Comments ~ 2005: March (Part 2 - 13th -21st )

Lots, lots more from the Regionals and more unhappiness in the West; comments from Midlands, Wales and Scotland and we cuise to the final weekend of the regionals.

Car Park Coffee

Having read comments from others and just suffered through playing at Burton for the first time, I felt compelled to write and agree with the comments from Mr Britt of Desford. With regards to audience numbers and attracting younger players into our bands, I am sure that the 4 members of my family that came to listen to our band will not be returning next year if the venue is the same.  The shame is that in a few year's time that makes it far more likely that my son will be playing football with his mates (not a bad thing!) rather than listening to and becoming interested in music.

There are a number of reasons for this, all set out by Mr Britt. This is then compounded by the fact that if you do want a cup of coffee, you have to drink it outside in the car park standing up.

Being new to the Midlands, I have no alternatives or suggestions to offer, but having played and listened at many contest venues around the country Burton is the worst I have come across in terms of facilities - bar none. Surely something to improve matters can be done.

Alan Thomas
Melton

Lower section adjudication

I have just spent ten minutes reading and re-reading the comments of various individuals with regard to the adjudication of the Fourth Section at the West of England Regional Finals last Saturday.
 
Trying to balance the argument a little from the perspective of the bands that were fortunate to qualify for Harrogate, I would only like to say this -
 
There were certainly some very strange things said by Mr Brian Hurdley from the stage, and for him to say that he completely ignored wrong tempos was indeed very odd. He did state that some Bb Cornet players played Soprano parts (and the audience witnessed it happening), but picked the wrong band. We do hope that he did not penalise our fellow competitors Pillowell Silver points for this misdemeanour.
 
Unfortunately brass banding being what is and the West of England insisting that they cannot afford to employ more than one adjudicator, we have to put up with the subjective view of the one individual tasked with the honour.
 
Rather than continuing to abuse the person that has the most difficult of tasks in deciding which is the best performance of the day, would we not be better off putting our efforts into effecting a change of culture so that it is impossible for this to happen again.
 
I can understand the comments of the previous correspondents (most of whom I know) and I also agree that the comments of the adjudicator perhaps spoiled a wonderful days banding.
 
We will endeavour to represent the West of England at Harrogate to the best of our ability and hopefully repay the faith that Bryan Hurdley put in us.
 
We would, however hope that we can do this with the best wishes of our competitors and respectively suggest that we actually thought we deserved our place at Harrogate for the second year in succession.
 
I am however sure that mine will not be the last correspondence on the subject!

David Harding
Chairman A W Parker (Drybrook) Band

And more adjudication...

At this time of regional competitions, adjudication, yet again, seems to be the main topic of debate.

One highly respected adjudicator and conductor – John Berryman – has been criticised for his over emphasis on tuning. However, should not tuning or intonation, along with good ensemble, good quality sound, right notes and appropriate dynamics be the foundations of a ‘good performance'? Should adjudicators not expect 3rd section bands to play in tune?

For me, all the debate raises a fundamental question. What can we do to increase the trust that players and supporters have in results? Mistrusted results and ‘poor' adjudication do huge damage to a movement already in decline. I've been around long enough to know that this is not a new question. However, I've also been around long enough to have seen little debate that has resulted in any improvement. Players put too much into rehearsals to see their efforts arbitrarily cast aside. This is contributing to the movements decline especially as young players are introduced into the contesting scene. Outside observers also see the process as flawed. So do insiders.

The ritual of the draw is also another interesting phenomenon. If an early draw can affect a band's placing because the adjudicator can't cope with that many bands, then is it not true to say that band contests are truly a lottery? The effect of the draw must be minimised or eliminated.

For me, the question is fundamentally one of quality and trust in the ‘product'. As regional contests are, for most bands, their main contest of the year, I would like to see regional committees show some leadership. The British Federation of Brass Bands (BFBB) has recently surveyed bands for a range of issues. There seemed to be a large body of opinion in favour of two or more adjudicators. There must also be a role for the Association of Brass Band Adjudicators (ABBA) in here.

So, some ideas:

1) An accreditation process for adjudicators, run by the ABBA, on similar lines to that used for examiners in Associated Board exams. Adjudicators can then be assessed and given contest assignments appropriate to their level of experience and musical qualification.

