The Madden Brothers


Above:   Adelaide Nationals 2024, all together with 2 bands
(Richard, Matthew, Glenn, spiritual leader, Aaron and William)








Above:   Richard learning how to pretend to practice at 18 months 1969







Above:   Mum really thought these suits were lovely! 1981.







Above:   Somehow this was not meant to be embarrassing!
Even in 1988








Above:  John Harrison (former bass clarinet QSO) sketched this around 2005(?)from a photo around 1982







Above:    The old “let’s get a family photo while we are all together” February 2017  







Above: Dudley taught Glenn and hence us all about good posture. However, the fashionable cardigan was never a Madden favourite.







.

Here is the Madden ISO Big Band recording.
Thanks to everyone involved.
Groovin Hard, Original by Buddy Rich Big Band
Composed and Arranged by Don Menza
All Saxes; David Cox
Trumpets; 1&5 Aaron Madden, 2&4 Danny Madden, 3 Richard Madden.
All Trombones; Greg Aitken
Bass; Mike Williams
Drums Larry Kean
Mixing; Aaron Madden, Danny Madden, Mike Williams Larry Kean
Mastering Mike Williams.

Groovin Hard master 5.1.23
(click link above to play)

Introduction:
“Three Peas in a Pod.” “Three Soulmates.” “Two Larrikins and a Gentleman!”

The statements above can be used to accurately describe the progeny of Glenn and Chesne (pr. Shane) Madden. They are Richard, Matthew and Aaron Madden. They are all excellent professional level brass players and warm-hearted lads who have been raised well and have done their family name proud.

In brass playing circles it’s not unusual to have some children follow in the footsteps of their brass playing parents. In the case of the Madden boys all three have made the grade. Richard (Larrikin#1) has had a long career with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Matthew (Gentleman and Scholar!) has performed professionally in Music Theatre and as a casual with the Adelaide and Canberra Symphony Orchestras. Aaron (Larrikin#2) had a thirty-year career with the Australian Army Band. Dad Glenn, in his day, was the best principal trumpet player of any Australian orchestra, his brother Danny was well known in Melbourne as a freelance trumpet player.  Grandfather Dudley was also well known in Hobart as a trombonist in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, military and brass bands as well as a teacher, mentor and historian.

The conversation recorded in Aaron’s home just before Easter 2024 was a delight. In the forty years plus of knowing these blokes I have seen them develop and thrive. All three have made significant contributions to brass bands and now have families of their own, some of whom are continuing to carry the brass torch into the future.
In between the funny bits there are some genuine gems from Richard, Matthew and Aaron and something for all aspiring musos to think about.
Please enjoy the Madden Brother’s story.

Geoff Meikle

2024.


 
Musing with the Maddens;
Best memory growing up….

