Comments ~ 2009: October

Lots about Peter Graham - good, bad and even something for the nutters and saddos out there...

Well done Peter

Congratulations to Peter Graham for delivering such a great score for the bands and the audience for this year’s National Finals. Whoever wins the contest this Saturday will have thoroughly earned it.

The conductors have circa 12 minutes to make the most of one of the most lyrical offerings bands have been served up in recent years.

Almost all the soloists will be experiencing knots in the stomachs when the wake up on Saturday morning if indeed they have managed to sleep! 

To suggest that Peter Graham's attendance at a public Dyke rehearsal on Monday has made the challenges any easier for that band is ridiculous.

To suggest even the slightest under-handedness on the part of Peter Graham is nothing less than shameful.

Good luck to all the bands on Saturday, especially to my first band, Pemberton!

Ian Brownbill 

Dismay at Peter

I have read with dismay your news item concerning Peter Grahams meeting with the Adjudicators for The National Finals and his subsequent appearance at a Black Dyke rehearsal.  If he expects anyone to accept his comments then he is very naïve.  

Whatever he or Dyke say, between them they have completely ruined the weekend for most bands
 
Anyone with a modicum of common sense would surely have not made such blatant miscalculation of rank and file player’s intelligence and feelings.

The results this weekend will now undoubtedly be tinged with suspicion as to whether or not all bands have played on a level playing field

It seems to me that the only way for a fair contest this weekend is for Black Dyke to withdraw as they have been compromised by Peter Grahams’ attendance at their rehearsal
 
Les Thompson 

Reassured by Peter

Re Mr Graham and his attending the Dyke performance and his subsequent meeting with the adjudicators:
 
I actually feel quite reassured that the adjudicators have had an input from Peter Graham. This would obviously not be an option for all pieces as some of the composers / arrangers are no longer with us. 

Assuming that the three wise men reflect on his comments, and I am of the opinion that they will seize this unique opportunity, it can only bode well for a balanced, objective decision on Saturday.
 
I hope that the crowds turn up on Saturday in numbers, as this piece is ram jammed with melody, mystery and emotion. It is a magnificent piece that will surely appear time and time again in concerts and contests. 

For once I am actually relishing getting on that "cursed" stage and making real music.
 
There will be many winners on the day.....they will mostly be sat in the audience !
 
Dave Aston
Flowers Band

Good on you Peter

So Peter Graham goes to a Black Dyke rehearsal, makes a few notes, even says hello and has a word with the conductor of the band.

What on earth is all the fuss about?

I’m glad that he has taken the time to go and listen to his piece to ensure that any last minute glitches are sorted out for the benefit of the bands and the judges. Good on you Peter.

Let the conspiracy theorists indulge in their fantasies and leave the real world to the rest of us.

Paul Carradus 

Nutters and saddos

Well done 4BR! You continue to feed the appetites of the nutters and saddos who inhabit the shadows of the brass band movement, with their nonsense opinions.

How many of these serial complainers will come out of the woodwork on Saturday to listen to a great piece, played by great bands at a great venue.

I for one am looking forward to the contest even if any result they don’t agree with will mean further claims of cheating and gamesmanship from them.

Dan Lincoln 

Thoughtful pros and cons

Daffyd Jones is to be congratulated on his very fine letter relating to the currently hot topic of adjudication.

His wide ranging analysis thoughtfully and accurately displays a keen understanding of the pros and cons of adjudication methods. Clearly, as a result of the recent furore stirred by comments at the British Open, a response is required from ABBA.

Yes, Derek Broadbent stoutly defended the judgement of the panel in Birmingham, and rightly so too! However, ABBA should follow this up, perhaps through the means of a nation-wide, open forum, so that all those who share an interest may have a say.

If, however, meaningful conclusions and, perhaps, new policies, are to be drawn up as a result of this forum, then clearly a panel of non-biased, experienced 'Band People' (not of necessity ABBA members!) should be appointed in order to present us with their findings and recommendations!

Moving forward, breaking with tradition, adopting new ideas, are not activities that we tend to take lightly in our particular musical world.

Like it or not, however, we are all 21st century people and our World of Brass now embraces new thinkers from North America, Norway, Switzerland, Australia etc, etc. who are not encumbered with our sense of tradition.