2) A published process that adjudicators use to assess bands' relative merits covering tuning, intonation, ensemble, interpretation etc. This might also do something to reduce the ‘early draw' handicap.

3) A minimum of two adjudicators for each contest. The Cambridge Masters has some experience to offer here.

4) Scraping the very nominal prizes of offer at regional contests to cover any extra costs. If entry costs have to rise then that would be a small price for a ‘better' end result.

5) A debate that results at least in some experimentation preferably some positive change.

If this wonderful movement is to survive, we must put aside our lawyers' phone numbers and work together to improve things. Otherwise, the movement will continue into terminal decline.

Bob Stradling, Daventry, Northants.

Same again Scotland

I was just wondering why scotland always has the same adjudicator each year?

I don't think I have ever been to a Scottish Championships yet without David Read in the box, infact he is in the box about 85% of all the competitions I have competed.  Is there nobody else wanting to be in the box at the Scottish Regionals?  This is something I think SBBA need to have a look at.  Another thing is the remarks sheet which my band recieved I found was a pill of dung, just bad this, untidy that, no positive points towards the band and ways of improving, while there was a tonne of music produced on the day of the proformance.

Christopher Dale

Winning congratulations

This is the first time that I have written to this forum.

I have read the various comments from bands that competed at the West of England in the fourth section and am dismayed that this detracts from those performances that actually were placed in the top six and those who will represent the Area at the Nationals.

The comments given by Bryan Hurdley certainly gave all bands something to consider about the venue. It has to be said that the majority of bands who played there this year had done so in the past so were aware of the problems the hall could have.  He also said that no band played the whole piece well but that each movement had clear winners. 

We went to the contest on the back of two local association contest wins so had a degree of optimism.  We knew that there were bands competing that had recent wins and that the competition would be fierce. In the past we had entered hoping to do well but were often disappointed – this year we were going with confidence that we could improve on our last year's placing.

We were well prepared and came off confident that we had given a good performance.  We received some complementary remarks afterwards.  We won. 

It is a shame that our pleasure and pride at winning has been dented by the remarks being made.  I know that I didn't hear all the bands so cannot make a judgement on others.  Did those writing in hear every performance?

We were pleased with the remarks we received.  They were clear and points covered by Mr Hurdley in his stage remarks (our sop was real – honest! My wife!).  They did reflect our performance so we were happy with that – of course it helps to win as well.

No doubt the detractors will continue but it would be nice if the performances of those placed to represent the West of England were recognised. 

Congratulations to Swindon Brass and A W Parker (Drybrook) – we look forward to meeting up with you in Harrogate. 

We last won the Regional 4th Section 19 years ago in 1986 so this year was a proud moment for us all.  We have dedicated this win to the memory of our late Band President, Arthur Spencer who died in January.  He was made President in the year we last qualified.

On a personal note my wife Janet and I both played in 1986.  This year we were joined by our sons James (17) and Tom (12) – how cool is that!!

Spookily the test piece in the finals in 1986 was... Divertimento!!

Nigel Tiller
Verwood Concert Brass

Don't bother...

Well... After a break from banding of a couple of years, I recently started to think "I really miss that"... What a mistake ! After reading the comments on the regional contests I remembered why I escaped from it.

When will the "Good old British banding fraternity" learn that It will never change.

I have to say, that I can understand the gripes of many of the frustrated faithful, but are you really surprised at the disrespect that you receive from your respected banding elders?

adjudicators have the hardest job around, I don't know anybody that could disagree. But what qualifies some of these fools as adjudicators?

Take Mr Hurdley for instance, A fine player, a respected band trainer, and a nice man to boot, but who on earth told him that Sop players cant play in tune?

Let me tell you Mr Hurdley, I have had many years playing Soprano around some of the finest bands in the Midlands. No... I'm not Pete Roberts and have not toured the World with internationally renowned Orchestras, but I can get a better Bb Cornet sound out of the end of any Eb instrument than most Bb players... I have had Cornet players praise me on how well and in tune I can get this remarkably difficult to play instrument in upper and lower registers. What on Earth are you on?