Richard: “Well musically I’ve tried to pin it down to a few things, the school music program at Marryatville High School is where the thought of being a musician and doing all this stuff really sunk in. It was a slow burn but I did a band contest in’81 that I thought was good fun, sitting on 2nd cornet, going on and playing on stage…...I’m not sure that I ever enjoyed performing, it was more the concept of doing something exciting and over time getting used to the idea that I can do that I suppose. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything else!”
Matthew: “Weekends with cousins were a favourite personal memory. I’m not sure musically but being immersed in music with Dad was just normal ……. it was always there and I don’t ever remember not wanting to.”
GM: “I wouldn’t imagine that Glenn would have been an overbearing dad, he just encouraged you”
Matthew: “No, not at all”
Richard: “I think Mum was the encourager, Dad was happy we were doing it but it was never…..”
Matthew: “I can’t actually remember starting.”
Aaron: “He tried to steer us away from it if anything.”
Matthew: “I don’t think he did, not me anyway.”
GM: “That was probably from the point of view of trying to make a living at, and you couldn’t blame any sane father for doing that.”
Matthew: “I can’t ever remember my first lesson because it was always there, although come to think of it my first trombone lesson was from Dudley in Hobart, that was when we came back from Sweden. (GM: “I thought Des Blundell might have been in the frame there”) No, no.
Richard: “When we came back, they thought it was a good idea for Matthew to play trombone, that was my memory…...and then there was the debate about whether he should read treble or bass clef!!”...(raucous laughter!)
GM: “Because of course, you can’t do both!!”
Matthew: “I still can’t!”
Richard: “I think Dad said keep him on treble, but then Dudley came out from left field and said let him learn bass.”
Matthew: “So at the ripe old age of ten I started on trombone and never looked back …. because I did sound pretty bad on trumpet!”
Richard: “….and we were magnificent!”
GM: “The thing that strikes me is that you hear of musicians who have three kids and one maybe two will become musicians but to have all three become professional level players is pretty darn good.”
Richard: “We haven’t heard what Aaron has to say yet, but as Matthew said just being around it the whole time was the main thing.”
Matthew: “I think that’s the reason I can’t teach because I don’t ever remember being taught.”
Aaron: “It was just constant, you were always immersed in it.”
Richard: “Being the closest house to the ABC as well meant that there was always someone there!”
GM: “So what about you mate, what are your thoughts on this?”
Aaron: “I kind of fell into it really, I just wanted to play sport.”
Matthew: “You were a late bloomer!”
Aaron: “After a while I just realised ……”
Matthew: “After kicking the wall in because your foot wouldn’t stay in time!!”
Richard: “I know what it was! You played the ‘Young Artist’ on tenor horn…...yes, I’m a winner!”
GM: “I still have a vision of you walking into band practice with one track suit leg tucked into your sock with a cornet under one arm and a footy under the other!”
Aaron: “Yeah I just fell into it, I wasn’t really academically inclined at school so Dad said why don’t you join the Army and that was the path I took.”
GM: “The thing that struck me about you Aaron is that when I saw how you approached the instrument and practising I felt you had a very determined, tenacious, step by step, molecule by molecule attitude whereas I imagine Matthew is someone who has great natural talent but maybe not as dedicated as he could be.”
Matthew: “So true!”
Aaron: “I was a very late bloomer. I was only really comfortable with my playing about ten years ago.”
GM: “You’re standard of playing now is excellent, bloody lovely!”
Seminal moment, becoming a pro…..
GM: “Right, seminal moments. When was yours Aaron?”
Aaron: “One of the moments that got me was when the test piece was Blitz, I wasn’t playing, I was too young….”
Matthew: “1986 Adelaide.”
GM: “You’ve got a mind like a steel trap Matthew!”
Aaron: “I think Box Hill, for their own choice, played Royal Parks. I particularly remember the second movement, the slow one ‘In Memoriam’. They had the 3rd trumpet player from the MSO, Bill Evans, on sop. His playing just caught me and gave me a wow moment.”
GM: “What about you Matthew?”
Matthew: “Well I’m not a pro.”
GM: “You get paid to play music.”
Matthew: “Yeah sometimes, I don’t know, I really don’t know. We were immersed in it our whole lives…...I don’t know!”
GM: “I remember years ago I looked up the definition of what a professional is. ‘Someone who has a long-certificated training, is highly paid and is able to choose their own clientele’, and then there is a pro as in a professional photographer or musician etc. who is doing something that most people do as a hobby but is getting paid for it.”
Aaron: “Yeah but you never really listened to trombones.”
GM: “You played the piano as well, didn’t you?”
Matthew: “Yeah, I don’t know, I really don’t know!”
GM: “Well if you’re playing for Tom Jones, you must be going alright.”
Matthew: “No I’m not playing for Tom Jones, I’m ushering for Tom Jones!”
(Raucous laughter all round!)
GM: “Sorry I thought you were playing in the band, forget all that then! Haven’t you worked as a casual with the orchestra?”
Matthew: “Yeah, that was when I finally went to Uni and when I got the job in Canberra I was playing there. Then when I came back to Adelaide I played as a casual and did musicals as well.”
GM: “I remember Glenn saying years ago that he felt, and this is nothing against you two, you had the most natural talent.”
Richard: “In terms of ear and stuff Matthew has always had that.”
Matthew: “I don’t know, I really don’t know if there was a seminal moment. It might have been when my mother-in-law said ‘Why are you wanting to be a waiter when you can do all this musical stuff?’ Ok I’ll go to Uni then ……... bloody mother-in-laws!!”
GM: “Righto Richard. When was your big moment?”

