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2003 Scottish Open Championship
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Sunday 30th November
Test Piece: Paganini Variations (Wilby)
Adjudicators: Dr. Robert Childs, Ian Brownbill, Stephen Roberts
Over the years the Scots have been great innovators. They can boast
some notable firsts in many fields, such as engineering, sport and
even exploring, whilst their very own brass band championships pre
date the National Finals themselves by five years, starting way
back in 1895.
However, the Scots, like their fellow Celts the Welsh, can be a
very parochial people though, and whilst the likes of Mungo Park
and James Watt found fame further a field, it is fair to say that
sometimes the Scots have only been happiest when they are safely
ensconced behind Hadrians Wall. Great travellers they are not (just
look what happens when their football team leaves home, whilst Mungo
Park himself ended up dead in West Africa). The truly great Scottish
achievements it seemed were invariably only found in Scotland itself.
That may explain why it has taken them so long in producing a thoroughly
first class brass band contest that can attract the best bands from
all over the UK to make the trip north in search of a top class
title and plenty of cash. The European Championships have been held
here twice before, although not particularly memorably it must be
said, and whilst the Scottish Brass Band Association can boast over
83 member bands, the Scottish banding movement in general never
quite set the agenda in terms of progressive forward thinking. Just
like the Welsh, it was run for far too long by well-minded people
with a very narrow outlook and even narrower ambition. The prudent
Presbyterianism, so ingrained in many aspects of the Scottish psyche,
held Scottish banding back for far too many years.
This has all changed though with the new guard who now are in charge
at the Scottish Brass Band Association, from the new President Alan
McLaren down. There now seems a wind of progressive change running
through the movement North of the border, a wind that has enabled
great strides to be taken in producing events that capture the imagination
not only of the general banding movement, but also of the general
public. Next year, Glasgow hosts the European Championships for
a third time, but this time it is a cultural event that has been
planned in advance in such a way that it could set a new blue print
for the contest as a whole in the 21st Century, whilst on Sunday,
the inaugural Scottish Open Brass Band Championships take place
at the 2004 European venue at the superb Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
Scotland is innovating again.
The Scottish Open in fact serves three purposes for the Scottish
Association. Firstly it gives them the opportunity to run a top
class brass band event with generous pot of prize money to attract
some of the best bands in the country. Secondly, it is organised
in such a way that it becomes something of a Festival, as it also
incorporates the Scottish Youth Brass Championships and a Gala Concert,
whilst thirdly, it serves as a “dry run” for next years
European Championships. What works here this weekend can be enhanced,
whilst what doesn’t can be amended and improved in time for
the cream of European banding come next May. This is why the 2003
Scottish Open Brass Band Championships are so important.
The organisers have taken note of what works is the best contests
around Europe and have tried to amalgamate them together here. The
venue is as good as any; the prize fund is generous (especially
for the Scots!); the test piece and adjudicators were chosen with
direct involvement of the competing bands; a sectionalised pre draw
has been made to assist the bands; 2 guest players are allowed per
band (including those from rival competitors) and very innovatively,
the judges have issued a statement intended to assist bands in their
preparation, so that they can have some idea of what three men are
looking out for. In addition the three men chosen for the task of
picking the winners are a welcome selection indeed, with Dr. Robert
Childs, the MD of the BAYV Cory band joined by Ian Brownbill, formerly
the MD of the Haydock Band and a player with vast top section experience,
and Stephen Roberts, who proved a very enlightened and forthright
judge at this year’s British Open. All in all, it adds up
to a pretty impress package.
The adjudicator’s statement reads as follows, and will also
be of interest to the audience, who always welcome some idea of
what the judges are looking for so that they can temper their own
personal selections that take their fancy. “The adjudicators
have no specific agenda, but will listen to each performance as
carefully and objectively as possible. It is felt that any “answers”
for a winning performance can only be found from within the composer’s
score. Therefore the adjudicator’s will look for an outstanding
combination of musical artistry and technical merit which, in their
opinion, best reflects the intentions of the composer.”
As the set work is one of the most popular and accessible test pieces
of the last twenty years or more – Philip Wilby’s “Paganini
Variations”, it should make for a full hall enjoying a cracking
piece played by some fine bands.
The winners themselves will come from a group of 15 bands that
include the runners up at the National Championships, the British
Open, Spennymoor Brass in Concert, The Grand Shield and Pontins,
as well both British Open and 2003 European contenders. There are
eight bands from Scotland, two from Wales, two from Lancashire,
two from Yorkshire and one from the North East, and whilst there
has been some degree of disappointment that Fodens Richardson pulled
out of the contest at a fairly late date, there is still a very
strong line up in the form of Besses o’ th’ Barn (Steve
Sykes), Bo’ness and Carriden (Ian Davey), Broxburn Public
(Bruce Wallace), BTM (David Stowell), Fishburn (Graham O’Connor),
Hepworth (Mark Bentham), Kingdom Brass (Archie Hutchison), Kirkintilloch
(Frank Renton), Newtongrange (David Hirst), Scottish Co-op (Russell
Gray), Sellers International (Philip McCann), Tredegar (Richard
Evans), Unison Kinneil (Allan Ramsey) and Whitburn (Andrew Duncan).
They will be playing for a top prize of £3000, whilst the
runners up will get £2000, third place, £1000, fourth
place £750, fifth £500 and sixth £250. The winning
conductor will also receive a commemorative Quaich (a drinking cup
we are told), whilst the best instrumentalist will receive £100
and the 4Barsrest.com trophy. The announcement of the results should
take place around 5.30pm after the audience has enjoyed a short
concert by the British Euphonium Ensemble.
It all starts at 9.30am in the superb acoustics of the Royal Concert
Hall, whilst the Gala Concert which will feature the bands of West
Lothian Schools, Kirkintilloch and Unison Kinneil as well as Gregor
Stewart, the current Scottish Solo Champion, Richard Kidd, the current
Junior Solo Champion, the House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe
Band and Inverclyde Youth Choir will start at 7.30pm.
Meanwhile over at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,
the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships will take place. There
are three sections – Premier, Community and Development, and
14 bands will take part. The Premier Section will be adjudicated
by Bryan Allen and Gordon Evans, the Community Section by Bryan
alone and the Development Section by Charles Keenan.
The competing bands in the Premier section are Aberdeen City Youth
(Eric Kidd) and Moray Concert Brass (Glenn Munroe). The Community
Section will feature Auchinleck Academy (Stephen Boyd), Campbeltown
Brass Youth (Katrina Barr), CIS Youth Concert Brass (Craig Anderson),
Queensferry High School (Gareth Ross) and St. David’s High
School (John Dickson). The Development section will be contested
by Campbeltown Brass Juniors (Katrina Barr), Clydebank Burgh Youth
(Gareth Bowman and Lorraine Murray – Carstairs), Irvine and
Dreghorn Youth (Claire Drennan), Jedforest Junior (Cameron Mabon),
Loanhead brass Roots (Alan Fernie) and Perthshire Youth Brass (George
Annan).
A great weekend then for all the bands, players and hopefully the
audience as well. Glasgow is an exciting place to visit, the organisers
have pushed the boat out to try and make it a success, and they
have been confident enough to book the hall for next year and 2005.
Lets hope the inaugural Scottish Open is therefore a great success.
© 4BarsRest
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