Have some respect for yourself and others around you... Don't accuse people of cheating unless you can back up your accusations.

Come on Brian, [start to] accept that Brass standards are improving. The overall sound of the bands that you judged may not have been "TOP CLASS" but have some respect at least for the feelings of the poor Bandsman who spends night after night fretting about what a pompous no mark may say about him or her from the safety of a box.

If you cant say SOMETHING nice ... don't bother.

Matt Smith
In Tune (with the World)

Well done Faireys

I would just like to pass my congratulations on to faireys after there terrific performance last Sunday. After all there troubles over the last 12 months it was great to hear a performance that too me stood above the rest.

what a nice sight to see the ladies in the band as well. As for the test piece,there has been a lot of discussion over the last 6 weeks or so regarding how much it would or wouldn't test the bands? Well I went to both yorkshire and the north west area and i didnt hear one performance with out a flaw or two? It is a lovely piece of music and it tested the bands to the full. The opening is so delicate to pull off and i feel this is where it was won and lost and going back to fairys opening it was the best opening of all the bands i heard over the 2 weekends.

E whitehead

How dare you Mr Hurdley

I took my daughter to watch the fourth section competition in Torquay last weekend because she has just started learning to play the flugel horn. Also her grandfather plays in Pillowell Silver Band so she was particularly interested in how well they were going to do.

Unfortunatly as things turned out it wasn't such a happy experience. I really hope that all those totally unfair remarks made by Mr Brian Hurdley hasn't put her off wanting to join a brass band one day. How upsetting it was for us all to here our local band being accused of something that was totally not true – how dare you Mr Hurdley. 

I  have very little knowledge where brass banding is concerned but equally it seems neither does Mr Hurdley. His arrogance was very apparent as he gave his judgement at the end of the contest and to be quite honest was totally unessessary. So through his complete misjudgement he has stopped a very high class fourth section brass band from representing the West of England in the Championships in Harrogate, of which I might add Pillowell Band came second last year.

Lisa Smith
Pillowell Band Supporter

Thank you everyone...

As the Soprano Cornet player of the Pillowell Silver Band, I would like to  thank Huw Cole (MD of Bream Silver Band) Martin Musto (Principal Cornet of Tewkesbury Town Band) Nigel Morgan (MD Tewkesbury Town Band) our very own Roger Smith (Second Trombone, Pillowell Silver Band) and of course anyone else who writes to 4barsrest with support for my Soprano Cornet Playing at Torquay.
 
Divertimento by Bryan Kelly had three soprano solo's in it.  I am now going to tell you what Bryan Hurdley wrote about me...
 
"Movement 2: (A-B) WONDERFUL SOP. PLAYING!" 
"Movement 3: (C) GREAT SOP, OR SHOULD I SAY CORNET!"
He didn't make any comment on my solo in the fourth movement.
 
I was persuaded to join my local village band, Pillowell, in 2002 after a 19 year break, and I can tell you that it's good to be back playing again.  But if this is the standard of Adjudication in the lower sections, there is something drastically wrong with the brass band movement. 
 
As a band, Pillowell had there most successful year in 2004, and I was proud to be part of it.  The bands 5th position at Torquay, did not reflect in the bands overall performance or the performance of their individual soloists.  But to listen to the summing up from Bryan Hurdley, it was positively comical.  Firstly accusing bands of cheating and then trying to suggest how we play accents and how we produce, or not produce a vibrato.Then he went on to say that he was not sending the strongest bands to the finals or words to that effect !!  You really had to be there!  It was a joke!!!
 
Having personally comfronted Mr. Hurdley after the contest to express my disgust to his remarks, his reply was "You're obviously to good on the Soprano Cornet!"  Do I take from that, that I'm playing in the wrong section and all 4th Section Soprano players play out of tune, or do I take it as a compliment!  I personally don't think either!  I don't think Mr. Hurdley is qualified to adjudicate  20 bands in the 4th section.

And to sum up, the most depressing comment from Mr. Hurdley is when I asked him if he had taken marks off the band, for my fine Soprano Cornet playing.  (Or should I say cornet!) He declined to comment and walked away from me briskly with colour in his cheeks.
 
