Comments ~ 2005: March (Part 1 - to 12th March)

Lots from Yorkshire, the Midlands, Wales, West of England, Norway and even John Berryman's football skills as we continue on the Regional merry go round.

Thanks from Peggy

I would just like to say thankyou to everyone who travelled from far and wide to support the bands at the Yorkshire Regional last weekend. Many have contacted me to say it was worth the journey to Bradford from Cambridge, Norwich, Bristol etc. Some leaving home at 4.30 a.m. on Saturday and getting back home at 2.00 a.m. Monday - still humming Rienzi. The audience hardly moved on Sunday evening - everyone just sat, listened, cheered and applauded. Thanks to all of you.

Many ask why we empty St. George's Hall before the start of the Championship Section. This is not a money making ruse - the explanation is simple.

St. George's Hall holds 1600 audience. For every bandpersons ticket issued a ticket is withdrawn from sale to the public by the box office.  I issued 660 band tickets (23 bands/30 tickets each) for the daytime session and 450 band tickets to the Champ. Section bands (14 bands/average 32 tickets each due to extra percussionists). 660+450=1110 band tickets all withdrawn from sale by box office leaving only 490 to sell to supporters. Result - not enough tickets for the supporters to Champ Section - we require at least 1,000 to be available for Champ.Section audience.

That is the reason we have at ask the audience to leave at end of daytime session. I apologise for the inconvenience but the St. George's Hall stewards assured me they would do their best to ensure as smooth a change over as possible. We are very aware of health and safety issues during this period and can only thank everyone for their patience and co-operation during the change over.

Sincere thanks to all the bands and our supporters/audience and I look forward to welcoming you all back to Bradford on the 4th/5th March 2006.

Peggy Tomlinson,
Yorkshire Regional Secretary.

Well done to Grimey and Crockers!

Just to say congrats to Grimethorpe on their result at the areas. One person does not a band make but it is no coincidence that Grimethorpe have apparently raised their game since the arrival of Kevin Crockford.

In fact, all the bands Kevin has played with have benefitted hugely from his playing. Without wishing to turn this into the Kevin Crockford appreciation society, I have witnessed many of Kevins performances (remember the 'concert of the century' with Black Dyke at St. Georges Hall!) and in terms of playing at the top level, on arguably the most difficult brass instrument to master, the guy is simply immense. 

Yes, he can produce a huge sound that some players have difficulty in matching up to, but he can also play the quiet passages as sweet as any one around. There has been a fair bit of criticism of kevins playing over the years by people who have no idea of the idiosyncrasies of playing the sop. Yes, there is the odd split now and again, but even those are done with 100% .conviction, there are no half measures. To those critics I say, look at his record to date and get back in your boxes.

I look forward to hearing the band in the coming months and wish them every continued success.
 
Russ Queenan

John Berryman and the Comedy kick

For the benefit of those who thought John Berryman had abused his score after the first section Midlands area - please note he conducted from memory. What John actually kicked into touch was his umbrella!

John posses great talent and experience as a player and conductor - a must for all adjudicators. Moving from a playing career into adjudication misses out this vital stage in the development of a credible adjudicator. If the adjudication process is to be trusted, then surely it is time to use two suitably experienced people. If its a question of cost, scrap prize money - to most bands, a more reliable result is more important, especially at regional finals.
 
Bob Stradling
Daventry

Watch out for Bodmin!
  
After reading your article with the probable line up / top six prediction for the championship section on sunday  in the southwest region,I would just like to say that I heard Bodmin practice last night and beleive me when I say that the sounds comming from the bandroom are of a very high quality and with the old principle on rep and some old boys in on back row, not to mention a new bass player and euph player etc etc!  do not be too suprised if you hear a differnet bodmin to the ones that you may have heard over the past few months!!
 
Watch this space............ from an old head!!

Jonathan Tregidga

4BR Comment:
The results from the West of England should be published on 4BR on Sunday evening, so watch indeed.

The relegation issue in Wales

First of all can I congratulate you on your reviews for all the competing bands at the regional contests this year.  There is one issue that does concern me, and that is, when a band has not competed for several years who decides which section they should be relegated to, or compete in?  I make particular referance to the Welsh Region.

In 2001, two of the bands where graded national Second Section, one of the bands winning the contest in that particular year. I know many bands are going through difficult times at present, but to  myself and many others, this situation seems a little hard to swallow.

How can the Welsh Regional Second Section winners in 2001 compete in the Fourth Section four years on? Let me put a hypothetical situation  to you. If  Point of  Air  where to re-establish themselves within North Wales, would this then make them eligible to enter the Fourth Section - a frightening thought for all lower section bands.

Surly the Regional registriy could devise a  system  to say - if a percentage of players  who where named and registered with a band in a particular section, then that is the section that they must return to compete in, and its only through the relegation process that they drop to a lower section.  If a band can prove to have had survival problems and new registered players exceed the reistraions of the last regional contest entered then they are allowed to drop a section.

Over recent years the Welsh region has seen the return of several bands, not from having a rest from contesting for a few years, but struggling with few players around the stand to keep their organisation afloat.

There is one band from North Wales who has not competed at the regional for over forty years as well as a few bands from the south making their debut,  these are true Fourth Section bands who have been through tough times starting at the bottom of the ladder once more.

If the bands in question have suffered in their survival over these years then I apologise, but I hope you see and understand what  many bandsmen out there are thinking -  is there a hidden agenda behind this, if there is,  I hope you can sleep at night . The proof will be in the results on Sunday afternoon.

I will be interesting to hear what the regional officers views are on this situation, and the suggested ideas for bands being allowed to return to the lower sections.

Glyn Davis

The Rix Diaries

Well its now Thursday evening I've just got back from Aberdeen after a  Board meeting - passed Duncan Beckly in the airport last night and no doubt arriving from Manchester and on his way to a Bon Accord rehearsal (its a small world). Shame he flew BA but I still wish him and Bon Accord best of luck but fly bmi next time !!
 
Anyway if you have been following my short diary - Saturday was a great day for us - apart from the result!! Many thought we were a front runner after hearing us play even the competition - the adjudicator placed us in the bottom half. I was miserable for the rest of the day and could not face Sunday listening to the Championship section. I kept asking myself was it all worth it !!!
 
Of course it was - we are a better band for it. Yes, the result matters but there is always next year - with a tail wind and a different adjudicator it might be our turn.
 
Just one plea though for the Midlands area - lets have two adjudicators as other areas, they may agree on the result but a balanced view is always best. Mind you I did attend the British Open last year ......
 
Best of Luck to all those that will go through the 'ordeal' this weekend especially Snibston and Desford and Hathern B.
 
Graham Rix  

What's happening at the BFBB?

What's happening at the BFBB? It seems to have transformed itself overnight from an inactive OAP to a hyperactive toddler. Who decided? (the membership of the BFBB?) and when was it decided to have an English Championships? Who decided? and when was it decided to base some of the invitations on a (highly-flawed) ranking system sponsored and published by commercial organisations (however brass-band friendly)?

Who is underwriting the financing of the event? Are we lurching from one system of National Champs based on ad hoc decisions made years ago by well-meaning individuals, and now expressed in sets of inconsistent rules, owned and partly managed by commercial enterprises, rules that have produced the Ibstock and other madnesses,  to another system, equally ad hoc and potentially leading to similar problems in future?
 
Or am I just unable to read between the lines? One is tempted to despair.
 
Peter Hartley
Bournemouth

In support of the Midlands Committee

I watched with interest the comments that have appeared in a multitude of band press articles regarding the Ibstock Affair and now see that if you get you opinion in first, no matter how far away from the truth it is, you can make people believe that the other party was wrong all the time.
 
I have listened very carefully to the arguments from both sides regarding the relegation of Ibstock to the 2nd section and apart from the BFBB  have found no one who believes that the Midland Regional Committee acted wrongly. I also understand that the system used in the Midland Region has been in  operation for a number of years. Does this mean that bands from previous years are now going to slap solicitors letters in front of this committee and see if they can have previous decisions overturned?
 
I have been involved in banding for more years than I can remember and have always found the Regional Committee's, I have been involved in other areas, to be very fair when making their decisions. (Funny how no one complains about the system when it involves promotion?)
 
I agree with your article that the need for the rules and regulations require clarity in order that they can be sorted out with the minimum of fuss but I must suggest that the BFBB shoulder the majority of the blame for the mess known as the Ibstock Affair.  I don't feel sorry for the Ibstock Band as they should have swallowed their medicine and accepted their relegation and got on with improving their lot. If the BFBB are stating as I beleive they have done over this incident that they run and manage the Regional Contests then surely they should be providing the personell etc at the contests?
 
Perhaps if we allowed the Regional Committee's to be autonimous as I understand their remit from Besson allows them to be and  free from BFBB interference, then perhaps the movement would be better off and move on.

Peter Stokes

Keeping up a fine sound

With reference to your editorial comments this month on the primary importance of sound quality. Please keep saying it. And please add the almost equally important ability to play a simple melody with style.

