Len Tyler psm, CSAK, LTCL(Mus Ed), CKME.

It was in Lubenham village church in rural Leicestershire that Len had his first taste of music. As a young chorister he would attend choir practice on Friday evenings and church services on Sundays. It was not until he attended secondary school that he took up instrumental playing as a Trombonist. He played with the school orchestra and the Leicestershire county youth orchestra before joining the army in 1965. Len was selected for Bandmaster training and attended the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall winning several prizes on his graduation in 1977. He then held a number of Bandmaster and Director of Music appointments until he took early retirement in 1993. He first took up the baton at the Rushmoor Concert Band in 1986 having previously been the band's Flautist. Due to a military posting he had to relinquish the appointment in Dec 1990 only to take it up again on his retirement from the army in 1993.

Since leaving the military Len has become deeply involved with music education for young children. He has retrained and qualified as a music kindergarten teacher specialising in the work of the Hungarian composer and educator Zoltan Kodaly. In 1994 he founded a music school for young children which now has some 650 pupils (aged birth to 8 years) and employs ten specially trained teachers. His work in this field is now recognised and he was elected to the national executive committee of the British Kodaly Academy in 1997. In 2000 he was invited to become a member of the British Kodaly Academy's National Council. He has become more and more involved with teacher training and now runs workshops and training sessions both locally and nationally. His workshops are attended by teachers across the country with some travelling from as far away as North Yorkshire, and even Kelso in Scotland.

With his wife Rose he also runs a woodwind quintet called ‘Clarinets Plus’. As well as including four different types of Clarinet the group also incorporates Flute and Saxophone and adds percussion to some items. In 1997 the group was awarded a small lottery grant from the Arts Council to enable them to take their high quality instrumental presentations into infant and junior schools. This ongoing project has proved to be very popular and most successful. Clarinets Plus has broadcast on local radio, been featured as guest artistes on concerts and also plays for dinners nights and corporate events.

Len lives near Camberley with his wife Rose and daughters Katie and Bethan. Rose, who is a woodwind teacher, has been a member of the Rushmoor Concert Band since 1976 and Katie now plays Percussion in the band. Bethan, who has attended music lessons since the age of 3 months, is a now an established clarinet player and is also a member of the band.