Richard: “Yeah, I’ve just got a feeling that because we were immersed in it I felt that we grew up being a bit more critical of things we’d heard (Matthew: “Yeah that was true”), rather than sit through it and say ‘that was good’. We took on the Uni student attitude too early, I actually tell students that you go to Uni to hate music in some ways, in terms of this is wrong, that’s wrong etc.”
GM: “I think it sucks the fun out of it in some ways.”
Richard: “Yeah, in brass band contests it’s more about the negative side than the positive side, but really, it’s about a balance of both isn’t it. When you hear someone and think ‘that’s really good’, I suppose we’ve heard a lot of good stuff but it’s really only in the last twenty years that I’ve been able to say that I’ve really enjoyed that, that’s really good.”
Matthew: “Uni for me with Bob Hower, that was exceptional, really amazing. Playing in the trombone choir with all those good players was incredible.”
Richard: “Matthew, as far as doing a degree and stuff, is the most academically inclined musically and Bob had a super academic musical brain so you would have got along.”
Matthew: “He was an incredible musician …... all those Bach Chorales we played!”
Richard: “Bob was being really into it, and it’s important to appreciate people who are really into it.”
GM: “I remember Bob used to put his students through those solo ‘cello pieces.”
Matthew: “The Bach ‘Cello Suites, I still play them.”
Richard/Aaron: “No you don’t!!”
(Raucous laughter!!)
 GM: “They’d be good for your chops.”
Matthew: “When I practise.”
Richard, Aaron, GM: “WHAT!!”
(More raucous laughter!!)
Matthew: “I do, my first and only practice of the year I get out the first Bach ‘Cello Suite!”
GM: “I was, in a sense, a late bloomer. Didn’t have my first professional trumpet lesson until I was 25, that was with Jimbo (Jim Dempsey). I then progressed and managed to stick a little toe in the semi-pro scene. I worked out that it would be too difficult to make a decent living unless you were in the Army or an orchestra etc.”
Matthew: “I think that’s why I turned to arts management. I knew I’d never get a proper job because there are so few in Australia and I didn’t want to be a teacher.”
Aaron: “And you wouldn’t want to go in the Army Band, obviously!”
Matthew: “No, exactly….’Don’t tell me what to bloody do’!!”

If not music, then what…….
GM: “Righto, if you weren’t a muso. What would you be?
Aaron; “Matthew would be an editor for a newspaper…..hahaha!”
Matthew: “Well that’s what you do when you work for an arts company, you have to edit everything, and I just want to say that I have Aaron to thank for what I’m doing at the moment because he got me my first arts job in Canberra. I was going to be a pilot forever, but then on the Marryatville High School tour to England and France we got to go up to the cockpit and the pilots were doing bugger all, I thought ‘how boring would that be’ so that became a ‘no thanks’ from me!”
Richard: “So he made a hundred bucks playing in a Mozart symphony …... haha!”
GM: “My dad had a saying that was ‘Everyone finds their own level in this world’. I resented this when I was young but it turned out to be true and in actual fact my level is not too bad. I’ve ended up being pretty comfortable with it. Ok Richard, you were going to be an accountant.”
Richard: “Well I did start that but it wasn’t for me. I reckon I could write ads!”
GM: “Well you’re a witty bloke.”
Richard: “Yeah, I like to muck around. During COVID we got into those recordings ….. but you’re right you find your own level and end up doing something that’s right for you. Also, you get good at what you do and there’s always a little nuance and a psyche that you get into. As with brass bands, it’s the personalities and the attitudes that make it interesting.”
GM: “I know that with our band Adrienne comes home and she’s terribly disappointed because people aren’t turning up or the standard is not what it should be. I always remind her that by conducting or playing in a band you are performing a community service, it’s not about aiming for the sky in terms of musical standards, if it was there’d only be about three people in the band!”
Matthew: “That’s right, the other night at Marion, Aaron stopped the band and someone continued to practise in the background and he said ‘In your own time’…... I said Aaron ‘this is our own time’!”
Richard: “You talk to people outside banding about the time that you’re giving up and realise that it’s a vast commitment, particularly these days when people have got so much on.”
GM: “Banding at the end of the day is still a great thing to be in. Now that I am retired, I’m actually pretty happy with my playing on a ‘weight for age’ basis, if I played footy, I would have had to stop at 30 or so, now with playing and arranging it’s all good ‘brain gym’ as it were.”
Matthew: “I was talking to Richard yesterday and saying that it’s not that I don’t care anymore, but I used to get really nervous every single performance, (GM: “You’re your father’s son!”) but I just don’t anymore and it’s not that I don’t care. I come to realise that we’re doing it for the people watching and they don’t care if we make one mistake …….. it does I suppose but do you know what I mean.”
GM: “Yeah, I’m with you. When I hear recordings of myself, I become self-conscious. Last year when I played in the Salisbury Slow Melody, Glenn and Will (Matthew’s son) were watching, so really concentrated and went ok. They were very complimentary at the end and that meant a lot me.”
Richard: “The only time I enjoy my playing is when I don’t know it’s me, but otherwise you become so critical …..”
GM: “Right Aaron, what would you be mate?”
Aaron: “Well sport was a big thing for me, but the other thing for me was border security, I was interested in that but I just fell into music…..”
Richard: “Cavity search!!”
……. Sustained uproarious laughter….. from all present!

