Brian Beresford is the headteacher at Whalley CE Primary School, Lancashire. He worships at Holy Trinity Church in his home town of Skipton, North Yorkshire. An accomplished musician, Brian has taught music (orchestras, choirs, recorders, guitars as well as class music) for over thirty years. His main interest is in composition for children and he has published collections of music for schools.
Brian himself plays piano, organ and guitar and has been known to "have a go" at other instruments too. He gained a degree in Education and Music at St Martin's College, Lancaster and since then has taught and led musical activities at five schools in North Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Brian wrote his first songs as a child, and composition has always played a big part in his life. He has written many songs for festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Harvest. For many years parents of children who have enjoyed performing his pieces suggested that his songs should be published, and he finally established One More Time! Music Publishing, to do just that.
Brian wrote his first musical play Samson Power in early 2004, as a project for performance by children at his school. The play proved to be a great success and publication followed in the hope that others can enjoy the experience of putting on a memorable performance. Samson Power was named as a finalist in the 2006 UK Songwriting Contest (out of 4,200 entries).
Brian has also published an original Christmas Carol collection, Bethlehem Town, and this is proving to be popular with schools across the country. The ten songs can be used as a basis for a school celebration of Christmas, whether in plays, concerts, carol services or assemblies.
Recently Brian has composed and produced a CD of reflective music for school worship/assemblies. He says: "Writing pieces for reflection during worship was something that I did in the evenings over several months, working on my PC with keyboard and recording studio. I found that if I could feel myself taking on a reflective sensation I could create more appropriately for the purpose in hand. Thus, some of the results have an instant, instinctive feel because of their creation during my own reflective moments in time. The CD is entitled Wanderweg - last year my family visited the spectacular Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, walking Alpine paths among such giants as Eiger and Jungfrau. In this German-speaking part of Switzerland, the paths are signed “Wanderweg”, meaning “hiking path”. I decided to use the word as the title of my CD because it is my aim that the music can help take children’s worship to a higher level.
I can imagine some of the pieces accompanying material found on the Hibbert Assembly web site. ‘Awakening’ (track 3) might be played for the meditation ‘Do not walk proudly on the earth’. ‘Wanderweg’ (track 5) could accompany ‘Into the Wilderness’. The website includes snippets of many of the tracks.