So I give this message to all contest controllers... 'Think very carefully when choosing adjudicators for lower section competitions. They need to be experienced. This fourth section that I play in is the future of the brass band movement and should be given the respect it deserves.
 
Steve Ruck
Soprano Cornet, Pillowell Silver Band

The Gutter Press

I am afraid I must take you to task regarding Iwan Fox and his comments made regarding Lofthouse 2000 on your recently published Web Page. (Yorkshire Fourth Section Championships)

His light hearted comments regarding the dress of the lady percussionist were completely out of order. Perhaps Mr Fox should consider writing for some Adult Website more in taste with his particular fetish.

It would be nice to take the Brass Banding Movement to a point where a parent can feel safe leaving their daughters in an environment which appreciates their talent instead of exposing them on a stage where the audience is more suited to a lap dancing environment.

I have witnessed first hand the lack of morals from certain bandsmen who consider themselves the pillars of society and consider that wear the uniform of certain organisations puts them on some higher pedestal.

I have also had the wife of one of those gentleman ring my home number to try to get at my then very vulnerable daughter. Your site and by reflection your editors now drop you into the same gutter.

I await your next editorial with interest.
 
Tony Bell 

Top man at Tideswell!

Just a quick mention for our dedicated and hardworking Musical Director, Barry Thompson (& JDM!) without whose efforts we would not have achieved a very creditable 5th place in the 4th Section at last Sunday's Midlands contest.

Barry is always quick to credit us, either individually or collectively and I would like to go on record to thank him for all his work with Tideswell Band. Long may he reign!

Tim Bradwell
2nd Trombone, Tideswell Band

Unprofessional comments in Torquay

There are few occasions when I feel angered enough by an adjudicator's comments to write in to a forum such as this, but I feel that on Saturday Brian Hurdley made unprofessional comments to the extent that I must air my opinions.

I felt disagree by Brian's comments that  'staccato' means light, and that 'accents should not be accented' and that soloists shouldn't use vibrato. A disagreement in musical taste and interpretation is understandable, however, I was little short of amazed when Mr Hurdley further went on to criticise bands for 'cheating' by playing the soprano cornet line on the Bb's.

I later discovered that the very band who he actually accused in writing was our own neighbours Pillowell. That part was played by Steve Ruck, the very gifted soprano player who can actually play in tune in the lower register. Mr Hurdley's reasoning for knowing that a band 'cheated' was that the soprano had quirks that gave it away such as tuning in the lower octave. However, any decent sop player knows that this is just a matter of skill.

Come on Mr Hurdley, even in the Fourth Section we demand a much higher level of professionalism from our adjudicators. I also failed to understand Mr Hurdley's remarks that he was sending the bands to Harrogate that hadn't necessarily played the best but whom he thought would represent the area the best. Do you know something we don't Mr Hurdley? Perhaps next year the adjudicator could come and visit the bands at their rehearsal rooms to come to the same conclusion so we save the expense and time of preparing and competing in a contest.

Another amazing comment was to suggest that conductors go to the hall in order to balance the band properly. Does that mean that the band should have gone to hall before the contest in order to balance in that acoustic? Bear in mind that we are in a leisure centre hall that has seating, additional petitions, and panels hung specially from the ceiling to improve that acoustic. I plan to tell my band to put in their diaries that the Thursday before next years contest will be 125 miles away in Torquay.

Many of your readers who do not know me may think that I am a sore loser. However, I am very concerned when the time and effort put in by all of us is debased by such large assumptions by the man in the tent. I can only assure you that I would be writing this if my band had come first. Please can we have sensible remarks in the future as every section deserves.

Huw Cole
MD Bream Silver

Mr Hurdley and the missed soprano

In the adjudicator Mr Bryan Hurdley's summing up address after the West of England finals 4th Section at Torquay on Saturday 12th March, he said that solo cornets deputising for sopranos for their solos was not on, and would always be spotted by him.

Imagine our horror (Pillowell Silver Band) when we received our remarks to find he was referring to us.
In fact, our soprano soloist was Steven Ruck who has been our soprano player for a considerable time now and is probably the best in the West of England Region in any section.