Recent letters to your 'comments' column, including Daffyd's as previously mentioned, Tim Mutum and others (though this writer is flummoxed by the 'arithmetic mean' contributor!) are encouraging!

Archie Hutchison 

Drum roll with brushes

Apparently there is a drum roll to be played with brushes in The Kingdom of Dragons. 

Our most experienced percussionist says this is impossible! Anyone else have any ideas?  

Allan Morrison

Bemused of Norwich...

Having read your 'preview coverage' for the Nationals this weekend I must admit to a degree of bemusement at some of the comments made.
 
For example, regarding Hepworth's previous visit you state, "Last time out here (2007) they were overawed by the occasion and the draw..." How do you know? 

Pure hot air with the sole aim of bumping up the word count.

Oddly, your 2007 retrospective stated, "Hepworth (Cookson Homes) opened up proceedings with performance of ‘Music for Battle Creek’ that had enough quality about it to make it a good marker" and went on to say that the placing was 'harsh'! Very poor journalism.
 
Another example - of Black Dyke's 'player to watch', you state "David Thornton – if their star euph player does the business then one hand will already be grasping the silver trophy". 

Really? Why? You went on to single out Glynn Williams, James Fieldhouse, David Childs, Aled Williams and Matthew White as the 'player to watch' from various other bands! 

To make out that Dyke will have half a hand on the trophy if David Thornton does his bit is beyond ridiculous when other world class euphonium players are also at the contest.
 
It is hardly surprising that many banding folk accuse you of bias when your reporting is so lacklustre and inconsistent in relation to top class bands who do not bear a 'famous name', yet you make such a fuss over 'named bands', Dyke in particular.
 
Sue Cook
Norwich

Welsh bias...

With reference Barry Dear’s email which states:
 
“You don't have a clue. You are so biased towards the Welsh that it must have broken your heart to report that the best is now in the West.”
 
Not having attended the contest I have trawled through the coverage of the Lower Section National Finals and fail to see where the accusations of bias stem from. One look at the table below shows that, if anything, 4BR are guilty of underestimating the Welsh.
 
Pre Contest /Prediction/Result

1st Section: Tongwynlais Temperance/Tongwynlais Temperance/Tongwynlais Temperance
2nd Section: Camborne ‘B’/East London Brass/City of Cardiff (Melingriffith)
3rd Section: Brunel Brass/Coalburn Silver/Brunel Brass
4th Section: St. Breward Silver/St. Breward Silver/St. Breward Silver 
 
Being Welsh myself and fully aware of the responsibility of carrying the God-given weight of superiority I’m a bit worried by 4 Bars Rest’s lack of conviction in maintaining this burden with me.
 
I’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Welsh bands in Sections 3 and 4 for stepping back a bit to enable the confidence of others to be bolstered.  
 
I, in the meantime, shall carry on my missionary duties in the Midlands.
 
Dylan Richards
Market Harborough 

ABBA's deaf ears 

Your October Editorial is a brave stance 4BR, but I fear it will fall on deaf ears at ABBA.

The organisation appears to be run for the benefit of its members and not for the general good of the brass band movement.

It remains a glorified address book for lazy contest promoters to call when they need someone cheap to sit in a box for 8 hours at their competition.

What actually do they do in respect of improving adjudication standards? What is their position or policy on open adjudication, mixed adjudication, training needs, or as you point out, competency?

None from what I can gather by looking at their poor website presence.

If there is a need for an adjudicators ‘Association’, then it has to be better run than the present model. This one is patently not fit for purpose.

Glen Morgan 

First Section attitude 

There was a time when I really questioned 4BR’s attitude towards the First Section and its competing bands, wondering if there was any need for the stance which suggested that standards of performance were so poor.

Not so now.

After sitting through the excruciating performances at Harrogate on ‘Triumphant Rhapsody’ I can only agree with the retrospectives by Iwan Fox on what was heard – it was truly, depressingly awful.

The movement lost the plot on the First Section and it’s purpose some years ago and now we are seeing the folly of our ways.

There are too many bands that are graded in the Championship Section and should more rightly be playing in the First Section – and many in the First that would be better off in the Second etc.

Until Harrogate I didn’t think that to be the case – but now I most certainly do.

