Editorial ~ 2006: February

7-Feb-2006

This month we give our view on - What price for the National Trophy; Opening up Norwegian style and the RNCM Festival of Brass and the chattering classes.


What price for the National Trophy?

Everything we are told has a price. The romantics would have you believe that winning the National Finals should be a passport to untold fame and riches. The realists however, know better.

Take for instance the rather mundane issue of the National Trophy. The fantastic solid silver pot is the banding equivalent of the FA Cup – full of history, an iconic symbol of our heritage, and a priceless heirloom to be cherished and protected down the generations. Romantically, winning it should give a band the chance to display it at concerts and show it off to potential sponsors.

Realistically, winning it can be an almighty financial headache for a band.

For instance, the 2005 Champions, the Leyland Band has had to return the trophy back to Kapitol Promotions because it could not afford to insure it for display purposes and for security. When the players got their hands on it at the Royal Albert, then gleefully rolled it up Kensington high street in its box on its way to the Goat Pub for a well deserved celebration, you can bet that they didn't think about the question of insurance for a second. Their treasurer soon did though.

The cost of properly insuring the cup is over £1,400 for the year. It is purportedly valued for insurance purposes at around £60,000 (and that for melt down value of the silver) and is realistically worth anything between that and possibly double it because of its provenance and cultural value.

It has to be now covered for all the usual calamities (including vandalism – just remember when some rather idiotic members of Grimethorpe took to trying to engrave their names on it with hammer and chisels after their 1992 victory) and in this day and age, that costs a lot of money for a cup that realistically can only be allowed out of a bank strong room around 45 days a year.

Leyland won £2000 in London and were faced with a bill of around £1400 to insure the cup.  The band that came second and third actually made more money out of not winning the contest than Leyland did.

There are now perhaps a very small number of bands that could afford to insure (and more importantly, safely display) the trophy if they won it in future, but even then, you really do wonder what would happen if it was irrevocably damaged say in a transport accident or even stolen. Getting the insurance money through would be one thing, but how on earth could you replace something that is to all intensive purposes, is a one off?

The answer then possibly lies with the organisers taking responsibility for its insurance and security and making arrangements with the winning band to use the trophy at specific events throughout the year. The rest of the time it could be displayed, like the old Crystal Palace Trophy for members of the general public to admire at a national museum, instead of being hidden away in the depths of the local branch of Barclays Bank for the other 300 days only to be seen by spotty junior bank clerks and security guards.

The romantics of course will say that robs the band of the chance of using the trophy they won for their purposes, but the time has come to broker a sensible arrangement for a trophy whose value now exceeds its practicality.

It will not diminish its status or its iconic presence and it will not place an undue financial or security burden on any one band. It will also give the banding movement the chance to use it in a much more inventive way to secure possible sponsorship for the Nationals itself and promote the movement as a whole. 

When you weight up romanticism against realism, it is the latter that always comes out on top. Perhaps the time has come to put that in practice with our most famous trophy. 

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Opening up - Norwegian style
 
The Norwegian brass band movement prides itself on its inventiveness and forward thinking. Sometimes it gets it right, and sometimes it doesn't, but one of the most pleasing aspects about the way in which they approach their contesting, is that they are prepared to try something new and build on it too.

This year at their National Championships, the Third and Fourth Sections will be open adjudication. Nothing too remarkable in that per se, but it does make for a much warmer, friendlier atmosphere at the contest for players and supporters, mainly due to the fact that the Norwegians have not got the British hang up about trusting their judges only to make an unbiased decision about performances if they are locked away in a box for up to eight hours at an end.

The organisers also allow the bands to provide the compere at the contest a short presentation to read out about the band as they take to the stage. They are encouraged to do this in a light hearted manner, so the audience is not only informed about the bands history but they can also learn something about their set up, the MD and the players, as well as a few humorous asides as well. It puts everyone at ease and the atmosphere in the hall is notably less tense. Importantly, the Norwegians are quite satisfied that it has no influence on the musical decision making process at all. 

4BR saw it in action last year in Bergen in the Fourth Section where it was such a success. If it goes well again this year, it may well be considered for the other section too – including the Elite Section in time. Given that there is a desperate need to encourage radical progressive thinking in the movement, we wonder how many contest promoters would be prepared to try something like it in the UK.

We won't hold our breath though.

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The RNCM and the chattering classes

The promoters of the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass should take a great deal of credit for continuing to try and showcase the very best of the brass band movements talents in Manchester each year.  

The 2006 event was a critical success for sure, although it was still slightly disappointing to see that not all the concerts were sold out. Perhaps it was the pricing structure that may have turned quite a few away or perhaps the fact that it does tend to become something of a musical marathon and a test of stamina if you wish to try and experience all that is on offer.

It is a difficult balancing act though for the organisers and on the whole they have managed to give the event a vibrant feel with a combination of star solo performers and top bands that can come to the weekend well prepared and willing to test their own reserves of stamina and musicianship with challenging new and existing repertoire.  This year in particular saw a kaleidoscopic choice of works on show.

There is still work to be done though to make the Festival the event it deserves to be. There was for instance no substantive coverage that we could find in any of the national newspapers, pre or post weekend (including the Manchester Guardian to its eternal shame!), and although Paul Hindmarsh and the BBC will be airing programmes on the radio, there is no real sense of promotional enthusiasm from the corporation (have a look at the radio listings in the press to see how the BBC promotes programmes it feels should have coverage and profile). Were there any journalists from any of the glossy music magazines at the event?  

The RNCM Festival is a flagship event, manned by a robust, talented crew with realistic ambitions and creative foresight. The only thing holding it back it seems, is that it is sailing in the doldrums of apathy from the musical chattering classes that continue to show little interest in what the movement can achieve. 

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