We as a band were very upset with this especially when we were placed just 2 points below the third placed band. Any points we lost because of the so-called infringement cost us not only a place in the frame, but another crack at the National Finals at Harrogate.

A heavy penalty indeed for a totally wrong judgment by Mr Hurdley who, if he cannot tell the difference between an E flat Soprano Cornet and a B flat Cornet, should he actually be adjudicating such important contests.

Roger Smith
Pillowell Silver Band

And what about the Championship Section?

I have been the MD of a 2nd Section band for the last 8 years, and having contested on Saturday in the West Of England Areas I was free to concentrate 100% on Sundays proceedings and made the decision to listen to every performance in the 1st and Championship Sections and learn something!

I had a great day; stone cold sober, and prior to the results of both sections was confidant that my opinions would be much the same as the two highly respected and experienced adjudicators. I am shocked........I obviously don't know a thing about it, and neither do several other experienced spectators, again conductors who have done really well with their own band's with whom I chatted.

Like myself, and the majority of the audience they had Otterbourne (in the First Section) somewhere up there in the frame. They played with a musical sensitivity, clarity, control and balance which was really good and true to the score as well, they didn't have the problems with intonation that 8 or so of the other bands had, but in the end they were placed 8th..........yes 8th!!!!!!    

What! I feel like rapping it all in because if my own band had played even half as good I would have been ecstatic!  We all know that there were similar oddities in the Championship Section too.  I am not for a second being critical of the adjudicator, its an amazingly difficult task and too important to those involved to put all the burden on one mans shoulders, and it is after all just an opinion, but just one man's.

The one cliché that you hear repeated constantly in banding is,  "Well its just one man's opinion that counts." Well sorry that doesn't cut it with me anymore. If ever there was a time to go for 2, or possible 3 non-conferring adjudicators then this is it. The only thing that can possibly be stopping this happening is finance. I would also like to see adjudicators that still have a hands on involvement with a band week in, week out. 

We all know who these people are, the likes of Mike Fowles, Steve Bastable, Nigel Taken, Philip Harper, Duncan Beckley........ you know, been there, done it and still doing it people! Not been there nearly did it and now forgot what it was like people!

There should be a clause before an adjudicator accepts his booking, "When did you last conduct a band"?  To all you old brigade out there, and you know who you are, enjoy your retirement and thanks for all you have done for the movement, we all appreciate your hard work.  All the stress and hard work at your time of life can't be good for you, go on......while you still have your dignity!

Charles Fleming

Sour Grapes!

I would like to say this isn't sour grapes but it is!!

I have just returned from Torquay after playing in the West of England 4th Section for Tewkesbury Town Band. I have never in my 25 years of playing felt so cheated out of a contest by what I can only describe as a completely incompetent adjudication by Bryan Hurdley.

The key points were that he totally disregarded tempo marking, articulation marks, rhythm and that what this piece of music was all about other comments made in his post contest speech were that he accused bands or one band for playing one of the sop parts on b flat cornet when the band in question told him that it was actually their sop player, his response was -"well he is too good then."

He also told us all that he was not giving the bands who necessarily played the best on the day the top 3 places but the bands who he felt would represent the area the best at the finals. Well looking at the previous years results you would have expected Pillowell to be there or thereabouts after coming 1st at last years regional and 2nd at the finals, but oh no, they came 5th.

I won't go on much more but when you get sarcastic comments written in your remarks like "a cornet sticks out at (A), second movement there's that cornet again oh no it's the flugel. Third movement nice solo (Yes Flugel)." Not only is it childish but was very upsetting to our flugel player.

I will close by saying I do not believe this man should be asked to adjudicate another contest of this importance as he was quite obviously out of his depth and if he can't tell the difference between a cornet and flugel, well I say no more.

Martin Musto
Tewkesbury Town Band

Did the judge know better?

I have always voiced my belief and reliance in the integrity and professionalism of the one-man adjudication system.  However that was all changed on Saturday in Torquay when Bryan Hurdley proudly, or should I say, arrogantly declared to all present that he had not worried about tempos, or detail (staccatos, accents, rhythms) or tuning. 

