Wilfred Heaton

NOTOC John Wilfred Heaton (2 December 1918 – 20 May 2000) was an English composer, conductor and teacher, best known for his brass band music and for his long association with the Salvation Army. Early career Born in Sheffield into a Salvation Army family, Heaton began piano lessons at the age of eight, gaining his LRAM performance diploma at 19. He also learned the cornet. While working at Cocking & Pace, a brass instrument manufacturing and repair shop in Sheffield, he began composing music for brass bands. He married Olive Mary Fisher (also of the Salvation Army) in 1941 and there were three daughters. During the war Heaton served with the Royal Air Force. He composed music for the Salvation Army throughout his career, but their requirement for simple, practical music became somewhat at odds with his broader compositional ambitions. His initial studies were with the Salvation Army bandmaster and composer George Marshall. Later, in the 1950s, Heaton received tuition from Mátyás Seiber. Examples include the march Praise (which achieved some popularity) and Just as I am, in the form of hymn-based variations akin to a chorale prelude. After the war he began working in a more con