Music News
The music department is delighted, honoured and deeply grateful to have been given the most fantastic set of 5 timpani, with their own flight cases, from the percussionist, Ray Cooper, who is often referred to as the 'father of rock and roll percussion'. Ray is the grandfather of one of our students and came himself to deliver the very large and heavy timps with the help of his roadie.
It is incredible to think where these timps have been and who they have been with!
Ray has worked with many of the world's leading musicians, including Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison. His most enduring collaboration has been with Elton John, with Ray being on more than 90 of Elton's recordings and has performed over 1000 concerts with him, most recently on the Farewell Tour.
In 1979, Ray was asked by George Harrison to help run Handmade Films, and he remained at the helm for just over a decade, overseeing the production of seminal films such as Withnail and I, Time Bandits and The Long Good Friday. Below is Ray with the timps. The other photo is of Elton John's famous Dodger Stadium Concert.
Ray was at our recent Founders Day and was able to hear his timpani played in the 2 orchestral pieces performed. We can not begin to thank Ray enough for his unbelievable generosity.