Peter Hartley

Superb Journalism!!

I couldn't attend Yorkshire's championship section this year and relied on your retrospective - I really enjoyed your vivid description -  I got to the last few lines with a grin and a tingle at the back of the neck - and decided I must write and congratulate you on superb journalism. Thanks - nowt else to say.
 
K Wardle
Edwinstowe

4BR Comment:
Thanks!

The last - the very last - the very, very last turn...

This debate about turns really worries me!

Turns are not notes in the conventional sense, they are decorations and to be honest I don't think it makes one bit of a difference to the aesthetics of the music by playing them inverted or not.

Oh and by the way, on the subject of Wagnerian style – Did any band use the Wagner Tuba? No? Really! What a surprise – so why all the nonsense about turns. Are the Adjudicators trying to prove they're academically superior by focusing on the interpretation of ornaments? If you're going to look for Wagner Turns, why not look for the ‘sound' of the Wagner Tuba – makes sense to be consistent, don't you think?

Please Mr Adjudicators, I know I recently said on here that 9 out of 10 times it's fair adjudicating, but maybe I'll change it to 8 out of 10 times now.

Wagner is exceptionally hard to conduct and interpret, he is the epiphany of German Romanticism and if I were adjudicating it, you can bet I'd be listening for the passion and energy Wagner writes and how effectively the band can portrait that. Under my adjudication, play the turns how you like, just play them in tune, in time and with STYLE and make sure everyone is playing them the same way.

That is ultimately more important in my opinion.

James McFadyen
Composer

Extreme Makeover - the bottles?

4barsrest.com wrote that the bottles was now taken away from Extreme makeover by Johan de Meij. We played the piece yesterday, and the bottles was still a big part of the piece. Just wonder why you wrote that??

Havard Boe
Stavanger brassband

4BR Comment:
This is what we were informed was going to be the case by a very reputable source who was involved in the process of looking at the test piece again. We reported that. By all accounts though this has now been changed again and the bottles (or synthesizer we understand to replicate the sounds) can be used once more.

Can anyone else smell a fish?

After reading many of the comments already posted on 4BR, I know that I am not the only person in the brass band movement (conspiracy theorists aside) who has smelt a fish at the Midlands Area this year.

I spent most of last year at University writing a dissertation on how the contesting system in brass banding seems for most bandsmen, an unfair system.

This year has seen many complaints- probably as it is THE most important contest in the banding calendar especially as 1 place can mean life or death for any band teetering on the edge of relegation. How can an adjudicator sit and concentrate for hours on end and place each band in order of quality of performance???  AND, how on earth does the points system work? It seems to me that points are allocated for the sole purpose of justifying a bands placements rather than an accurate reflection of the bands' performance.

Anyway that's my moan about the system out of the way, I did originally start writing to 4BR to moan about the Midlands area- but who can blame me for getting on my soapbox!  It's what banding is all about.

After hearing that Roy Roe had announced that he would penalise bands who did not play the turns in inversion, I immediately thought of inconsistency in the system (Ever Ready winning the North East area playing conventional turns) Then my thoughts turned to thinking that Roy Roe was adamant that each band should give an accurate performance of what was actually written. 

How wrong I was!!!  I seems that what he was actually looking for was the band that altered all manner of tempi in the music taking both the fast and the slow sections to extremes just to show off how fast and loud (or slow) the band can play.   I don't think that this is fair on those bands that gave a controlled performance playing what is ACTUALLY in the score.

I personally think that it really is about time that the adjudication system saw some change, with possibly the introduction of extra adjudicators, and grading tables being based on points from more than one contest. But, I'm sure we will still be sat in the pub after a hard rehearsal at slave camp (err...I mean Band) chewing over how the system has robbed us at almost every opportunity!!!

Dan Smith
Towcester Studio Band

Never ceased to be amazed at the Midlands
 
Although I am an active player for a first section band (Gresley Old Hall), I never cease to be amazed by the Midland Areas. I will be brief here:
 
Burton Town Hall is not a good venue in terms of facilities but in fairness, most people who come to a brass contest come to listen and not be regaled by the facilities on offer or the opportunity to purchase organic sandwiches. Suggest (and organise) a better venue or just put up with it!

The ‘turns' – being an Eb bass player, I never really got my head around any scales with more than 2 sharps, let alone inversions etc. Chris Cole says it best ‘surely the notes are on the paper and you play them' – maybe this is something some of the ‘top boys' have lost sight of?

The Ibstock Affair – are we really that boring as a band movement that this issue has been granted a prominence similar to a high profile court case? It is clearly unfortunate that Ibstock have experienced this level of stress (and possibly embarrassment?) but the fact remains, the rules are there for all and need to be adhered to. I am spearheading a campaign to appeal about our result as not one mention was made in the remarks about my new mouthpiece or my just-polished shoes.

Mr Berryman – The piece was called ‘Comedy' and the rumour of Mr Berryman kicking his score about certainly made me laugh!
 
Pete Hylton  

Is it just about tuning in the Third Section Mr Adjudicator?

Having just conducted my band in the Third Section at Burton-on-Trent, I feel compelled to write about the adjudication at this years contest. I, like many other conductors I am sure, was greeted at the announcement of this years test piece with a chorus of "We'll never play this, it's too hard" from within the band.

After weeks of hard work the band found they could play the piece and play it well and so a sense of excitement and anticipation led to our performance on Sunday. We had gained promotion from the 4th section last year after coming 2nd and were looking forward to cementing our place in the 3rd section.
On the day both the band and I thought our performance was quite good (with a few silly nervous slips) but overall we were quite proud of ourselves. We were not expecting to qualify but were looking forward to hearing Mr. Berryman's comments on everyone's performances.

At the end of the contest Mr. Berryman started his comments by stating what a long day it had been and that only 2 bands had got even close to playing the piece!! The only advice to us all was to buy an electronic tuner to help get our bands in tune. It appears to me that Mr. Berryman had forgotten which section he was adjudicating.

Here was a third section (NOT championship section) with 19 bands, no withdrawals and some bands performing with a shortage of players on what was probably the hardest test piece we have had in years. Surely this achievement for the Midlands third section deserves at least some constructive NOT destructive comments! When we received our remarks (like another of your correspondents) the "tuning " word was mentioned 5 times and very little else.

Surely it is time we looked again at the adjudication issue and realised that one man cannot judge 19 performances on his own. Wouldn't it be better with 2 or 3 independent adjudicators judging, and having their remarks and marks independently checked and averaged?

If this sounds like sour grapes then I apologise because nothing could be further from the truth. I was proud of my band and proud to have taken part this year. We will continue to build and come back again stronger (and more tuneful!!) next year.

Mark Phillips

What standards for the adjudicators then?

It was a quite unique experience for me to attend a brass band contest last weekend. Although I have conducted choirs, orchestras, wind-bands and directed most instrumental ensembles over the last thirty years, I have not had a great deal of experience with the brass band. It was therefore an interesting experience for me to be invited by one of my university students to attend the Midland's Area contest. I listened to all twelve bands in the championship section and was amazed by the range of standard presented to the audience. Some bands seemed to be in quite a different musical league to others.

It was only after the event that I was informed about your website and I investigated the organization of the brass band system. Two things struck me immediately: one was the disparity between what I had heard and the results and the second was the continuing argument on your letter's page concerning the performance of the inverted turn.

In the first case I found the results rather in opposition to my own assessment of the performances.

I wondered to what standard adjudicators are expected to adhere. If I were to take the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music as a bench-mark, I have, as a private teacher, never found cause to question the quality of the assessors. They are rigorously tested in terms of their musical ability, sense of pitch and intonation, performance skills and interpretation. Does this form of assessment and qualification apply to the brass band adjudicator? Are they checked by external regulators?

From what I heard, I should be most surprised if they are. May I suggest that if the brass band association wishes to be taken as a serious musical organization, then this should be considered.

To the question of the turn I would like to direct you readers to the Associated Board's Guide to Music Theory, Grades 1-5 (pages 94/5); a text I should recommend for the beginner to music theory, as many brass bandsmen appear to be.

The rhythm of turns is not strictly set although the pitch of the ornament is standard. However, and I stress this most fervently, the symbol for the inverted turn has long been ambiguous. Some composers used the same symbol for both the turn and inverted turn.

To quote:  Mozart and later composers sometimes indicated turns by small-size notes, or even wrote the decorations in full. During the 19th Century, the use of grace notes and written-out turns became increasingly common,  although some composers continued to use the symbol.

As composers progressed from the baroque era through the rococo and classical periods to the romantic they became, in general more specific as to their requirements in terms of decorations. The fact that Wagner used the notation and did not write out the decoration in full, suggests that he may have intended some ambiguity of performance practice on the point. Any adjudicator uniformed enough to be ignorant of this information should not be in a position to judge the musical performance of others.

The purpose of this text is not to offend those who performed or adjudicated on Sunday, but I am interested to hear any comments anybody may have on these points.

Dr. Benjamin Gama

Well done Roy Roe!