In other words he didn't care about the basics that all bands, especially those in the Fourth Section, strive to get right if they are to achieve any modicum of musical sense or performance.  He was confident that all that was needed was an overall impression. It seems that Bryan Hurdley alone, knew that the detail, which Bryan Kelly had written in his score, was not what the composer really wanted. 

Remarkably only a half an hour before my band played, an eminent West Country conductor exchanged his view with me that the piece was written as a 'musical joke "; how right he must have been as, according to our dear adjudicator, we had all wasted two months hard work and many fruitful hours under a skilled professional tutor all to no avail.  We could have performed for Mr Hurdley after the third rehearsal!

He went on to say that the acoustics of the hall affected the balance from the upward facing instruments and the conductors should have realised this.  In other words forget the work on dynamics and balance worked on for many hours and get your bands to change to something different just before going on the stage.

Well, Mr Hurdley, I have heard top class bands perform in totally unsuitable halls and even they fail to adjust even through a two hour long concert. Another adjudicator's cliche thrown at us with an air of - "aren't I the clever one!"  At this point I said to a colleague that he should sit down before he commits total professional suicide.  But no, he went on. 

He let us know that he was very clever because he had spotted a band cheating by playing the soprano part on the Bb cornet! "Nobody can play a soprano that well in tune" he said.  Later the conductor of the band in question was not amused as he showed me his written remarks, just before going to see Mr Hurdley face to face.  Apparently he defended his mistake by saying that the soprano player shouldn't have been so good!  The player in question would really have been affirmed to know that he had lost his band a point or two for being such a good player!

Then came his final two shots – "I am not sending the best bands to the finals but those I think will represent the West of England the best", he said.  What on earth did he mean?

Then came one of the most damaging statements I have ever heard from a so-called adjudicator of the Fourth Section - the band placed last, he declared, was definitely the worst!

That band Mr Hurdley, has only this year come back to contesting and therefore, more likely than not, had many young players keen to get some valuable experience from their outing.  This section needs instruction, guidance and affirmation from its adjudicators not vicious, caustic remarks like that.  Shame on you and your profession!  I see from one of the website business cards listing Mr Hurdley is a conductor - no mention of him being an adjudicator so I am sorry if I am incorrectly linking him with those professionals on the adjudicators listing.

Generally I am always pleased with the organisation of the West of England contest but I do have some serious concerns, which I shall be raising with the regional committee relating to the Arena Hall. This hall was surely not designed as a concert venue and consequently is not suitable for a brass band contest as the acoustics are totally inappropriate to performance. 

There is also a constant, loud background noise from the air conditioning units high above our heads.  The stage gives the conductor no more than two square feet in which to stand and very little room for the players to sit comfortably. This resulted in another harmful victimisation by Mr Hurdley. Our flugal player had no option (because of the size of the stage) to sit more or less where the solo horn would sit thus facing outwards to the adjudicator's box. 

Mr Hurdley then got confused with instrument spotting again (see sop/Bb cornet above).  He thought he heard a loud cornet but later changed his mind that it was the flugal and set about making this a major point.  We spent the rest of the weekend trying to persuade the player not to give up banding.

My final feelings regarding Mr Hurdley are that before he allows his oversized ego to accept future roles as an adjudicator I suggest that he takes lessons first.  Alternatively he should prominently display his "L" plates and always sit with a qualified instructor.
 
Nigel Morgan
Gloucester

Wagner Tubas - the answer

In response to James MacFayden's comment about not using Wagner Tubas (Horns) in Rienzi - they were not invented at the time of writing!

They were initially created by Czech manufacturers Cerveny and Kralave and marketed in 1844 as a Cornon (and was popular in European military bands at the time replacing the French horn), and was known to Wagner at that time.

Wagner wanted to provide eight-part harmony for horns in the Ring of the Nibelung (written between 1848-1876, and first performed in 1876) and use a new sound, which was more heroic, solemn and stately as a contrast to the lyrical horn sound. To the existing four horns he added two tenor and two bass Wagner tubas in F and Bb.

The length of tube and resultant harmonic series mirrored those of the corresponding horns but was mellower in colour. The difference between the Wagner Tuba and Cornon was that the narrower bore of the saxhorn family was incorporated with the French horn style of mouthpiece of the Cornon.

