Comments ~ 2009: November (21st November onwards)

A postbag full of Brass in Concert, Meadgate and more - plus some irate punters too...

Original music gives credibility

On the weekend I was very privileged to be at Brass in Concert and to hear some great bands playing great music.

I wish to publicly acknowledge Jason Katsikaris and Leyland Band for sticking their necks out and presenting a fresh programme of new music. I felt I was part of something positive in what can sometimes be a static movement.

Of the five new works featured, four were new compositions with three specifically written for the contest. All of the composers were sat together in the audience and I felt a sense of camaraderie that gave me a real feeling of optimism.

There has been a great deal of talk from adjudicators and the scene as a whole about innovation, and a new approach to music selection, so it was very heartening that all the works in Leyland programme were so well received by the audience.

Certainly those sitting near us were most appreciative of the new music on show. I only wish that the judges had publicly acknowledged the approach too.

I was proud to be a part this special event, one that should have happened long ago, and the concept of which should be actively encouraged across the board if we wish to have any kind artistic integrity in the future.

Young musicians, audiences and composers are the lifeblood of our scene and the wonderful efforts of Peter Meechan, Lucy Pankhurst, Tom Davoren, Andy Scott and Paul Lovatt-Cooper did not go unnoticed from the audience members.

I would like to congratulate my colleague Philip Littlemore whose beautiful arrangement of  ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ won the best composition prize.

However, I think that a separate award for best original composition might encourage bands to commission new works in addition to the many fine arrangements that we hear at The Sage each year.

The production of original music undoubtedly gives the genre much needed credibility in the music scene at large.

Simon Dobson

Dump the mediocrity 

I was very lucky to be one of the featured composers in Leyland's Brass in Concert programme.

Firstly, I'd like to say a big thank you to Jason and the band for having the vision to put together such a brave and rewarding set of music. They took a risk, but sadly the adjudicators didn’t reward it.

However, I hope they can take consolation from the reception in the hall - to be popular with the judges may give you a result, but to be that popular with the audience probably tells a much better (and ultimately a much more rewarding) story.

Secondly; the word innovation gets banded about a lot. A quick search on 4BR found an article where David Read and Peter Parkes (adjudicating at Butlins) talk about itin the following terms:

“We rewarded innovation today. We wanted to hear something new and different, although it had to have a true brass band context. We didn’t want to hear the same music that has been played over and over again these last ten years, but something that was new and interesting, something that had been given thought and explored new styles.”  - (http://www.4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?l=du&id=7097)
 
Well, what a shame they weren't at the Sage judging yesterday.

Leyland played four pieces by composers (all of whom were in the hall) under the age of 30, all of who have significant experience.

With the exception of my "old" work (written in 2003), the other three were written this year and for the BiC contest. So when the New Composition/Arrangement Award (couldn't there be a separate award for both disciplines?) was given for an item from the Leyland programme, Lucy Pankhurst, Simon Dobson and Tom Davoren would have been justifiably excited, hoping it was one of them that had won it.

But alas, no, it was not one of them. They awarded the prize to the most conservative piece on the programme - the arrangement of ‘O Magnum Mysterium’.

Well, I'm not sure which judges award that prize, but can I please make this point clear: that was a massive two fingers up at some of the most talented composers in the movement (and for the record, there were also new works by Andy Scott and others on show at the Sage).

Should we be surprised though? Not really.

For a long time now the powers that be have been championing the raging mediocre, the sensational conservative and the fabulously dull.

The young composers, the composers with innovation and imagination, and the skilful composers are being marginalised so much that they will not be here for very much longer.

The movement will be left with some of the poor composers (several of whom actually don't have the skills required to write a 14 minute test piece) that have been used in the last few years, and that will simply kill the movement.

One final point.

I obviously couldn't see everyone in the hall, so this is only representative of the section where I was sat, but the people in the audience who loved the pieces Leyland programmed all seemed to be youthful people and/or young people.