Well, the debates continue re adjudicators and their so-called ineptitude (or so Mr Leonard seems to think!). I firstly want to thank the Staffordshire Band who I had the pleasure of guesting for on Sunday.

What a friendly welcoming band they are - particularly bearing in mind I was a player (prior to my retirement from full time banding) with very close rivals Sovereign Brass. Thanks for making me so welcome - glad I could help out.
 
Which brings me onto Sunday! Well done Roy Roe - you got it spot on - the two best bands on the day were awarded 1st & 2nd prizes - Why?

Firstly the interpretation - if most had got their metronomes out as I did when I first got the part, the opening tempo markings of 66 bpm were very clear. Comments were passed that Sovereign and Desford had played the first movement too slowly. It seemed slow but in fact most bands on the day were playing the slow movement at around 74bpm, then belting the faster movement some way above tempo (Is that sticking to the score?) .

Mr Leonard the odd rit.. or ral... here and there is fine as long as it does not interfere with the musical line. In the case of Sovereign and Desford it did not, in fact it added to two riveting performances that were a pleasure to listen too.
 
Both bands displayed control & musicality far above anything else on the day thus the points difference between 2nd and 3rd place. Both performances were virtually flawless and both had a deep rich sound unmatched by any other band on Sunday - in fact the only debate from where I was sitting was which one of them would beat the other one.

They were the only bands to play the piu stretto cleanly and in tempo and it was pretty clear their interpretations had just a hint of Wagner's influence about them (In the style of....).
 
I understand your frustration when the score is not adhered too because it can make the result something of a lottery. I guess there is also the argument that conductors do not know how to prepare a band if they can do anything with the score. However, this was not the case on Sunday - not one band adhered to that score in the way you are suggesting so it was right the best two bands on the day won through.

This result was no fluke,  the Desford performance was right out the top drawer, well done to them but more importantly Well done Trevor and all my friends down in Smethwick at Sovereign Brass.

A beautifully crafted performance Trevor and a richly deserved first prize Sovereign.

Craig Williams
Tividale
West Midlands    

Forget peace and goodwill - this is about band contests

The season of peace and goodwill is now behind us and so begins the season of Regional Contests.
The band contesting format has remained largely unchanged since Joshua won the Jericho open so perhaps it is time for a major re-think on how our contests are run.

Why not:

Have a pre-draw with an approximate time of performance known to bands at least a week before the contest. This would alleviate 20 or so coaches arriving to park at the same time and do away with the crowded foyers whilst the draw is made. (By tradition the draw ALWAYS starts late)

Always provide a warm up area. A venue is not suitable for playing a brass instrument if the instrument cannot be properly warmed up without disturbing other performers.

Permit bands to warm up on the stage. Orchestral and wind-band players think we are crazy to come on to the stage and start playing without a quick blow at a tuning note. We would find fewer nervous starts as a result. "What about the adjudicators, wouldn't they object?" I hear you protest. They should have enough on their minds without being disturbed by a few notes being played.

There has to be a re-think in terms of the pieces chosen, particularly for the regional qualifying contests. In my experience these are invariably beyond the technique of all but a few bands in each section. Usually the adjudicators have a relatively easy task of finding the few bands who actually cope with playing the right notes. Let's make their task more difficult by choosing music the bands can play well so that interpretation and musicality come into the scheme of things. The time the finals come along the best bands can then get back to what it's all about when they have to find out who can play the loudest, highest and fastest over 25 minutes!

We need adjudicators, of course, but if we have to have more than one then let's keep them apart until they have posted their marks separately. As long we put 2 people together, one will dominate the other. (If you don't believe me, ask your wife!). I can understand that many in the brass band world still prefer to have closed adjudication and this is a separate issue. It cannot be that we think they would cheat; otherwise we would be frisking them for mobile phones!

In the 21st century there has to be some kind of structure other than a wooden box that will not distort the sound of music. Has anyone carried out a proper scientific study on this?

There should be guidelines for the judging with the various aspects of performance broken into different marking sections. e.g. Technique, tuning and intonation, balance, general impression etc. These would be available to bands so that everyone would then be aware of what the judges would be looking for on every occasion.

I would also like to send the wretched whistle to room 101. What would be wrong with a green light? Or perhaps conductors just like doing the inevitable mime.
 
Hugh Brennan

The timps should always mesure up

Thanks to Philip Sparke for the story about measuring the timps. I'd heard it before but it was still good for a chuckle. As for his remarks on conducting & adjudicating:
 
" I only wish more conductors would follow his (Ray Farr's) example rather than submit to the 'win at all costs' mentality which seems to prevail at the moment. What adjudicator's want is to judge musical merit, not to be 'brow-beaten' by bands that are trying to show off their technical abilities, rather than the music. "
 
I would agree with him totally if it weren't for the evidence that too many (i.e. more than a handful of) adjudicators are still giving the nod to the fastest and loudest.
 
But the fundamental problem is of course that not only does contesting by its very nature invite the attitude of never mind the music let's get on with the game, but also rewards performances that risk nothing, usually by a parrot-fashion reproduction of an interpretation designed to give the adjudicator an absolute minimum of opportunities to criticize.
 
Never mind, there's always concert preparation and performance. We still do those don't we?
 
Peter Hartley
Bournemouth.  

Thanks from the USA

Thanks for the great coverage of the upcoming NABBC!
 
It's nice to be getting some recognition from the world that is more than hindsight results.   I thought the rundown of the entered bands was insightful, probably contained more information than most of the member bands know about each other.  I learned plenty.  Nice job 4br!
 
Ray Colony
Deputy Program Manager,
Cedar Rapids, IA 

The turns once more...

I have no doubt that this controversy will "run and run" or perhaps  "keep on turning" have we lost the plot? My band played the Lorriman arrangement of Rienzi, which I believe was only produced recently.

What does it matter what Wagner meant when he originally wrote it, we weren't playing the orchestral version but an arrangement. Would bands have been penalised for playing over time in the Nationals if they had decided to play all of The Enigma Variations because that's what Elgar meant?

The test piece was chosen by the panel for this contest and clearly shows inverted turns. That is what should have been played the fact that playing the normal turns makes the upper note after the turn more secure is (I'm sure) purely coincidental. I wonder if Mr Farr's commitment to musical decisions would have been as strong if his band had not already pre qualified for this year's national? I can see the future now.

Player - "Excuse me MD I can't flutter tongue"
MD -  "No problem I'm convinced it should be a trill, and that really difficult top C sharp is written in the wrong octave the composer/arranger didn't mean it that way.
 
Yes totally ludicrous but quite logical if we allow ourselves to be taken down this road.

Tony Newiss
(This is my personal opinion and in no way should be construed as representative of the views of the band to which I belong). 

Where are we?
 
I noticed that the previews for the Yorkshire and Midland areas were on line a good week before the event, why does it take so long to preview the West of England contest, three days before the event if Wednesday is the said day, are we not on the same level as our colleagues elsewhere in the country?
 
Jon Griffin 
Bristol (or is it outer space)

4BR Comment:
Thanks John, but with so much going on at the moment something had to wait a little longer than expected. It's all there now for everyone to have a look at.

WOW at Bradford

Went to the Yorkshire areas on Sunday.'WOW' What a day, listened to the 4th section,what a great little piece of music.

But the 'Championship' was 'fantastic. In my opinion not a weak performance at all, and how nice it was, to sit in the hall to hear the results announced and  applauded and accepted !! Whether it was a true 'Test Piece' is incidental. (Surely it is in most championship Bands repertoire?) We had a great day and "thank you" to the organisors(apart from the chaos and accident waiting to happen between the end of the 4th and commencement of the Championship).
 
Next years date is already down in the diary and the journey from Northamptonshire was well worth it!

Barry and Peter Radford

The right Upper Rhondda
 
I was looking at the 4th section for Wales and I came across the brass band I help out (Upper Rhondda Band) , and it mentions that they use to be youth ensemble champions. Thought I'd let you know that the Upper Rhondda band entering this year isn't the same one that was ensemble champions in the 70's and 80's. The upper Rhondda band entering now used to be "Treherbert Junior Band" but difficulties arose and the Junior band went their separate ways.
 
Steven Williams
Lewis Merthyr Band

Why can't the bands copy Radio 2?
 
It is with interest that I have just read your reports of the 2005 BBC Radio2 Young Brass Soloist Final and the Regional Brass Band Championships for Yorkshire and the Midlands.

The Radio2 final was made up of four instrumentalists and two adjudicators. In contrast, the composition of the eight sections in the regional band contests ranged from nine bands to nineteen bands with, mainly, one adjudicator.

I note that the winner of the radio final was the first contestant to play. In contrast, the results of the brass band contests revealed that:

 - nearly two-thirds of the winners were drawn in the last third of the order of play;
 - only one winning band was drawn in the first third of the order of play (and that was in
 the section with the fewest (9) number of bands competing).

Similarly, fifty per cent of bands finishing as runners-up were drawn in the last third of the order of play. Is it feasible to believe that most of the better performing bands had a later draw?

