Rob began his career as a trombonist, but while he has always retained his affection for the instrument, he has become much more widely known as a conductor and more recently has developed his reputation as a composer and arranger. Throughout his varied career he was always aware that there would come a point when he would need to pass on the experience he had acquired so he now balances his creative and conducting activities with some teaching. He is presently Professor of Conducting at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, and also teaches conducting for the Royal Air Force Music Services and postgraduate conducting, composition and arranging at the London College of Music.
Welcome to his website, where you can learn more about Rob, discover his complete works, listen to most, and be directed to publishers where you can buy his music. You can search by name, grade, instrument, and in a variety of categories.
If you are unfamiliar with Rob's work, listen to some of his music he has chosen for his sample playlists.
Please contact Rob if you wish to commission a work, make enquiries about the pieces in the catalogue or book a masterclass or workshop.
Rob has recently set up Shout Music Publishing in order to publish a greater range of future works and make his whole catalogue available including orchestral, choral, big band, brass, instrumental and guitar music. It will include readily accessible pieces together with more adventurous works in various styles.
De Madrugada is a short piece depicting dawn in the village of San Felipe Neri near Alicante in Spain.
This vivacious programme number was written for Barney, Simba’s (see At The Splash with Sim above) predecessor in our Golden Retriever succession. Barney was a very laid back and happy soul, not our brightest-ever retriever, but with the potential for a little mischief when the mood took him.
A 5 year project, Music of the Great War, was launched on November 11th with Rob's arrangement Songs of the Great War. Its aim is to use music from the time of WW1 to educate and encourage schools, colleges, town bands, and the wider public across the UK and the world to learn in a positive way about the events and the experiences of the troops involved from all sides and how music played its part.
Each year a short medley of music and songs from WW1 will be created and made available to bands to learn and then perform on Armistice Day (11th November) to commemorate the centenary of the war. On Armistice Day next year Rob's arrangement will be performed around the world. For more information, and to download the Wind Band or Brass Band version of the medley, please visit the Commonwealth Education Trust page. For more information on how to get involved in the project please visit the Music of the Great War website.
At the Splash with Sim is a gentle, tranquil piece which gets its title from a favourite swimming place of Rob's dog, Simba.
Rob's fanfare Shining Sword was performed at West End Heroes 2014, a charity gala performance in aid of Help For Heroes at the Dominion Theatre on Sunday 28th September.
A new CD - ‘Sinfonietta’ by the Central Band of the RAF has recently been released. It features Rob’s dramatic and exciting work of the same name, Sinfonietta.
Blue & Orange, a song and dance for flute with wind band accompaniment, these two pieces are as contrasting as possible, just like the colours of the title.
Spider Legs is a vibrant Latin dance number.
The title comes from the nickname given to Rob's recently born granddaughter Emma Louisa Wiffin!