Still, its bore was wider and more conical than the existing French horn. And yes, Wagner met Adolphe Sax when he lived in Paris in October, 1853.

Anorak well and truly off now!                                                                   

Tom Donaldson

Midlands Misery
 
I took part in last Sunday's contest at Burton, and after hearing the results and comments, I'm sorry to say its left a sour taste.             

When you see bands of this standard ignoring what's on the score and playing what they liked instead. i.e playing the opening muted from horns to basses when nowhere on the score is there such a mention.

Was Roy Roe adjudicating from a different score I wonder, because the opening remark on my bands remarks were said that the B flat basses were not peddled. Well Mr Roe, I'm a B flat bass player and there were no instructions to do that. In conclusion may I say also that Burton Town Hall as a venue for such an important contest leaves a lot to be desired?

Norman Page

Don't forget us!

Very good coverage from 4BR on the Midlands Regional Championships. One minor observation though - Shirley Band, who are not mentioned, came 8th  (played number 1) not Foss Dyke (as stated in the retrospective).

Foss Dyke were 9th, you have the correct placing shown in the "results archive".

Keep up the good work.

Tom King
Shirley Band

4BR Comment:
Sorry Tom - We have now amended things.

Getting the right old nag

I see from your Third Section retrospectives that some adjudicators have been assiduous in studying the notes, which accompany the score of Tam O'Shanter's Ride, but they would have done better to read the poem upon which the music is based.  Nannie, not Maggie, is the name of the witch who catches Tam's eye.  Maggie is Tam O'Shanter's horse. Awae the noo (whatever that means)

Alec Gallagher
London NW9

A question of sound

We just had a week with Richard Evans on Comedy and one thing he commented on a number of times to the younger players in our band was that fantastic technique but could we just warm certain notes up.

It was almost as if the notes were so pure and lacking in any vibrato they were cold (he frequently alluded to " it's gone cold again, I'll just get me coat"). However great sound is more than a bit of vib. My old teacher Sid Garret used to tell me that, if your tone is good enough you don't need much vib at all.

As for us older players, I'm always trying to limit my vibrato and vary it depending on style. I have bad memories when I was lad of certain older players with "charley horse" vibratos. Don't want to become one of them! I believe the best cornet sound around at the moment is David Daws. He reminds of Jimmy Shepherd at his best, and then some.

Mark Davies
Principal Cornet
Roberts Bakery Band

How to produce a nice brass band sound

I was fortunate to play with Sun Life for 10 years, a band that I believe had a formidable reputation of producing a nice "brass band" sound. Here are just a few things that I think helped us achieve this.

(1) Bandroom. The acoustics in the bandroom in Eastville were notoriously dead, especially for the euphoniums downwards. I heard many a player who I knew to have a reasonable sound, sound like a broken gas pipe when sat playing within that tight old room. You had to work so hard to make a pleasant enough sound, there, but as soon as we were released from the confines of that place you sounded unbelievably good. [Lesson: If your bandroom is too easy then you'll find it tough when you escape].

(2) Buckets. The wee professor, W.B. Hargreaves, had instilled the theory that large mouthpieces were needed to make a big sound. He went round every player and checked it, too!. The ruminants of this legacy were still there 10 years later when I joined the team. [Lesson: If you play with a peashooter then don't expect a Wagnerian sound].

(3) Conductors. We purposely chose conductors with the reputation for encouraging a voluminous sound. Of course, we discussed the occasional use of "over blowing" and "harsh" sounds when the music suggested it, but we never intentionally set out to make a poor sound in lieu of "effect" or "impact". Because of this there was a clear understanding amongst all the players that the sound we made was our first duty of care. [Lesson: Everyone must commit to making a good sound.]

OK. There are no great in-sights in what I have said, above, but I would also observe that the works selected by contests, and in many of the concerts that I have attended, are mostly about pyrotechnics, crash bang wallop, and so far removed from that music that encourages or develops a nice sound. I am not saying that we should regress into playing hymn tunes and light orchestral material, but rather our musical diet has become all fast food and lacks the balance that gives good health in the old sound department.

Geoff Colmer

Does percussion count?