I don't know how typical these results are, but they begin to beg a number of issues. For example, in order to make an accurate comparison of performance what is the optimum number of performances to be compared? From your above reports is it 4, 9 or 19? If the regional contest performances were to be recorded and re-played the next day to the same adjudicator(s) but in a different order would the same results be awarded? I suspect that is more likely to be the case with four contestants than with nineteen contestants.

If brass band competition is to retain its present format then the above anomalies will continue. If lessons are to be learned from the Radio2 and similar competitions, the number of bands competing in each section could be reduced to a manageable size by introducing an extra tier of area competition, with only a prescribed number of the top performers progressing to the regional championships.

Such a situation could have a number of benefits. Not only would a reduced number of contestants increase the chances of fairer comparisons of performance being made but opportunities for adjudicators to give more constructive feedback to competitors could also occur.

Dr Frank Hodgson,
Leeds

Joined up writing

With regard to your preview of the Scottish First Section Championships, I would like to point out that the Broxburn Public Band merged with Livingston Brass Band in the latter part of last year.  The merged band competes as Broxburn and Livingston Brass Band and your preview should reflect this.

You already have the merged band at number eighty-eight in your rankings, so you are halfway there!  I appreciate that you are unlikely to have the time to change the preview, but I would ask that you bear this in mind for future articles.

Gordon Macdougall

A complete absence at Burton

Having read your introduction to the Midland areas, I feel compelled to pass comment regarding the almost complete absence of facilities at Burton Town Hall. I don't expect the facilities of Symphony Hall (although rumour has it the venue was offered at no additional cost a couple of years ago). I don't, however, think the bands and dwindling audience should experience the following:
 
From the audience perspective:
 
1. There is not 1 single chair or seat front of house.
2. There is absolutely no inside space other than in the auditorium.
3. The audience is dumped on the street as they leave the auditorium as there is no space to pass inside the building
 
From the Bands' perspective:
 
1. The back stage is only accessible from front of house, by walking round the entire building.
2. There is 1 (yes 1) toilet in the backstage area.
3. The "warm up room" is in a completely different building, and there is nowhere within the venue that you can blow a note other than on stage.
 
My conclusion: The man on the street is used to more... He has less time and less inclination to listen to live music these days, he doesn't need any further excuse to watch the repeat of Eastenders on Sunday afternoon rather than come to the Midland Areas.
 
My question is whether we should be looking at the longer term when we think about the cost of a venue the cost of using the cheapest will be a smaller audience next year (and none of us want that).
 
Sunday was a trial, Rienzi wasn't the problem, the venue was.
 
Well done Sovereign!
 
Martin Britt
Desford 

Reeling with adjudicating disappointment

I am reeling with astonishment at the disgraceful inconsistency displayed by adjudicator Roy Roe at the Midlands Regional Contest at Burton on Trent.  I heard most of the bands, (I wasn't in the bar all day) and no, it isn't  "sour grapes from a band who think they should have won"; (my band's position is irrelevant to the point I'm making). If we don't listen to people's concerns after a contest, and always rather childishly dismiss it as sour grapes we a doing ourselves and our movement an injustice.
 
There have been numerous debates about how we make adjudication fairer, and this debate can (& probably will) go on forever, but nearly always we will hear ‘it's all in the score, just play to the score'.  At Burton, the opposite was rewarded by Mr Roe, although he had earlier issued the statement "if you play the turns wrong you will be penalised" from which it would have seemed he was looking for performances that faithfully followed the score.
 
Mr Roe then further emphasised this by patronisingly tells us from the stage that at this level we shouldn't need telling basics like "the score is marked subito f at bar before C"  (by the way Mr Roe it isn't!!!  Do you have the wrong score?) All the sustaining instruments a few bars before are marked f crescendo, whilst the various entries from around the band leading up to this point are marked  piu forte at each entry, and no-where is the word subito used)
 
One has to be amazed therefore when extremely courageous performances, (that in places almost re-arranged Rienzi) were rewarded with first prize and other high placings; we're talking enormous changes of tempi, introducing rits and ralls at various points so on.  I haven't got a problem with that, in fact I enjoyed those performances, my problem is the inconsistency being shown by our adjudicators.
 
Back in 2003 (Pontins) saw Roy Newsome stand on stage and chastise bands performing Resurgam for playing a long opening crotchet (one note!!!!) and instructed  – play to the score – if Eric Ball wanted that he would have written that.  Mr Roes comments from the area stage at Burton -  "I applaud bands that take chances"!!!!!!!!  (…………but presumably not the bar before C!...........  or with the turns ….. !)
 
Come on, ABBA, get this sorted out, and get it sorted NOW!  This inconsistency is an absolute disgrace and is doing our movement no good whatsoever. Talk to your members, and decide which way you are going, it is just not good enough to allow bands to go on stage guessing what the adjudicator wants. We're never going to turn adjudicating into a science and we're probably never going to get adjudicators to tell us what they are looking for before a contest, but to agree that we must play to the printed score has surely got be good starting point hasn't it. All the recent discussion about the turns in Rienzi was unnecessary; just play them how they are printed on the score!  (if you want a debate about what Wagner originally intended, that fine but it's a different issue)
 
Frankly Mr Roe should not be proud of his day's work yesterday, and in view of the amount of time that band's put into this event we deserve better.
 
Was it worth the effort?   Was it worth the extra rehearsals?   Was it worth the re-scheduling of business appointments and meetings so as not to miss band rehearsal? Was it worth the extra money spent on travelling and baby sitters? Was it worth not visiting mother on Mothers Day?  Was it worth finding and bringing in extra percussionists?  (Because once again some wise person has written a piece that ignored brass band instrumentation – 4/5 percussionists!  May be we'll have 5 baritone parts next year?) – Well the answer from this die-hard fanatical brass band enthusiast is a resounding NO IT WAS NOT.
 
If adjudicator's are going to allow us to deviate from the score, then that means all of it, not just the bits you don't mind us deviating from, but that's going to be a very dangerous route to go down.  At the moment we go on stage faced with:  you might have to play to the score, you might not; if not, you might just have to adhere it at certain places, but we're not telling you where!!!!!.    I've had quite enough of this silly situation and it's about time it was changed.

Keith Leonard

Getting it off a big chest

Rushden Windmill Band - 3rd section Midlands Area 11th, 176 points. Band - very disappointed, we didn't play as well as we could but we also felt 11th was a bit harsh as some parts of our playing were not bad. We knew we didn't deserve a top 6 place. However, 'hey-ho' this was our first year back in the 3rd section and on the day no band gave a completely perfect performance.

What DOES make me unhappy is the quality of adjudication. When one considers all the 'hoo-hah' over the difficulty of the test piece and the fact that the band (along with most bands in the section) have spent the best part of 3 months rehearsing the piece - with all the problems of obtaining baby sitters and giving up a lot of our lives that involves, I feel that we deserved more than half a page of remarks. Especially when within those remarks the word 'tuning' is used a least half a dozen times and very little else. True, tuning is an aspect that should be considered but not to the exclusion of everything else

I accept that on the day an adjudication is one persons opinion but surely, particularly from the 2nd section down, the adjudicator has an obligation (as befits their vast experience) to take an overall view and give a totally considered opinion rather than focusing on just one issue.

This writer has long held the opinion that at least 2 adjudicators should be used for an 'area' as so much is at stake - a bad result could lead to relegation - and no one enters this contest for the prize money, the cash would be better spent on another body for the 'box'.

I know that I am probably going to be accused of 'sour-grapes' - and they are probably right, but there was a rumour that Mr Berryman was less than happy with his own band's result in the 1st section the previous day which involved playing football with the score - was he still unhappy by the time he was sitting in the box and adjudicating the next day? Adjudicating 19 bands is no easy task and would certainly be helped by having 2 people shouldering the responsibility.

What a difference a year makes. Last year, (we won the 4th section by the way) for us, the sun shone out of Roy Roe. This year I am not so happy, but at least 4BR can give me the opportunity to get things off my, not inconsiderable, chest!!

Julia Crask,
Rushden Windmill Band.

What is meant by a turn then?

Can you please help someone who loves Brass Bands and enjoys this website, what is meant by turns,

I have a limited music theory knowledge and do not understand what all the talk is. Can someone explain in English what the problem is? Surely the notes are on the paper and you play them or am I being to simplistic

Chris Cole

Have you ever hears something so ridiculous? Well yes, actually...

I was asked this week if I had ever heard anything so ridiculous as this debate about the turns in Rienzi. Actually, I had. When my Malvern Suite was used as an Area piece some years ago, I had stipulated at the front of the score the percussion the piece required - a request of Boosey & Hawkes at the time; this included the size of timpani needed. Sure enough, at one Area contest, there was an official with a tape measure checking the timps as they were being taken on stage by the bands. Makes you proud to be involved in the band movement!
 
