Helen Harrelson began her playing career on euphonium playing with the Rotherham Schools Band and the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. She later changed to baritone and was accepted at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where she gained her BMus (Hons). During her studies at the RNCM, Helen worked and performed with world class musicians such as Bob Childs, James Watson, Sandy Smith, Steven Mead, James Gourley, and Bramwell Tovey. During her time in the U.K., she was a member of some of the worlds’ finest brass bands. Helen had the honor of being one of the first female members in the Black Dyke Band, with whom she toured and recorded many CDs, radio broadcasts and television appearances.

Helen taught brass and woodwind in the Manchester area and regularly coached brass bands throughout Europe as part of the Foden’s Brass Band Coaching Team. In 2005 she completed her Post Graduate Certificate of Education and accepted the position as Head of Wider Opportunities Music Curriculum at Bolton Music Service. 

Summer 2007 saw Helen take a voluntary sabbatical to Kansas City, as part of a cross-cultural study of music education. During this time she began playing Solo Baritone with the Fountain City Brass Band with whom she later founded the internationally recognized Fountain City Youth Brass Academy.

In 2015, Helen completed her Masters of Arts degree at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and became a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society.

As a leading advocate for brass pedagogy and performance, she has presented and  performed at events including the Midwest Clinic, International Woman’s Brass Conference,  International Tuba & Euphonium Conference, and International Trumpet Guild. Helen has served on the faculties of the Northern Ireland Summer School, North American Brass Band Summer School, MidAmerica Nazarene University, Missouri Western State University, and as a Student Teacher Mentor for the Royal Northern College of Music. She has been recognized for outstanding contribution to music education from the Kansas Bandmasters Association, and was awarded the ECKMEA High School Band Director of the Year in 2021.

As part of Helen’s vision for the development of brass bands in America, she co-founded, with her husband Lee, the National Youth Brass Band of America in 2019, and will complete her Doctoral studies this year, specializing in the American brass band in the twenty-first century.

Helen is a Besson/Buffet Crampon performing artist, consultant, and clinician.