Please can someone let me know why it doesn't seem to matter to adjudicators whether percussion parts are played or not.  'Variations' required 4 percussionists and, like most other 2nd section bands I imagine, we only have 2 percussion players. 

However, we managed to get another 2 and ensured that all the parts went in - the celeste and glock parts being especially integral to the final chorale.  It was noticeable that other bands, including the winners, did not do this and in fact there was no mention - good, bad or indifferent - in our adjudication about the percussion section at all. 

Are we to assume from this that in future when we have a test piece requiring more percussion players than our standard two, we can just have the attitude of 'it doesn't matter, it's only percussion'?  Perhaps we can just choose to leave out the Solo Horn part or the Bass Trombone next time - what's the difference?
Regardless of the result (which obviously we don't agree with!!!) we had a great weekend and felt that we put up a good performance - unfortunately, the only nice thing you said about us was "although they were a young band in defence", which is a bit strange as the youngest player is 17 and most of us are a good decade or two (or three or four) older than that - did you get us mixed up or is there something in the water up here that helps us keep our youthful looks??!!

Anyway, well done to all the North Wales qualifiers - we live to fight another day!

Val Hughes
Rhyl Silver

Nice to see you, to see you, nice!

Thank you very much for correcting the spelling of our name (Dyffryn Nantlle) on your website and also for printing our article. The band had a brilliant time this weekend in Swansea at the Welsh Regional Championhips - just getting on the stage was a major achievement the fact that the band played well was a bonus.

I apologise for not having the time to stay and chat after the performance it was nice to finally meet you. Looking forward to the retrospectives

Sue Massey

We were there in 2004 as well

I do enjoy taking a look at your site, especially at this time of year. Could I make one comment - Radyr & Morganstown (Melingriffith) Band did not have the result alongside them for 2004 (like the others) and worth noting they won the 'Fourth Section'. Upwards and onwards.

Roger Hampton
(former Chairman)

4BR Comment:
Sorry Roger, a bit of an oversight. We will make sure it is amended.

Leaving it in the bandroom

I would like to comment on the piece that you put about us. (Croft Silver Band: Midlands Regional Championships Third Section) You were quite right to say that we left our contest performance in the bandroom, because even though the piece was demanding, we did get it to a very good standard. 

ALL players within our band worked hard.  Like you say we had a lot of young players in the Band, especially on the back row, and even our 2nd trombone player has only been playing for a year. We are putting a lot of it down to nerves and lack of contesting experience.

This was only our second contest since the area 2003; we have a lot of new players.  2004 we couldn't enter the contest because we didn't have the band to.  But after a lot of hard work by the management team we managed to get a band together to perform this year.  Ok the performance wasn't our best but we went and played, which was our main aim, and hopefully we can stay in the 3rd Section.

Ian Bromley
Band Manager.

The Rix man speaks agian...

It's Sunday evening and its all over for the Midlands for another year - I had family interest so listened to a few bands in the 2nd section yesterday. I reflected on how difficult it is to be objective when you are rooting for a band.
 
Of the few bands I heard, Variations certainly lived up to its expectations - it was clearly too difficult and I am not so sure that there was a great benefit in this for bands, the audience or for that matter the adjudicators. Lets hope that those who know better reflect and take a little more care in the choices for 2006. Call me old fashioned but I think the rot set in when Journey Into Freedom turned up for the First Section a few years ago.
 
I note some interesting results in some of the other areas today so no doubt the 4barsrest inbox will be full in the morning.
 
The best of luck to those in the London Area next week - especially the Friary team.
 
My final posting for now ...
 
Graham Rix

Help me with my memory!

From what I can remember after the results on Sunday (It is a bit hazy at times - beer is the problem!) when your photographer took some photo's of myself on Stage (I am the Secretary and Eb Bass player at the band) he asked me for a few comments after but didn't take my name, to be honest it was a bit manic!

Just like to say how extremely proud I am of all the players in the band, who have only been together 7 months - it was a fantastic achievement and they deserved the win for the all hard work and dedication that they and its conductor John Collins have put in to make it a trip to Harrogate possible.

Keep up the good work with your presence at all the contests - your feedback and views are always appreciated!

Andy Robinson-
Secretary/Eb Bass The Oldham Band (Lees)

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