But back to Rienzi; we really are missing the point. Of course it doesn't matter which way the turns are played. What IS important (for me, anyway) is that Ray Farr had the courage and integrity to follow his musical instinct, even though this may have led to penalties. I only wish more conductors would follow his example rather than submit to the 'win at all costs' mentality which seems to prevail at the moment. What adjudicator's want is to judge musical merit, not to be 'brow-beaten' by bands that are trying to show off their technical abilities, rather than the music.

Philip Sparke

Did Wagner waste his time then?

If playing a turn is open to ' interpretation' by a conductor, doesn't this mean that composers are wasting their time choosing which turn to write? 
 
Surely Mr Wagner chose to write an ' inverted ' turn because that's what he wanted to be played, unless of course it was a slip of his pen! 
 
It seems strange that the well known conductors of 5 orchestra recordings I have heard, all interpret it the same way, i.e. 'inverted'.  Perhaps Mr Wilby knows something they don't!
 
Ken Taken
Bournemouth

The Turn of the Shrewd

It's clear from score that the turn is inverted. This is not a matter for interpretation. The order of the notes is sacrosanct. The way you play them is interpretation. The reasons why bands are playing a normal turn is that its either easier to play, (there is less chance of spitting the upper note after  the normal turn than the inverted turn) or the conductor is ignorant.

The fact is that we can get away with this sets a very low benchmark for our (brass bands) musical integrity.

John Clark
Alliance Brass

The Ibstock Affair

Until a couple of years ago I had been a member of a number of Midlands bands at different levels until the pressures of work took over and meant I could no longer spare the time to give the commitment needed. During my time I have been involved with committees and, although I don't profess to understand the rules and regulations of the Midland Regional Commitee fully, I feel that the rules have always been fairly and consistently applied.

The question of whether the Midlands rules are fair or not, as far as I am concerned, is not open for debate as these are merely the rules by which the Midlands Bands are run. I believe that in the past, more than two bands have been relegated and more than two promoted. What the Ibstock appeal has done is set precedent for the next time the promotion and relegations are issued. A question I have is what about the bands that have been relegated as a result of these rules before? I guess they have just taken it on the chin and worked harder the following year to try and get promotion.

For what is supposed to be a hobby and something to gain enjoyment from it doesn't appear that way to me anymore. I used to enjoy banding and band contests however, my Tenor Horn has been packed away and will not be seeing the light of day in the near future. Just my opinion!
 
Simon Cheetham
(Ex Tenor Horn Player)

A sad affair never to be repeated

It's Saturday morning - Valves all oiled - Uniform at the ready shoes have even been polished  -  All the 4 Bar rest predictions have been made - last night went well - Lets hope that we have not left the best performance in the rehearsal room.  The big moment is coming - this is what banding is all about isn't it!!
 
Yet I find myself reflecting on the Midlands affair that I have no view on as I do not know the facts but simply ask - how did the movement allow this to happen and who pays the solicitors fees? A sad affair that I hope never repeats itself - clearly some people have a lot of reflecting to do.
 
A dedicated bandsman - Once again good luck to all playing at the regionals - Let the Music do the talking.
 
Graham Rix

Taking issue with 4BR and Mr Broadbent

As a (novice) member of the audience in Darlington at the close of February, I would take issue with your editorial remarks that congratulate Mr Broadbent's efforts, both in the box and on the rostrum. 

Mr Broadbent damned all 7 bands for misinterpreting the part of the score when it should have been a pollaka, or was it a polonaise or maybe a polka, or polo?  Does it really matter?  This is pure academia. 

If 7 bands got it wrong then perhaps the piece was not suitable for this second section test. (Apparently it was originally a championship section piece).  Secondly, having discussed the results with adjacent spectators there was a feeling that the bands which gave the most pleasing (rather than technically compliant with a singular judge's interpretation of a score) performance were not recognised in any measure. 

Third, is it not time to have a panel of judges who can triangulate their judgements and, perhaps, take into account the bands' ability to capture the audiences' feel for the performance.  I'm not proposing the use of a clapometer, but maybe aesthetics could become part of future judging processes, after all, brass banding is a performing art rather than a musical science.
 
John Steel
Sadberge

A woman in the box

The last time a woman was in the adjudicator's box was yesterday in Bradford! As a musical scribe I work with conductors and adjudicators to provide a service that enables adjudicators to LISTEN to the bands and study their score, rather than having to listen and write notes at the same time. The adjudicator is able to give verbal comments much more easily, which I record in an accurate and legible format, in order that the bands can have an improved quality of feedback from the day.

As far as women adjudicator's go, please remember that they first need to be invited to adjudicate! ( ie their professionalism needs to be recognised) I also feel that some of the 'comfort' arrangements currently in place for adjudicators are not appropriate for female professionals, or indeed for any professional- as a scribe for Duncan Beckley for the last 4 years I have experienced a wide variety of 'comfort' arrangements, and believe me being offered toilet facilities of a sawdust filled bucket inside the box, separated only by a curtain from the audience may have some bearing on the number of female adjudicators the brass band world attracts!! Surely if the brass band fraternity wish to remain a force in the 21st century and beyond, they need to address some of their quainter 'traditions'!

Rachel Rix
Musical Scribe

Sound - at last!!!

At last - Someone has put into print a point of view, which I have been expressing for some years. The reason so many players today can't produce a big warm lyrical sound is because they are totally fixated with technical prowess i.e producing pyrotechnics on their chosen instrument. I meet so many young players who think that the ability to scorch through the latest "technifest" is what playing is all about – WRONG!!

Give me the player who can play with a beautiful sound and ‘sing' through the instrument every time. No things weren't always better in the ‘good old days' but who can forget, for example, the sheer poetry of Trevor Groom in the 2nd movement of the Horovitz or Jim Shepherd's opening bars in Kensington Concerto?

Yes we do have some fantastic young players today who combine a warm lyrical approach with technique that I for one can only listen to in envy and disbelief. However, we do have so many youngsters who are slaves to technique and as a result have not spent the time cultivating a sound which is beautiful and individual i.e. they all sound the same!

This problem is further compounded by the fact that the music is so much more technically difficult nowadays -Championship section is faced with ever increasing technical difficulties and 3rd section bands are asked to play music that tested some of our best bands thirty years ago!

How ironic that when Championship bands are presented with "brown music" (think about it), with comparatively few technical pitfalls, many actually struggle – remember Pageantry in the Masters?

On the plus side though these are occasions when the truly great bands and soloists really show their class.

My remedy? – sorry but I'm not qualified to tell people what to do and I do believe that great players are gifted with great sound and lyrical awareness which is enhanced with hard graft. However, I feel lots of us need to go back to the basics, put aside the Arban for a while and get down to some serious long note and hymn playing – oh and listen to Mario Lanza while you're at it (now there was a man who for all his self destructive traits could really shape a phrase or two!).

Rob Burnett

The right Mr Gray

Please see copy of preview for Stannington in the 1st section previews:
 
"Stannington are a band that has just moved off the pace for prizes here in the last couple of years, and not even Russell Gray could prevent them from coming 8th last year. That has meant yet another new face to try and put them back on track with R. Morgan give the task of trying to get them a qualification place or a top six place at least."
 
Please make sure you are talking about the correct Russell Gray above, as you made a similar error with Wakefield Met which I notice was quickly altered. Perhaps this could be clarified to your users (although both are just as good!!) we think our most recent new face R Morgan can!!

Lindon Bolt
Eb Bass Stannington

4BR Comment:
Apologies to all concerned - we assumed it was the wrong Mr Gray. Congratulations on the 7th place though and we hope to be reporting on lots of success for the right Mr Gray with you in the future.

Shillinbury Blowers - on a video nasty?

Can I add to the Shillingbury Blowers topic? I have a VHS tape of this film that I bought many years ago from my local papershop who was getting rid of tapes he had hired out. To my knowledge has never been on general release or is it ever likely to. In those days tapes cost a fortune and were never available to buy like today. I would have thought that it must come up for sale occasionally on sites such as Ebay and that that is the only way a copy will ever be found.

The film starred Robin Nedwell, Diane Keen, Jack Douglas and many other big names. I treasure my copy and would never part with it and to make a copy would infringe any copyright laws. I can only add that it was released on the ITC label in 1982 and was distributed by Precision Video Ltd an ACC Company.
 
Graham Palmer
Aldbourne Band

What is a 'Qualifier'?

First of all I would like to thank you for your ongoing perfect services during contest as we had last weekend!!

Now, I'm a bit confused about the "Yorkshire-Results" – what exactly is the meaning of "Qualifiers for finals" and "Pre-qualified for finals"?!?!

Hmm – Dyke and YBS are "Pre-qualified for finals" – does this mean, that they ARE in London or do they go to another "Qualifying" ?!?!?! B&R – qualifiers – what's their way to London?!?! And what happened with Grimethorpe?!?! No "star" behind them?!?!

