Bones Apart is an English all-female trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

 quartet

Quartet

In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...

. The group formed in 1999 at the Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. As of 2008, the group includes Becky Smith, Lorna McDonald, Jayne Murrill, and Helen Vollam

Helen Vollam

Helen Vollam is Principal Trombone for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, appointed in 2004 as the first woman to be appointed principal trombone in a London orchestra, and the first in a UK orchestra since Maisie Ringham of the Halle Orchestra in the last century...

. Former members include Carol Jarvis, Becca Harper, Camilla Tveit and Arlene Macfarlane.

Tours and performances

The quartet has toured throughout Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 including performances at the International Trombone Festival, the International Women's Brass Conference, the Spanish Brass Festival, and the Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh International Festival

The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...

, Scandinavian Trombone Festival, Lieksa Brass Week, Vilnius Festival, Sauerland-Herbst Festival, Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington.

Awards

The group won the 2001 Royal Over-Seas League

Royal Over-Seas League

The Royal Over-Seas League is a non-profit members’ organisation with international headquarters based in its clubhouse in central London, England...

 Competition and has also won the Philip Jones Award.

Discography

Bones Apart has released three albums.

• No More Blues (2002)
• Enigma (2006)
• four4four (2009)