Memories of Dudley…..
GM: “Righto, what are your memories of (Grandfather) Dudley Madden?”
Richard: “A very fast driver who never looked backwards! …... but he loved brass music and he loved brass people, the stories he told and the enthusiasm in his eyes when he told you about ‘the eupho player from this band or what happened on tour’ …. I remember that. He was very enthusiastic about us playing. At the time we didn’t think they were because our other grandparents were really hands on with their enthusiasm about what we were doing. Dudley was a bit more quiet about it.”
Aaron: “Never heard him play!”
Matthew: “No I never heard him play; he’d probably retired by then.”
Richard: “I think when you got a piece up after about a week of playing trombone, we went to the aged care place and I think Dudley played a bit, Dad played something and I played a bit and you might have played something.”
Aaron: “I didn’t play the ‘Young Artist’ did I!”
Richard: “No, no the reason I remember is that Nana recorded everything with the old ghetto blaster but instead of pressing record she pressed play so that whatever was on the tape before was playing as we were performing. Dudley was yelling at her ‘Shut that thing off woman!!’, but they were always there and right behind us.”
GM: “When you think about it Dudley and Edna had four boys with two of them turning out to be professional musicians, then Glenn and Chesne went one better with three boys who all became pros.”
Your approach to teaching your own children…..
GM: “Okay so all three of you blokes are dads and two of you are grandads. What has been your approach to teaching your own children music?”
Aaron: “Not to teach them!!”
Richard: “Handball!!”
Aaron: “Haha, just make sure they’re having fun with it and let them enjoy it ….. not making them do something that they don’t want to do, mind you we’re getting the girls to do piano, which is a good start.”
GM: “The advice I used to give to parents was to encourage the kids to have lessons and only put enough pressure on them to let them know that they shouldn’t give up if something is not easy, but not so much that it makes them, and you probably, miserable.”
Richard: “I think we all want our kids to play but it is hard, grinding work to make short steps forward and sometimes in the process of doing that it does come across that you are forcing them to do it.”
Matthew: “With Will we haven’t had to do a thing; it’s always been something that he wanted to do. Even from when he was little, he had a picture book with a piano in it and we also had an old piano at home. He soon realised that the keys in the picture matched the keys on the big piano and that’s how he started playing piano.”
Richard: “Well my Ben went to the Con and did a pre-course playing trumpet. But he told someone else that he just didn’t want to practise. He knew how much work was involved and just didn’t want to do that. He’s interested in keyboard though and, for me, that’s where he learnt to read which I reckon is the hardest thing to teach.”
Matthew: “That’s why I can’t teach because I can’t remember ever being taught how to read music, I’ve just always been able to do it my whole life.”
GM: “I always used to say to the kids I taught ‘It’s fun but don’t take it lightly.”
Richard: “My motto these days is, and it doesn’t matter what order you say this in, technique teaches musicality and musicality teaches technique and it follows that even if you are musical, you also need technique and vice versa, they do feed each other. The better you get the more able you are to play in different styles and this leads to improvement in technique.
Would you say that a portion of the people who go to the Con are there because they don’t know what else they want to do?”
GM: “Yeah, there’s an element of truth in that. There is some advantage to be gained when applying for general employment if you have a degree. It says to a potential employer that you have brains and the ability to knuckle down and finish what you started.”
Richard: “I was just thinking that if they knew what it was going to be like to be an aspiring professional trumpet player they may have chosen something else. Being with your friends and playing in the school band program to being more about what you do by yourself without your friend sitting next to you is a difficult concept and they just want to get back to where there is safety in numbers. Some of them grow out of it.”