Sorry for my bad English, maybe this is also the reason for my confusion. Thank you very much for your help and best regards

Kaspar Becker
Switzerland

4BR Comment:
In a nutshell Kasper. The top four bands from the 2004 National Finals at the Albert Hall are 'invited' to the 2005 event, so that is why they are referred to as 'pre'qualified' as they do not have to worry about claiming one of the two or three places that are available to bands who have not  'pre qualified'. Those bands then try to claim those places, so in regard to the Championship Section in Yorkshire, both Black Dyke and YBS were pre qualified due to coming 1st and 2nd at the Royal Albert Hall last year, whilst the two 'qualified' bands to join them this year were Grimethorpe and Brighouse. That is as easy we can make it, whilst in the lower sections, depending on how many bands take part, everyone must try to gain the two, three or sometimes even fpur qualification places that are on offer for the bands who come in the prizes.   

Can the adjudicators use their mobiles in the tent?

I was stood at the list draw yesterday writing down the order in my programme - and a chap was stood beside me texting/emailing the order of play to someone from his mobile.

Can bands be assured that adjudicators can not (rather than do not) also receive this information via their mobiles while in the box?

With the proliferation of 'wireless' technology (especially in buildings used for conferences etc,)  can we be sure that they don't have access to the internet either?  (The 'Windows' chime was clearly heard coming from the adjudicator's box)

Could any of the organisers of the various contests make a statement on how they ensure the non-abuse of technology  by adjudicators?

Frances Skinner

4BR Comment:
We are sure the adjudicators do not use any text service to gain knowledge about what bands would play where. We have to trust the integrity of our judges in all that they do. If we lose that, then what would be the point of going to contests. 

Merger North of the Border

With regard to your preview of the Scottish First Section Championships, I would like to point out that the Broxburn Public Band merged with Livingston Brass Band in the latter part of last year.  The merged band competes as Broxburn and Livingston Brass Band and your preview should reflect this.

You already have the merged band at number eighty-eight in your rankings, so you are halfway there !  I appreciate that you are unlikely to have the time to change the preview, but I would ask that you bear this in mind for future articles.

Gordon Macdougall

4BR Comment:
Thanks Gordon, we will make the changes ASAP

Looking for an 'Endless Parade'?

Do not know if anybody can help, but I am trying to get hold of a copy of the score or trumpet part of Endless Parade by (Sir) Harrison Birtwistle, is there anybody that can help.

If so please contact me at melaniep@sageco.co.uk

Melanie Parry
Rhyl

The question of the turns

In reply to Mr K Charlton's comments about turns and them being played wrong.  He states that Reg Vardy "played the turns in the test piece Rienzi the wrong way round".  I believe Mr Wagner is no longer with us and therefore cannot give us the definitive answer.  Therefore, as with all music, it is open to a musical interpretation. 
 
No the turns weren't played wrong Mr Charlton.  In the first place the turns are not cast in stone as having to be played inverted.  Secondly research proves that in theory turns are 'naturally' played as Reg Vardy played them.  Thirdly, the fact that any directive, advice or instruction on how to play music at a contest from the organisers is not testament to how it was written and/or originally intended to be played.
 
Is it not a fact that some bands will play a quaver slightly longer than another band because they believe it to be more musical?  Yet, a quaver is theorised as being equal to one eigth of a beat??
 
The whole fact is that turns, like grace notes etc etc, are musical embellishments open to interpretation as is any music......for goodness sake if we all played everything EXACTLY the same Mr Charlton would be correct...ie. There wouldn't be any point in going to contests.
 
P Robinson
Cleveland

The turns - more like the bends!!! 

My immediate comments to this were unprintable!
 
I have read some piflle in my time but the comment.... "at the perogative of the adjudicator" stated in relation to turns in your recent next desk takes the biscuit!
 
It is either right wrong or we really don't care... and regarding the statement made the latter applies for my interpretation.
 
If this is not the case a conductor e.g. Ray Farr. Could get away with his interpretation in one area but his band...who will have put in hours of rehearsals and some finance for Mr Farr's  payment may be penalised in another.
 
Get a grip and say really we don't care...good luck and may the best band on the day..."in our opinion"...win.
 
I believe that the adjudication of last weekend has set precedence!
 
Good grief! Let's have consistency across the regions rather than having this oh go on you decide and leave the bands in the lurch!
 
Jim Corrigan 
Solo 2nd Baritone Player Scotland!

Thanks 4BR!
 
Just a line to say thanks for your comments regarding Ellington's performance in the 1st section at the weekend.   The band had been awfully slow getting into Comedy and their playing two weeks before the contest was definitely no joke.  

However they pulled their finger out big style for me and gave a performance on the day, which I wouldn't have, believed possible a fortnight earlier.   Although they still left their best performance behind, I felt a mite disappointed, as your comments suggested, with 7th.   I was therefore very pleased to read the "4barsrest" opinion on the website and it must encourage the band, who were themselves, quite dissatisfied with their performance after some improved rehearsals and as a consequence, seemed happy with 7th.
 
Thanks again for your encouraging words and for all the good work you do elsewhere.
 
Tony Swainson

A forgiving soprano player

I'll forgive the spelling mistake on my name; I'll even forgive the ‘cheeky' but 100% true comment on the four bars before N!
 
I was really chuffed to get the award for best soprano on Sunday (Championship Section North of England); more so because I lost my Dad two weeks before. He was responsible for getting me into music and I'd like to dedicate the prize to his memory.
 
As for Broughtons being relegated; we'll be back!!!! 
 
Keith Irving
 
ps. great website and great crack lads – keep it up!
 

Why not move Burton to Darlington

Just reading your article about the venue for the North of England contest, and as I was reading I thought to myself,

They should come and organise the Midlands area contest, and find a better venue than the Town Hall in Burton, because the facilities here are not very good!

Ian Bromley

Why so negative 4BR?
 
I always read with interest your comments about our beloved banding movement and particularly your breakdown on the playing at contests.  I play Solo Euph with the Reg Vardy Band and am very proud to do so.  But I find (all too often) that some of your comments regarding Reg Vardy Band seem to follow a distinct 'trend', ie, Reg Vardy performed well...but....
 
Comments such as "Not up to their standard", or "They left the door open", "The performance was left beatable".  Other comments include "Maybe Reg Vardy will be toppled this year", "They are prone to slips, blips, and splits"...is any band that perfect they're not prone to mistakes?  It is also difficult to sometimes understand your views:-

Reg Vardy comment.........quote.."Hint of class that others didn't quite have". 
Fishburn comment............quote.."Class swagger that not even Reg Vardy managed" ??  And who said a Wagner Overture should have a "Classy Swagger"?
 
I respect constructive criticism but please tell me how a 'trend' of negative comments are made towards a band that have won the Area a record 28 times, 4 times on the trot the last 4 years, had the best contest year ever in 2004 and contenders at the World Finals this year...yet the bands they beat to maintain this status are often referred to as "Solid Contenders", "Good Track Record At This Contest", "Traditional Heavyweights" etc etc? 

Incidentally, the best year ever for Reg Vardy started off in 2004 with an Area win where you also suggested they had "left the door open".  Two other quality bands who have joined us in the top 3 in the previous 3 Areas were further down the list this year yet we retained our title...so why do we have more negative comments about Sunday than these two bands or any of the other contenders?
 
You also mention that for the first time ever there are 3 bands going to the RAH, FANTASTIC.  Would it not have been constructive to say that the reason for this first is a direct result of the very impressive and well earned 3rd place by Reg Vardy at the National Finals of Breat Britain in 2004?...no...the comment was tucked in brackets followed with "they were still playing under strain...the audience, judge and MD drawn to the fact it was beatable"....just when I thought you were saying something good comes another negative comment. 

One other point, do you think it possible that Geoffrey Whitham's vast experience would allow him to award first prize to any band just because they were able to "Last the pace to the last note of the piece"? 
 
I have always believed that a band never stands still, if it's going forward (however fast or slow) then by definition it's not going backwards and Reg Vardy are moving forward even in your view.  So come on 4BR, please give us some credit for moving forward and in doing so gradually ironing out some of the problems you keep telling everyone about.
 
Paul Robinson

4BR Comment:
Have a look at our report on the band at the National Finals Paul, as well as reading many of the other comments we have made about the band over the past few years. It isn't in anyway as bad as you make out, and we would draw your attention to the 'Postcard' and the 'Retrospective' whcih both mention that fine 3rd place.  

London Finals - Are they not telling us something?

I was browsing the site yesterday, and decided that I would love to go to the Finals at the Albert Hall, to listen to the outstanding quality of the British Brass Bands.  After seeing the date and venue already on the site, I decided to call the box office at the Albert Hall to try and order some tickets, only to be told that the date was not yet official!! 

Does 4 bars rest know something that the Albert Hall doesn't?  Maybe being the oracle it is, it has been let in on some "hush hush" information.  Would it be possible to put somewhere on the site, a link or article to confirm the time when good old Albert will start dispensing tickets?
 
Mathew Warman

4BR Comment:
We rang them as well Mathew and they have informed us that the National Finals will be taking place as usual this year. They just haven't started printing the tickets just yet - more likely to be around June time.

Are oldies really our future?

