An exciting new app from artist Haroon Mirza is set to get brass bands on the march — in a very innovative way.

Free

Dérive will be free to download from the Apple App and Google Play Stores from the 10th July and has been commissioned by Durham County Council as part of BRASS: Durham International Festival which takes place from the 16th-19th July.

Alter pace

The app will allow users to alter the tempo of their music in response to their walking (or marching) pace — and as Katherine Pearson from flo-culture.com who are coordinating the idea told 4BR, it is hoped to target famous old brass band marches as its core repertoire.

"We are looking for recordings of some great traditional marching music performed by brass bands to include in Dérive, which has been created by Haroon.

The music must either be out of copyright or belong to the band, so that people using the app can share recordings of the music with one another.

So far we have recorded 'Death of Glory', 'Officer of the Day', 'Slaidburn' and Red Flag' with the Durham Miners Association but we would welcome any others from bands. We can't guarantee we will use all the tracks submitted but will thank everyone who contributed."

New and fun

Katherine added: "The inclusion of a collection of traditional marching music and route maps depicting the parade routes of the Durham Miners Gala will allow users to engage with brass music and the tradition of brass marching bands in new and fun ways."

The music must either be out of copyright or belong to the band, so that people using the app can share recordings of the music with one anotherKatherine Pearson

Get in touch

All bands have to do is get in touch — and remember that the pieces must be either out of copyright or belong solely to the band in question.

If you are interested then contact: Katherine.pearson@flo-culture.com along with name of the band, date of recording and name of the track being performed.