They are the next generation of audience - shouldn't someone somewhere be catering for them before they too leave the movement, or is it just that some people just don't want to acknowledge that for something to be a ‘movement’ it actually has to ‘move’, rather than stand still firmly in 1955?

Peter Meechan

An enthusiast's thoughts

A group of brass band enthusiasts, ex players and semi-pro musicians attended the BIC last week

Here’s what we thought.

Who would have thought Fodens would be walking off with the BiC top prize on Sunday?  I notice that not many of the hall went delirious with joy when the winning result was announced.

I couldn't hear any of the narration by Bram Tovey and Patrick Moore sounded though he had drunk one glass too many. It was a total distraction from the band's performance and was totally unnecessary. It will have many banding purists reaching for their bottles of Prozac. A brilliant finale though.

Grimethorpe:
All I can say is I hope James Gourlay doesn't audition for the X Factor next year.....it was a total waste of a programme item....and not as you report ‘strangely brilliant’.

It was rather embarrassing, although they did have a fantastic euphonium solo by Michael Dodd.
 
B&R:
Dickie Evans as the next Eric Morecambe. He only has to walk on stage and you crease up. Brilliant programme and well deserving of the best entertainers
 
Fountain City:
Sorry to see Fountain City didn't get a place......3rd for us.
 
Carlton Main didn't deserve last place and Reg Vardy produced a great follow up to their result in the Nationals. They did the North East proud in illustrious company.

Desford, Fairey and Rothwell were all below par, whilst Cory was the winner for us followed by Brighouse. It seems many people were in agreement
 
Must give a special mention for Frank Renton. Who was superb as usual.

Another extremely successful event and the standard much higher than last year.
 
Erik Strodl

Unhappy live comments

Unable to make the long journey from East Sussex to watch this year’s Brass In Concert, I followed the day’s proceedings via the 4BRs live comments.
 
However, I was most disappointed reading many of your comments as I found that I may have well been reading excerpts from the ‘Daily Sport’!...it was certainly no help to me back at home in trying to understanding exactly how the various performances were being performed.
 
This isn’t the first time that I have found comments quite degradable and quite insulting to the performers at times – your live comments at the recent lower section finals were also quite shockingly bad.
 
With comments such as “…isn't quite 'Yanks go home' but a hymn to the dispossessed” and ...”comets swing like Jordan's bosoms unclasped from her bra”…. together with many other comments, I couldn’t quite work out what you were trying to say and to what kind of reader you were targeting at.

What sort of a personal kick the editor was personally getting from writing such meaningless rubbish?
 
Don’t you care about your professionalism and quality of your reports and comments, or are you happy to report in the style of uneducated third-rate reporters normally associated with such tabloid newspapers as mentioned above?
 
Finally, I’ve noticed in a number of your reports about Brass Bands being unable to swing. If this is so, instead of going on and on about ‘it sounds stilted’ and so and so, maybe you could tell us all what bands need to do to their approach and playing techniques in order to make their performances work in this idiom?

With all the entertaining pieces available for brass to play in the swing style it is definitely not an option for brass bands to stop playing such crowd-pleasing pieces.
 
Clearly the editor knows what is right and what is wrong, so maybe he can enlighten us all so that bands across the land can at last approach this style in the appropriate manner….

Miss L Griffiths
East Sussex

Prizes, Prizes everywhere

Having played in this contest many years ago in it's infancy I had some good times and really enjoyed the day and respected the fact that the best soloist on the day should get an award apart from the obvious main results.

But am I out of touch or what?

Best Sop, Best Euph, Best Bari/Horn , Best Perc, Best Flugel, Best Bass Section, etc,etc - need I go on.

Do we really need so many prizes? What about best programme seller, best barman and best car park attendant - I counted 15 individual awards!

Were the audience still awake after the presentations I wonder?

John Pacey
Market Harborough

Tedious and embarrassing 

I've just read the latest news report on the ABBA/Steven Mead affair and immediately thought that this is starting to get a little tedious and embarrassing all round.
 