Older generations have kept the brass band contest going for decades, says Reg Elliott, and without their support the brass band contest as we know it is lost.  Don't older generations usually evolve from younger generations?  Or is Mr Elliott suggesting that people only come to contesting once they achieve a certain late mid-life age?  Does he in fact have a shred of evidence to support his sweeping statement?  If so, let's hear it.
 
As for the contention that the brass band contest as we know will be lost if the Royal Albert Hall is abandoned by bands (not that I have read any serious suggestion that that might happen), all I can say is, good riddance.  Then we might be able to get on with more worthwhile pursuits, like making music for its own sake.
 
Jim Yelland

In appreciation of John Berryman

Nice to see that John Berryman is painted as a pinnacle of knowledge and fairness in the banding community. My band was lucky enough to engage John's services for a masterclass just over a week ago, and found the experience fulfilling and gratifying. As 4BR stated listen and learn, never a truer word spoken.

Thomas Elsom

Taking the Con out of Contesting

In echo of Paul Stamps comments, I'd just like to say a few words.
 
Personally I believe that about 9/10 times the adjudicating is fair. What makes it unfair is the what Paul rightly said is due to the hard work and effort put into rehearsing the music all the while believing you're going to be the best band there.
 
What I feel is often underestimated is the competition between bands. People believe that band A is better than Band B, and Band B is better than Band C, but what they don't know is Band D is better than all of them.
 
How many people after a contest after 10 pints can remain level headed about a performance they were proud in that they practiced until they're lips bled. I think what some people are after is a brown-nosed orchestral contest. It wouldn't be a Brass Band contest without all the "It's unfair!" and "the Adjudicators are talking crap" arguments….It's the Brass Band way isn't it and I don't think it causes harm, it just adds to the competitive edge of the contest.
 
Bands, as far am I am aware tend to be placed in order of merit, although the top 2 or 3 are usually quite clear, so while Band A might have played their instruments really well but perhaps Band B played the music really well, which is ultimately more important in my opinion.
 
Perhaps some bands don't do so well because they focus on their playing rather than the music, perhaps it's due to a conductor doing all the right things the wrong way, or perhaps it's just down to that on the day, the adjudicator(s) felt Band D made a winning performance.
 
In my experience, it's all down to basics I reckon. Band/Performers/Conductors sometimes often forget about the most fundamental rudiments of music while they constantly strive to ‘to play their part' like Roger Webster. Rhythm, balance, intonation, timbre are all basic elements that make up music, perhaps bands are not doing so well because they fail to acknowledge this?
 
We have all had unfair results, perhaps at a closer look they weren't unfair at all, but there's no good making a mountain out of a mole hill. Most bandsmen know by now how competitive the contesting stage is, the only way to make it fair (from your perspective, unfair to someone else's) is to turn the table around, so you're band win all the contests and other bands are having to say that's unfair.
 
Notice how it's NEVER unfair when the band you play for wins? Funny that, eh?
 
So I guess the answer of making the system work for you is to win. Simple but true, don't you think?
 
James McFadyen
Composer

Why question our finest hour?

I am Tom Moffat, Chairman of this fine brass band (Chester -le-Street) who on Sunday, after 128 years of life, achieved their finest hour by coming 2nd in the Northern Regional Finals and so qualifying, in their own right, for the 2005 National Brass Band Championship Finals at the Royal Albert Hall. I was with the band on Sunday evening after the result was announced and shared in the extremes of joy that my brass band friends showed at "this their finest hour". 

On Tuesday I was shown how to access "4Barsrest" and was so annoyed at the comments about the band and the writers verdict (and I do not know this articles author) that he had placed the band I loved 5th and proceeded to give some kind of reason for this.  It made me sad, really, for it made me think that this perhaps epitomises one of the things that is wrong with brass-banding?  Almost, "how dare these little interlopers upset the status quo ?", for surely there is room for another star in the brass band sky?  It further made me wonder what the adjudicator thought – who placed us 2nd, for surely his judgment is final and should not be questioned behind the safety of a writers pen.

I realise that, not being a known brass band man, even though I simply love brass bands – and always have, I could be pilloried for my views, even though I have tried to be as objective as it is possible to be, bearing in mind my immediate loyalties.

How do I love brass bands?

Well my father, a coal hewer all his life, played in Silksworth Colliery Brass Band before the last war, was their Secretary and played 1st Horn, and I still have the original well-aged  fully completed Players Registration Form (for the war ensured it never took place)– except, of course, for the final signatures,  (and I can supply copies) – and I quote

"NATIONAL BAND FESTIVAL ALEXANDRA PALACE LONDON, N.
To be held under the Rules as approved by the National Brass Band Club
September 23rd, 1939"

In those days my Mam and Dad got only one holiday, for miners did not enjoy holidays in those pre-war days.  That holiday was the Crystal Palace Brass band Championships weekend, then Alexandra Palace when the former burnt down. I was assured they were a fine band through the 20's & 30's and I believe their pinnacle was 2nd in the Second Section (when there used to be 7 sections, or so I was told). 

As a young schoolboy, I was born in 1930; I played in Silksworth Colliery Brass Band right through the war when Dad was bandmaster by then.  I also played French horn in my grammar school orchestra until, by 1944, I took up what was to be a great love of my life – CRICKET.  I was to play league cricket for 40 years, including games for Durham County Cricket Club, become their Treasurer in the 1980's. Be a very integral part of the achieving of First Class Status for Durham CCC, and become a Director from day one – and I still am.  Cricket meant I lost out on brass-banding, whilst I never lost the love.  -  This Durham CCC connection, and my love for brass bands,  is to be very important to the band who are now national Finalists for the first time ever in their banding lives.

How in heavens name am I Chairman of this lovely- like a family - band?

Being in the right place at the right time is the real answer, for about four years ago I was watching my grandson playing football for his school. Also watching was the Principal Cornet Player of the former Newcastle Brown Ale Brass Band.  Many of you will, I am sure, know Tony Thompson for he has been Principal Cornet Player of this band for 36 years, he is also Band Manager. I asked about the band and Tony told me that the band had lost their 28 years Newcastle Breweries sponsorship and that there were dangers – money and band-room were the prime problems to address.

Unknown to Tony I approached my fellow Directors at Durham County Cricket Club and they agreed to allow the band to hold their twice weekly rehearsals at our very lovely Riverside Ground (now a very fine Test Match Arena). Since then Tony and I have adopted a successful strategy of promoting the ‘new' band to a wide audience, the band now are in a strong financial position, they performed 35 high profile concerts last year and have already over 30 engagements this year. On 30th July 2005 the band will perform at the 3rd outdoor Northern Proms at Riverside, with 3 singers from English National Opera, last year this was attended by 3,500 people.

I have told the band, and I say it quite openly and all over the place, "that as a concert band they have few betters", and this way they EARN THEIR FUTURE.  However, about 18 months ago the real turning point for the band came when they appointed Ian Robinson as their Musical Director.  Most in the brass band world know of Ian's prowess, in factual terms he has conducted at 12 area contest in the Northern Region Championship Section and has qualified 6 times, not many conductors can mirror this track record. I attend every band practice and it is a pleasure to watch Ian work with the band, he has the band laughing right through the rehearsal, so that he can get all his musical points over in the right atmosphere.  It is a formula, which really does work, and Sunday's 2nd place is a little proof of that. 

After the result on Sunday one of the band lads actually said to me "do you think we are just a good concert band?"  Perhaps I don't need to tell you my answer for I love them all so much and they treat me as one of the band, and I know that my long dead Dad would love to know of my so close involvement with brass-banding, through this wonderful family style band. On reflection the result was not a surprise but down to an incredibly successful chemistry between band and Conductor underpinned by a strategy to promote banding in a wider context.

So author, please try to be generous with the lads and lasses in my band, this was no fluke (I say that as their Chairman) and when you see them at The Albert Hall give them a metaphorical cuddle and make them feel welcome.  They are simply devoted brass band devotees who deserve their hour of glory; I hope every true brass band lover will make them enjoy the fruits of their 2nd place last Sunday.  And if, by some miracle – or even good playing - they beat one of your favourite –be gracious.

Tom Moffat MBE,
Their very proud chairman

4BR Comment:
Thanks Tom - and our congratulations to everyone involved in the band. 4BR is there to give their opinion on the contest (we heard every band in all sections on the weekend), and it is an honest opinion at that. We do not hold any bias towards any bands at all, and on this occassion we gave our opinion about what we thought about each of the bands performances. Ours though, as you point out, is not the important opinion that counts - that was Mr Whithams. However, it doesn't mean that we, or anyone else can't question whether we fet he got it right or wrong.

Our friends in the North

I read your retrospectives of the North of England with a great deal of interest, and must say that overall I do agree with both Iwan Fox and Malcolm Wood regarding the standard of playing in many of the sections.

Have we lost the ability to play with a nice sound I wonder? Too many performances right up to the top section were spoilt by bands just overblowing. I know the test pieces were very hard this year but getting the basics right is something all bands should be capable of doing.

Peter Hart

A wrong series of turns!