Paul Nicholls
Rotherham   

Pleased for Trevor

I was pleased to read the report about Trevor Hounsome's surprise presentation, and he fully deserves it, as his service has always been to the Enderby bands rather than himself. 

I'd go further and say that the Enderby organisation, and other similar set-ups, also deserve more recognition.

For many years they have trained people to play, provided instruments, music and rehearsal space, and have also managed to make it a social experience for the members. They show what can be achieved with vision and hard work.

David Mann

Stop the ramblings

I really don't know where to start, but what I do know is that your ramblings need to stop. 

You don't have a clue. You are so biased towards the Welsh that it must have broken your heart to report that the best is now in the West.

Good adjudicators (no that does not include you) praise where praise is due and point out where things go wrong. The comments from you are derisory, ill-informed and almost slanderous.

As for the 'wit' - you compare to a second rate stand-up at an open mic session at a second rate pub. You are not funny, and from the material you write you don't know enough to be constructive. Do yourself a favour and try encouragement.

All of the bands in Harrogate last weekend had spent weeks and weeks on preparation with the sole purpose of playing and possibly winning at the National Finals. For some it could well be the pinnacle of their banding achievements.

For what? To read comments that neither matched the performance or the adjudicator's comments. Even now you believe the whole of the first section nationally to be sub-standard (apart from one welsh band).

That equates to the Championship not being of a recognisable standard in football apart from Swansea or Cardiff.

I am sure with the facilities available to you and the following within the brass band world, you would rather be known and remembered for accurate, unbiased and sensitive reporting rather than being that ****** from 4barsrest. Get people laughing with you - not at you.

I wish you well for the future and can assure you that we are doing everything we can to improve. Perhaps you should too.

Barry J. Dear

Why the scorne?

I have to tell you how disappointed I am at your article regarding the cornet cadenzas at the recent First Section National Finals Contest, is there really any need???
 
None of the principal cornet players will have gone onto the stand to give a bad performance and I think by the sheer tone of your article, you have undermined players efforts in one fell swoop.

Yeah, it's ok to be controversial at times but I feel that players efforts should be applauded rather than scorned.

How would you feel if you were one of the players who had cracked the top A or ran out of breath or played at 'pensioner pace' and you'd had that written post contest? Not very good I suspect.

4BR should be trying to encourage the efforts of players, not totally demolish their morale and self belief. It's just too much and is journalistic aspic (to coin a phrase).
 
4BR obviously has beef with the First Section as a whole (much of it I agree with), but is there really any need to have such a cheap dig at players who give up weeks of their lives rehearsing to be the best they possibly can for both their bands and themselves?
 
I think not.
 
Graeme Tindall 

Why the numbers?

If there are 16 bands in a section, the arithmetic mean (1 + 2 + 3 +... all the way to 16) is 8.5

The arithmetic mean for 17 bands is 9, and for 19 bands is 10. So that is to say that the average order of play or indeed the average placing, is the arithmetic mean.

The results showed that the average order of play for the first and also the last six in each section were within a single unit of the arithmetic mean. (The only exception being the last 6 of the 4th Section, which gave an average figure of 13.1, which would indicate that the higher order of play bands were more represented in the last 6 placings.)

Put a different way, I would expect that for a competition having 20 bands the band drawn number 1 to win, on average, once in 20 years. The same for any other draw number.

I think brass banders should stick to music and leave the maths to those who think they have discovered a formula for winning the lottery.

They should certainly leave the judging to the adjudicators.

Albert Roland 

Why the criteria?

I read with interest Stephen Mead’s statement regarding adjudication and can understand his argument for a strict set of marking criteria.

Such a move promises transparency, and an end to post-result frustration. However, there is also a down side. A criteria list is really a set of targets, and could lead to a reductive approach to adjudication, where a complex and nuanced set of value judgements are set aside for the sake of a checklist.

This can lead to a situation in which the unexpected, or that which is not accounted for in the criteria, does not get the credit it deserves. 

I’m not against fairness, but in some situations, fairness is not the main aim of the exercise. In brass band contesting, this is clearly so.

Playing standards are the main aim of the brass band contest. The best way of achieving this is still through the subjective, but authoritative opinion of an expert adjudicator. This used to be a contract that bandsmen understood.
 
I do agree with Stephen’s position on a number of counts.

