GALSI COURSE 2026
Join us for the Gender and the Large and Shiny Instruments young persons’ brass and
percussion course on Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th October, 10.30 - 16.30, presented in partnership with the Royal College of Music, London.
WHO IS IT FOR?: This two day course is open to anyone who plays a brass instrument or percussion/drumkit, is from age 8 - 18 years old, and identifies as female or non-binary. Expect a fun and interactive course that celebrates playing large and shiny instruments!
TUTORS: The course is led by brass and percussion tutors who are leaders within the
profession including percussionists Kyomi Seed and Alice Angliss, trumpeters Kaitlin Wild and Katie Smith, and French horn player Zoë Tweed (scroll down for more info!).
ACTIVITIES: The participants will be split into junior, intermediate and senior ensembles, and will work on ensemble playing, technique, and learn more about being a professional performer from their tutors. The junior and intermediate group additionally take part in an interactive improvisation/composition workshop whilst the senior group take part in a round table discussion and masterclass, and all musicians will finish by playing side-by-side in big piece all together!
REQUIRED STANDARD: This course is designed for a range of standards: for the junior group participants should have been playing their instrument for at least a year, and have their own instrument for the brass players, or sticks for the percussionists. The senior group is appropriate for students Grade 6+.
SIGN UP: Please book your place via the RCM website. The deadline for sign up is 16th October but some groups may close earlier if capacity is reached.
For queries about registration or payment please contact the RCM Sparks team directly: sparks@rcm.ac.uk
Note: participants must be available for both days of the course.
COST: Pay-what-you-can model with the median suggested payment of £85 total for the two days. There are also some subsidised places available for qualifying families - details are on the booking page of the RCM website.
TRAVEL BURSARIES: We have travel bursaries available for participants traveling from outside of London & home counties. If you would like to apply for this please send us an email telling us a bit about yourself, where you live, and your estimated costs - largeandshiny@gmail.com
We look forward to meeting you soon!
Meet the Tutors
Senior Brass
Zoë Tweed
Zoë grew up in Wells, Somerset and began playing Euphonium at age 6 before switching to the trombone, then settling on the French Horn at age 9. She moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music for both her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, where she was supported by the Elton John Scholarship.
​
Zoë joined the RPO as 3rd Horn a year after finishing her studies in December 2023, at the time becoming the youngest member of the orchestra. She continues to work with various orchestras and ensembles and has appeared as guest Principal with the Aurora Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Knussen Chamber Orchestra, the Jules Buckley Orchestra and, a particular highlight, the Barbie Land Sinfonietta.
​
As a soloist she has performed concertos with Fantasia Orchestra, Hereford Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Sinfonia and Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra, and performs in duo recitals with Mark Rogers across the UK.
Zoë also has a passion for chamber music and is a member of the award winning brass quintet Connaught Brass, and a founding member of the London Horn Quartet alongside Annemarie Federle, Jonathan Maloney and Diego Incertis. She enjoys a wide variety of musical genres and this is reflected in the music she has written and arranged for solo horn and piano, horn quartet and brass quintet.
​
In 2024 Zoë became a professor of horn at the Royal College of Music.
Junior Percussion
Kyomi Seed
Kiyomi Seed, native of Japan, is an accomplished orchestral and solo percussionist. She holds a masters degree from the Juilliard School in Music Performance - timpani and percussion. She has performed internationally in countries including USA, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan before becoming the Assistant Principal Timpanist / Percussionist with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur. During Kiyomi’s time in Malaysia, she gave numerous solo and chamber music performances, conducted masterclasses and workshops and toured internationally with the orchestra.
​
Now Kiyomi performs and tours frequently in the UK as a freelance percussionist and timpanist and has worked with many orchestras including the Philharmonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of Opera North, Royal Philharmonic and Bournemouth Symphony, Welsh National Opera, and Royal Opera House Orchestra. Theatre work includes Shakespeare’s Globe, London: I, Joan, Misdummer’s Night Dream, and a deputy on The Royal Shakespeare Company: My Neighbour Totoro.
Kiyomi regularly coaches the percussion section of the National Youth Orchestra. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting, baking, and playing and watching tennis.
Senior Percussion
Alice Angliss
Alice read music at St Catherine's College, Oxford before taking up a place on the postgraduate course at the Royal College of Music studying Orchestral Percussion & Timpani, supported by an Ernest Hecht Award. She now pursues a career in theatre work, orchestral playing and teaching.
Alice freelances across the UK in concert halls, theatres and recording studios. She is currently playing drums on 'Six The Musical' in the West End and covers the Keys/MD chair as well; she features as the drummer in the movie version, released in cinemas in 2025. Recent work has included TV and radio performances with 'Tina: The Tina Turner Musical' and Abel Selaocoe & the BBC Singers; depping on the UK & Europe tours of 'Miss Saigon' and ‘Bat Out Of Hell’; UK & Ireland orchestral tours of 'Love Actually in Concert'; recording sessions at RAK Studios (with Ed Sheeran & Passenger), Abbey Road Studios and BBC Maida Vale; a session with the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop; and tours of Sicily and Denmark with opera and ballet companies.
Alice teaches privately and at St John’s, Beaumont School and sits on the Executive Committee of the Musicians’ Union, as well as chairing their West End Sub-Committee.
Intermediate Brass
Katie Smith
Katie Smith joined the trumpet section of the London Symphony Orchestra in October 2025 after a fulfilling year and a half with Scotland’s National Orchestra (RSNO) as their Sub-Principal Trumpet. Katie is the first woman to join the trumpet section of the LSO in their 122 year history. Up until then Katie has enjoyed a busy and diverse freelance career as an orchestral musician both on modern and period instruments. She was originally inspired to take up the trumpet aged seven in memory of her late father Malcolm Smith (Co-Principal Trumpet of the LSO 1982-88). She is the fourth generation of LSO musicians in her family since her great grandfather joined the orchestra in 1929.
Following undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music respectively, Katie has played with many of the UK’s leading orchestra including the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Opera. She has also toured the UK, Asia, USA and Europe. Katie regular teaches classes at the GSMD, RAM and Royal College of Music and can be heard on many major film, TV and game soundtracks such as Stranger Things, Matrix Resurrections, Life on our Planet and more recently can be heard on RAYE’s album THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. Katie is extremely proud to continue working with GALSI and champions all the work they do.
Junior Brass
Kaitlin Wild
Details coming soon