic Wind Orchestra, and numerous mixed-instrumentation chamber groups, majoring in Solo Performance, Ensemble Performance, conducting, and Scoring and Arranging for Brass.

During the summer before his final year at University, Tommy was invited to audition with the Cory Band as Principal Eb Bass. Subsequent trips to Wales followed for rehearsals and concerts, and in December 2021, Tommy was offered the position to start when his studies had concluded. Eager to get started with the band, Tommy began to commute in time for the 2022 Welsh Regionals, where Cory Band won 1st Prize and the Best Bass Section Award (albeit which Tommy played BBb Bass due to COVID) and not long after Cory also became the 2022 European Champions.

Shortly after the European triumph, Tommy made the move to South Wales permanent.

Tommy Tynan stood outside the Royal Albert Hall with Cory Band

Since moving to Wales, Tommy's musical endeavours have been action-packed, with notable highlights being the August 2022 tour to Jeju Island and Seoul, South Korea, with further trips abroad to France, Switzerland, Austria, and Sweden. Tommy now performs regularly on their concert tour as a featured soloist, and his contributions on the contest platform have been held to critical acclaim, most notably being widely hailed as the Best Tuba Soloist of the Day at the Royal Albert Hall in 2022 on Peter Graham's "Hyperlink", a performance that saw Tommy's inclusion in the 2022 4barsrest.com "Band of the Year".

In 2023, Tommy commenced adjudication training under the guidance of Martin Heartfield of the Association of Brass Band Adjudicators, and is looking forward to gaining more experience and enrolling onto their trainee scheme.

Tommy now spends his time fulfilling his love for cooking by being a freelance chef, running his renowned pie business, and offering individual and bass-section tuition online and around the UK.

Tuition & lessons

Contact Tommy about individual and bass-section lessons, or view all services available.

The Lockdown Pie Co.

Looking to order delicious pies and pastries? Look no further.