The dominance of adjudicators such as William Relton and David Read in major championships is curious.

Ideally, one would have thought that one individual  would only adjudicate every five years or so on either the Open or the National, and always in conjunction with different adjudicators.

It is almost as if those who choose the adjudicators want to maintain a certain taste, a certain musical perspective.

It might also be case of ‘nobody was ever sacked for hiring IBM’, with Read, Relton et al the guarantees for a ‘fair’ competition. If this is so, then it really is a sign that the fractured nature of the brass band authorities are damaging the ecology of musical perspective in the movement.

Additionally, the box seems curiously antiquated. The experience of live music is not only aural, and adjudicators should be allowed to experience the visual side of a performance.

However, I also think Stephen Mead’s call for a ‘checklist’ approach is a diversion.

The brass band contest is a precious thing. It creates a continuity of tradition, encourages the constant striving for improvement, and it gives our musical form its musical justification.

Nowhere else is a piece of music given the same interpretational scrutiny as at a major contest. It is therefore a great source of concern for me, that such contests seem endangered.

It was interesting that John McCabe talked about his career at length in five editions of the ‘Composer of the Week’ slot. He made no mention of his writing for brass bands, and none of his brass band compositions were played.

It is worth asking why, and realising if banding is to survive then it not only needs to attract punters, but it also needs to keep its musical cutting edge - the major championships - as sharp as possible.

This calls for new musical perspectives, an openness in adjudication, and a renewed commitment to serious brass band music.

It is this striving to re-invigorate the brass band contest, rather than making it blander through the mechanisation that checklists could bring, that we should be concentrating on.     

Dafydd Sills Jones 

Why the price?

Having ordered the Regionals CD for 2010, I am puzzled as to why the price of these CDs is so high?

Is it because you have a monopoly on these that you sell them at the highest price that you feel you can get away with?
 
Even chart CDs are now in the £7 to £8 price range so to have a price of almost £14 seems totally over the top!

I have all of these CDs except last years dating back to 1997 to help me with my practice for the contest, which I presume that many other players do, but I totally begrudged paying the price this year.
 
Tony Weir 

4BR Reply:
We do not produce the CDs, and do not have a monopoly on their sale. The cost reflects the price we are charged as traders for the CDs themselves from the producers.  

Why the wait?

When are organisers of contests going to learn that we do not wish to wait until the end of the day before getting the results? 

I refer to the recent Fleetwood contest where my band was faced with waiting not just the end of our section (2nd) but the end of the 1st and Champs section as well!

Our coach driver told us that he was unable to wait that long due to his tachograph hours I presume, so we all had to leave. 

I know that we were not the only band to suffer in this way but what about the day itself?  There is no better part of the day than for the majority of the competing bands to pile into the hall to listen to the last couple of bands then eagerly await the adjudicator to come out of the box. 

On top of that, there is the adjudicators remarks on stage.  This can be very informative as well as entertaining; we (the audience) get to hear what the man himself wanted to hear from the day’s performances. 

Yes there are the remarks on paper, and these too can make for an interesting half hour of translation from the usual "doctors handwriting" into English.
This method of announcing the results must stop now. 

I am sure that the venue itself would have benefited greatly in greater volumes had the results been announced after each section.

I suppose had there been loads more trade stands then there may have been something to do in the hours that passed by waiting for the end of the day, but come on, Fleetwood, on a Sunday? 

This place is similar to Colin Crompton’s famous Morecombe where the residents only come out to watch the traffic lights change!

Many, many bandspersons are denied the excitement of the day because of the long, long wait for other sections to end and so make the decision to just go home. 

Long hard rehearsals, long day travelling and for what? A text from someone else which simply says we come ?th!!!  Wow!

Its no wonder the entries are getting less and less.  In the bandroom, next year the secretary will say, "are we going to do this contest or another contest this year?"  And I know which contest will get my vote next time!

Jim Owen
Old Hall Brass 

Why the help?

Labour and love 2nd horn part.
 
Help!

Does anyone know whether 3rd section bands need to play 4 tenor horns at the areas as the second horn part is divided for a lot of the piece?

Or if playing 3 tenor horn players, should the player choose which notes to play? (with some official guidance maybe?)

Is there any official ruling on this? In eager anticipation and gratitude to anyone who can help.

Stephen Bradnum

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