Open slather approach to brass band registrations etc……
GM: “Righto, should any player be able to play in any band, anytime, anywhere in a contest?
Aaron: “Yes!”
Richard: “No!”
Matthew: “Yes!”
GM: “I’m a no, Richard and I are no, Matthew and Aaron are yes. Explain yourself Aaron.”
Aaron: “Well it’s all about music, isn’t it?”
Matthew: “Yes!”
GM: “Well why would you have a contest?”
Matthew: “So the bands have something to play for.”
GM: “In the immortal words of Nakariakov ‘music is not sport’, so why would you have a contest?”
Matthew: “It’s a tradition and part of that tradition……”
Richard: “I’m not thinking that the current restrictions are great but as far as open slather goes well there’s no point in having grades if it’s open slather.”
Matthew: “I totally agree with that but why shouldn’t I be able to play with Marion without signing a piece of paper….”
Richard: “Because there’s a lot of people there who aren’t about music, it’s a sport to them. They’ve done a lot of work to get to ‘B’ grade and it’s important to them.”
GM: “I can tell you that back in the Elizabeth days there was a situation one night that made me think long and hard about this topic. It was the night that a young lady was shifted from repiano cornet to third cornet because she wasn’t good enough. She was in tears when she made the statement ‘it’s taken me four years to get to rep’ ….. What do you say to that person?”
Matthew: “Isn’t that about the band getting better?”
Aaron: “I think that you should always look after the players that you’ve got on hand first then if positions open up you make a decision.”
GM: “It’s a touchy subject isn’t it.”
Richard: “I think there’s got to be rules.”
GM: “If you’re going to have contests there needs to be rules, if it’s not a contest then it doesn’t matter, you can just go and play with whatever band you want to. But you know you go along to a band contest, you put your heart and soul into practising……”
Matthew: “Haha, what is this thing called practising of which you speak!!?”
GM: “You know …. rehearsing! You go out of your way to go to band practice, you bust your guts and then you end up getting flogged by some band that’s got Richard Madden playing soprano cornet!!”
Richard: “I’ve heard bands with ring ins and …..”
Matthew: “It highlights their deficiencies….”
Richard: “No it makes the band sound worse because they stick out, it’s not part of the concept.”
Aaron: “It’s obviously better to have what you’ve got there.”
GM: “I remember when Glenn and Chesne lived at Dernancourt, we were there for a barbeque and I had a CD of the St John’s Band with Glenn playing solo cornet playing Gibert Vinter’s ‘Spectrum’ in Ballarat in 1970 or ‘72.”
Matthew: “As you do!”
Richard: “I think I remember this.”
GM: “Glenn was rattling out those opening bars, you could really hear that he was in a different class. I also remember Richard saying to me ‘either you’ve got it or you haven’t’ but Glenn was the cornet section.”
Richard: “It’s like Whish turning up to band, all of a sudden there’s one tuba player that can play!”
GM: “Which makes you wonder about how that affects the morale of the other players. Well, what do you reckon boys have we had enough?”
Richard: “I reckon, we’ve hit a few raw nerves!!”
GM: “Correct, thanks a million for this!”
Geoff Meikle, 2024

SNAPSHOT PROFILE - Richard Madden
Vital Statistics:
Date and place of birth: 1968 Adelaide
Parents names: Glenn and Chesne Madden
Instrument(s): Trumpet family and percussion at high school.

