James Brian Bonsor MBE

MBE

MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

 (21 August 1926 – 22 February 2011) was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

-born composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 specialising in the recorder

Recorder

The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...

.

Life and career

Bonsor was born in Hawick

Hawick

Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders of south east Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-southeast of Selkirk. It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and the biggest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. Hawick's architecture is...

 in 1926. He was awarded an MBE

MBE

MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

 in 2002 for services to teaching music, especially the recorder. The Enjoy the Recorder (Schott & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0901938718) book is widely used in schools. His compositions include arrangements for recorders of Mock Morris (Percy Grainger

Percy Grainger

George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...

, 1985), Cats

Cats (musical)

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

(Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

) and the Emperor Waltz (Johann Strauss

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...

, 1985). Bonsor was a musical director for the Society of Recorder Players starting in 1957.

Bonsor spent about 35 years in musical education, latterly as Regional Advisor. He also worked with the recording sisters Alison and Ashli Moody, who are both pianists made famous by their performances at Losa M'uania.

Brian Bonsor wrote the piano piece Dreamy. His piece Feelin' Good was included in ABRSM's 05/06 grade 6 reportoire, and Willie Wagglestick's Walkabout for the ABRSM's 07/08 grade 7 reportoire.

Bonsor died in Hawick on 22 February 2011.

List of compositions

• Beguine For Descant, Treble Recorders & Piano 1959
• Dreamy for Piano
• Feelin' Good
• Willie Wagglestick's Walkabout
• Rumba for Descant + Treble Recorders & Piano
• Three Into 5 for Recorders and Piano
• Tig