How on earth is it possible for an adjudicator not to penalise a band when they play the music wrong! Mr Whitham has been a great servant to the brass band movement over the years, but surely even he should have realised that Reg Vardy Band played the turns in the test piece, Rienzi the wrong way round?

Why bother turning up to a contest when bands are allowed to do what they like and get away with it?

Mr K. Charlton

Well done Mr Adjudicator

Well done indeed to Derek Broadbent with his comments to the bands and their conductors in the Second Section (in Darlington). It is about time the judges really said what they thought, and he did just that.

The conductors didn't really have a clue on this piece (Variations for Brass Band) and many tried to play it like a modern test piece – all crash bang wallop. Thank you Derek for putting them straight.

John Caplan
South Shields

Why do you always have a go at us?

Why is it that 4BR always has a go at the standard of playing in the lower sections? I have read the retrospective on the Fourth Section and find that you are either being patronising or that you obviously didn't know the piece.

Slagging off the efforts of hard working bands is not the way to encourage them to come to the contest and perform is it? Personally I though the standard was pretty good and the winners excellent – didn't you hear them 4BR?

Jennifer Williams

Poor Dunston - don't forget us 4BR!

Poor Dunston Band have waited 120 years to get to the Finals and then you go and give our place to Bearpark & Esh - see quote below:)  Please try to change it because we have booked our hotel now and if its on 4barsrest everyone will believe it.

Conducted by Duncan Beckley in open necked shirt, and chewing a wad of gum the size of a small house, Five Rivers produced the most consistent performance of the day of the four movements of Bryan Kelly's 'Divertimento' which brought praise from Derek Broadbent and gave them a clear two point winning margin from Bearpark and Esh in second place, with Durham Constabulary a couple of points further back in third.

It was Dunston who came second - a brilliant result for a band that hasn't been a regular contesting band.

Keep up the good work and the humour!!

P.S.  I would  have enjoyed our chat even more if I'd realised you supported Cardiff as I am a season ticket holder at the mighty Sunderland.  2-1 - I believe it was;)

Alan Seymour
MD Dunston Band

4BR Comment:
Thanks for pointing out the mistake Alan - and well done to the band. We have changed our error, so that everyone can now see how well the band has done. As for the football though...

Losing the Albert Hall

If the Royal Albert Hall is abandoned, then the Brass Band contest as we know it is lost.
 
The older generations have kept this contest going for decades and without the R A H the golden oldies will go and the contest will follow thereafter. The younger generations are not supporting now and soon any local scout hut will do for future contests.
 
Reg Elliott

One Mans Opinion - An open minded look at the Area Contest by Paul Stamp
 
December, and the area test piece hits the stand for the first time, not a pencil mark or crease in sight!  It's the same old situation "Doesn't look too bad" and "I've not got much in mine" are the comments but before the year is out you are wondering just exactly where does that "not much" bit that doesn't look too bad actually fit in to this monster of a composition!

Still no time to panic you've got 3 months to put it all together.  All over the country it' the same, thousands of people, in hundreds of bands in various sections over selected areas are all in the same situation and all chasing one thing, which is that tired old cliché of Brass Band Contesting ("One Mans Opinion") and that's exactly what everyone is after, a first or (maybe second) to qualify once, that's all just one seemingly illusive time in x number of years to earn your place on the finals seat. 
 
My question is this "why?" What's the addiction? What's the point?  This is a question I've asked myself time and time again and as I have always enjoyed the challenge of contesting myself I search for valid reasons why? Lets face facts the there has been a steady decline in the number of participating bands at area contests over the last few years, why? I don't know but one thing is for sure, it's not due to the hard working members of the general banding public who willingly give up there valuable spare time to teach and educate children and adults to play brass instruments which I myself am a product of.  I don't either think its due to any lack of enthusiasm within band members.  Also I don't think its due to the choice of music to be played at the Area (but that's a separate subject). 
 
I believe the largest factor for the decline in participating bands is due to the raw deal they are subjected to during the adjudication system at the area contest (NOT the adjudicator).  It takes most bands a good 3 months of rehearsal and many hours of dedicated "back bedroom" practice to perform the one 15 minute piece plus X amounts of extra rehearsal and argument with the Mrs or Mr concerning missed anniversaries and for many re arranging heavy work schedules.
 
The effort that goes in to performing a test piece in my opinion is undervalued by the system of adjudicating at the Area and therefore puts many bands off all together.  After all which other hobby, sport or competition etc. is judged by one person?  I truly believe that if bands around the country knew they were going to get a fair overall result based on their performance, then the numbers of bands contesting in general would increase.
 
I would just like to say at this point that I'm not underestimating the capability of any adjudicator at anytime or of anyone who has given their time to run a band contest as I am grateful to all of them for their efforts which enables people like me to participate in competitions.  I would just like to hear how many other people agree or disagree with me.  I am fully aware that at certain competitions such as the national finals there is more than 1 adjudicator. Maybe this is a solution? Maybe not? I don't know? To any adjudicator who doesn't like the system of "being on a panel" and thinks that their opinion will be undermined if he gives a band 11th place and the next adjudicator gives you 1st I ask this question.  Would you stand by that decision? Well of course you would! and why not ? but at least he bands would go away with a fair overall result and would be more inclined to enter a contest knowing a system such as this was in place.
 
I have written this article for all members of the brass band world as an observation and certainly not a criticism of anyone.  Neither is it sour grapes as I haven't competed at this year's area contest.  I hope to kickstart a lot of people into perhaps updating the adjudicating system for the sake of the number of competing bands and I welcome any comments from bandsmen, adjudicators and general public.
 
Paul Stamp 

A poor Divertimento

Having received an errata sheet for Divertimento and subsequently read the comments about the subject on 4BR, I have written to the publishers to express my disappointment in the quality of their product.

Their response unconditionally acknowledges and apologises for the errors and problems caused. They do defend their position though by saying that a) they were unaware of the errors until this contest and b) when they did find out, they acted quickly to issue the errata. It is surprising that the errors have not been brought to their attention before in light of comments from colleagues who have experienced similar for previous contests.

The response also suggests that had they been given prior warning that Divertimento was to be used as a test piece and they had been made aware of the errors, they would have taken action to republish prior to the ‘mass purchase'. They have pledged to provide my band with an updated copy as soon as they have made the corrections.

Danny Wakefield 
Fakenham Town Band

The Shillingbury Blowers - now playing in Australia

I think John, that this is what you're after. I don't know about Australia but It has just been released over here and can be bought on sites like www.play.com and plenty of others. Hope this is of some use
 
Keith Whittingham

Biased Rankings disappointment

I have just viewed with disappointment the latest set of world rankings that you have produced and it would seem that we (Poulton-le-Fylde band in the North West Area) still do not have accrued any points sufficient to appear on your tables.

I feel your tables are biased toward the minority of brass players that are held in esteem by yourselves, by considering only the contests you wish to review! Particularly you do not appear to have taken into consideration the result for contests such as the Brass at the Guild - a contest well organised and so well attended they organisers are looking to restrict number next year!

Similarly you do not seem to consider other minor contests held around the country attended by the bands at all levels and including the big boys! Rather than a unbiased approach you appear to produce a table based on contests cherry picked to your flavour. Whilst I appreciate we may not be good enough to appear on the table, I do consider its production to be a sample not representative of the majority of bands competing all around the UK and across the world.

So come 4barsrest if you're gonna do it do it right by the majority!!! Otherwise provide some form of additional tables that are more meaningful to most of us, i.e. the bands who compete at more than just your preferred venues for table production!. As for me I'll trying just that bit harder at the areas contest, and hoping we can get on the rung of your biased consideration!

Colin Tarry
playing member for Poulton-le-Fylde

4BR Comment:
We can assure you Colin that the rankings are not biased in any way. They are produced independently and the latest list has taken into account contests as far and wide as those in Norway, Butlins, Yeovil, Preston and Porthcawl. We appreciate that no system is perfect, but are adamant that they are not biased or 'cherry picked' in any way, whilst their validity has been recognised in an almost universal manner.

Flawed Rankings

I'm dismayed to see the BFBB endorsing the 4BR rankings for their new contest - they are fundamentally flawed, deeply favouring bands that contest more. You repeatedly say that Stavanger and Eikanger play as well as the top 5 British bands, yet because they only get one crack at our bands per year (at the European) they are never going to get near even the top 10 in your rankings.

And despite promises over the years, James Casey has only supplied scant information on the system. Full details of the calculations and the results entered are required so that another person can calculate the ranking points. At least at the Regionals there is transparency and accountability, opening up the regional committees to criticism if they get it wrong. Now the BFBB is to base an important event on a flawed and opaque system. For the good of bands, please 4BR, sort it out before 2nd April!!

David Read
(not the adjudicator)

4BR Comment:
Thanks David. As we have said on a number of occassions, no system is perfect, but to rank bands, the bands thmselves must compete - you cannot assume a ranking. James Casey has produced a number of explainations over the past few years of how the system works, and there is yet another one to be found on the site on the rankings page. We believe it is the best system available at present, and so do many others, but we accept that no list can be absolutley perfect.   

^back to top