First musical interest and inspiration: Family and especially Dad's record collection of all the great players.
Lessons, practice, motivation, driving forces, influences, setbacks: Took me a while to connect practice with performance. Either practise with a critical mind or perform with a positive mind, not a mixture of both (impossible but......). Practice to make playing/performing easier, not just correct. Practice improves technique and technique improves musicality (and vice versa). Great advice I should stick to more often!
Contesting ……... Is it worth the effort?  Yes, all musical endeavours require auditions. Banding is a great start to learn about the time, effort and likelihood of failure. 'I was robbed' must be taken with a grain of salt.
Family, friends, your feelings about being a musician and how it has affected your life:  Music must be enjoyed to connect with an audience. I have ventured down a path of serious negativity a few times. Conservatorium, contests, auditions and the odd hero that takes music way too seriously can lead us down the 'what's wrong with everything' attitude, however snapping out of that and enjoying what us musicians do is not that hard.
Achievements and regrets: Really there are not many of either. (GM; I beg to differ on that one Richard!!).
If not music ...  Pass
What would you do differently?  Learn how to get out of the 'what's wrong with everything' attitude earlier.
What interests you now?   Always had an interest in sport, but my interest has progressed to focussing more on practice/mental side of achieving success.
What does the future hold for you?  I think I shall keep on playing (annoying conductors!) in bands as long as I can. A few years off leaving the trumpet profession though.

SNAPSHOT PROFILE - Matthew Madden
I can’t remember my first lesson with Dad, probably because I was so young, but it was clear by the age of 10 that I wasn’t going to be a trumpet player! We had just come back from a year in Sweden (this was 1980) and were staying with Dads' parents in Hobart and Pa (Dudley, Dad’s dad) offered me a lesson on trombone. I’ve never looked back (or forward either as it turns out!).

I had lessons with the magnificent Des Blundell through high school, then the brilliant Howard Parkinson and, finally, when I figured out that I probably SHOULD be doing music at the ripe old age of 24, I went through the Elder Conservatorium with Bob Hower. He was incredible; so inspiring, and nurtured my love of (don’t hate me) Wind Orchestras.

During my degree, I performed with the ASO on tour, in the pit and on stage, and with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra (now the QSO) in a double bill with the Queensland Ballet (and before you shout nepotism – I had to audition for it!) and also the Adelaide run of the musical Porgy and Bess that was touring the country.

I finished my degree in 1997, and I got a job the next February (thanks to Aaron for bringing it to my attention) with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra as Orchestra Manager. I also played trombone in it (I also played the Euphonium part in Holst’s The Planets!) and a lot of chamber ensembles and orchestras in Canberra. I also played with the Canberra School of Music’s Brass Ensemble – all to keep my chops in order while having a non-playing full time job.

We moved back to Adelaide with an almost two-year-old (William) and a just-about-to-be-born baby number two (Nicholas) in 2001 (a week after 9/11) for my new job with ABC Classic FM. I then started playing with the Adelaide Art Orchestra and performed with them regularly in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (I think I did 14 of them!) and the touring musicals (I did South Pacific and A Chorus Line – that was an incredible eight weeks - with them).

I have since worked with the Australian String Quartet (Operations Manager for seven years), the ASO (Marketing Manager for three years) and for nine years as Music Assistant in the Music Department at Pembroke School. I started my new job as Leadership Coordinator with Country Arts SA in February this year. I also work casually with the Adelaide Chamber Singers (staging) and the Adelaide Entertainment Centre (usher) and have worked at two Adelaide Festivals, Illuminate Adelaide, and the Adelaide Film Festival.