Steven says one thing, ABBA says another; it's like children squabbling in the playground and it’s getting to the point where you don't know who to believe.

From a personal perspective, I’m not really bothered about who is supposed to have contacted who and when, I’m more interested in what appears to be the negative response to the adjudication process and any potential changes that could be made to it because a professional musician has voiced his concerns because he genuinely cares about brass bands and their longevity. 

What is wrong with that?  It shows he cares!!
 
Yes, Mr Mead's comments immediately after the Open didn't exactly come from Dale Carnegie's ‘How to win friends and influence people’, but when you start to peel back the layers of the onion skin and take on board what he has to say, there are a lot of valid points.

What has ABBA got to lose by meeting with Steven Mead and finding out what he has got to say? Nothing at all!

What I’d be interested to know is when was the last time the Executive Committee of ABBA met with other musical bodies (such as the British Association of Barbershop Singers, known as BABS) to discuss the adjudication process and exchange ideas?

When was the last time ABBA invited people away from the brass band idiom to its own meetings including the AGM to discuss adjudication?

Brass banding is so insular at times and there is nothing wrong with looking at different musical forms and seeing how it works for others.  It's called having an 'open-mind'.
 
If ABBA doesn't want to meet with Mr Mead then so be it (and its a sad state of affairs if they don't want to) but he should openly publish his thoughts across the banding media so people can gauge an opinion for themselves.
 
Steve Hall
Bolton

Get you myths right 

Re your article 'ABBA accuse Mead of mysticism'
 
I'm sorry, but I have to say it.  Please, please stop torturing the English language.  It's making me ill.
 
1.  The attack by ABBA on Mr Mead was not, as you report, mythical, in or out of parenthesis.  It was real. 
2.  Mysticism and mythology are two completely different things and their names are derived from two completely different Greek roots.
3.  There may have been further atrocities in the article, but I had to stop reading.  Just had to, really.
 
Please, please stick to words you know the meaning of.  Nobody will think the lesser of you for using plain English.  Ask Father Christmas for a dictionary in your stocking this year.
 
Alec Gallagher

University snobs? 

I read your recent article 'Scots snobs stamp on brass' with interest at your approach of highlighting, yet ultimately adopting a laissez-faire mentality, towards what I feel is a growing barrier to the recognition of so many fine and accomplished brass players/ensembles.

I currently study at the University of Leeds and conduct the university union's student band.

Even in an environment associated with liberal views and the acceptance of diversity the brass band remains frequently frowned upon and they are often subject to unfair treatment by the committee of the music society.

The brass band performs to a good standard and is a non-auditioning ensemble raising a large sum of money for the music society. This money is then fed into the support of the symphony orchestra in their purchase of music, alongside supporting the events of other ensembles.

The brass band rarely receives any funding for external events and often the players give up their own money to attend events such as the Whit Friday Marches. Often this behaviour stems down to the values of those on the committee from orchestral playing backgrounds.

What really gets me is that our brass band, relative to other brass bands is playing to a good 1st section standard, with players from Rothwell Temperance and Milnrow among the ranks. Yet, the symphony orchestra, relative to the other existing ensembles of their type in the world, are merely beginners.

Why does the prejudice and unfair treatment continue?

The society performs a charity concert every year. So far the brass band have never been allowed to perform in a concert in Yorkshire, despite attempts that have been made to sell the fact that this might help to improve audience numbers.

The committee forced the brass band out of the event last year - the closest we have been to involvement - and instead showcased the symphony orchestra playing a modern concert to a poor excuse for an audience. We are fighting the same battle for involvement this year and failing.

There is an inherent belief that the brass band is not of the right prestige for such events and is not up to the job. We were recently told by the president that he did not want to include us for fear that the event might be perceived as a 'school concert' and 'unprofessional'.

If time allows, a more comprehensive review of the causes of such opinions from outsiders would make quite a read and begin to answer some of the questions I have struggled with during a good 6 years involvement with this particular ensemble.

Matthew Allsop

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