I currently play with the Adelaide Wind Orchestra and intermittently with K&N, but of course have also played with Enfield (I still remember doing a marching practice on Gaza oval when I was probably 6 or 7 and ending up at the back of the band next to the percussion somehow!!), Elizabeth (some of the best experiences of my life), Tanunda, Marion and Mitcham Brass Bands.
Even though I never went fully professional, I can’t see that I will ever stop performing. I just hate practising. Mmm, what was that about never being fully professional ……….
Cheers, Matthew Madden, 2024

SNAPSHOT PROFILE - Aaron Madden
Vital Statistics;
Date and place of birth; 8th April 1972 Adelaide
Parents names; Glenn and Chesne Madden
Instrument(s); Trumpets(s), Eb Soprano cornet, Flugelhorn and Bugle

First musical interest and inspiration: It would have to be Classical, Jazz, Brass Bands. Inspiration would have to be Dad, Uncle Danny and all their friends. It was a big professional pool.
Lessons, practice, motivation, driving forces, influences, setbacks: I was lucky enough only to learn from professional players. Started with Dad, then went to Jimbo (Jim Dempsey) after some negotiation! After that I got into the Army Bands and went to the Defence Force School of Music and learnt from Norm Harris. I got posted to Wagga Wagga and it was sink or swim. When I got posted to Canberra, I was lucky enough to learn from Danny Mendelow for a year and that was a real turning point.

Motivation, I would have to say, comes from listening to great musicians and music.

My biggest driving force is me, whilst outside my family my biggest influences would be the late Jimbo, Norm Harris, Danny Mendelow, they got me going. I like Maynard Ferguson in small doses and the king of them all Doc Severinsen.

Biggest setback was Wagga Wagga. My confidence got really low and playing went downhill big time! It took years to build it up again.

Contesting……...Is it worth the effort?  I have a different take on this and it is this...if it wasn't for brass band competitions no-one would be writing music for brass bands. I think it's important because 1) We are keeping the brass band movement going and 2) We are putting money back into the composer’s pocket. Let's face it, you would have to be pretty pretentious to think that there is a market for performing serious brass band music and wind ensemble pieces and expect to get bums on seats!

People might say that contesting takes up too much time. That depends on the MD, doesn't it? I found that a lot of MDs over rehearse. Sometimes less is more, if you work efficiently, I believe you can achieve the same result without extra rehearsals. I find the more you rehearse the less people practice.

Playing-wise I love the challenge. Just remember there are only 12 notes to choose from!

Family, friends, your feelings about being a musician and how it has affected your life.  What can you say about family and friends, hmmmm you can't choose your family but you can choose your friends so make the most it and I wouldn't be doing this interview if it wasn't for music!
Achievements and regrets.  I've been lucky enough to have played with some incredible musicians and artists over my professional career and have had many overseas trips. One that does pop into my mind was a trip to Gallipoli where I was lucky enough to be the bugler in the ANZAC Cove Dawn Service.
My biggest regret was not swapping the fart tape (GM; a compilation of flatulent moments recorded by the Madden brothers and their accomplices!!) for the bird call tape in a performance of 'The Pines of Rome' at Elder Conservatorium for a UNI performance.
If not music ... Sport.
What would you do differently?  Practice more methodically when I was younger.
What interests you now? My beautiful family and cooking for family and friends.
What does the future hold for you? Enjoying life!  

Aaron Madden; Professional supplement.
As a professional musician with a brass band background, I would like you to consider addressing the following questions as part of your story.
•    How would you characterise your approach to music and playing your instrument now, compared with your early brass band days?
Slow down and be very methodical. My early approach was rush, rush, rush.
•    Is there a difference between the pressure you feel as a pro and the pressure you felt on the brass band contest stage?
I get quite nervous playing in a comp; I am a lot more relaxed performing in a concert.
•    Is there one particular quality that a musician needs to become a pro or do they need a cocktail of qualities to enable them to perform professionally?
Natural talent helps, however that can only get you so far. It's all in the mind, if you want something it will come....'it won't happen overnight but it will come' providing you practise with purpose, not just for the sake of it. My last tip is music is fun only if it is played well!
•    How many cocktails would you advise someone to consume before they perform?!
What! ...Who drinks cocktails!!
•    Do you play for free when asked to by a brass band,
Yes.
•    Do you still enjoy being part of the brass band scene?
Yes, I particularly love the challenge of playing major works and when I am preparing a new major work as a conductor it's like being a 'kid in a candy store!'.