Editorial ~ 2007: July

This month we give our opinion on the increasing problem of borrowing; Contest Fatigue Syndrome and in praise of the lost art of melodic lyricism.

The increasing problem of borrowing

Is there any band in the country that can now attend a contest without having to worry about whether or not they have enough of their own players on their books to field a full complement of players on stage? Or has borrowing players become such a common occurrence that no one now bats an eyelid to its long term consequences?

Apart from the Nationals and British Open it seems, we are now awash with contests that bands can compete in with up to a quarter of their players coming from a different band to play for them. Add to that the continued farce that is the ‘sick note' rule and it seems that bands are either finding it increasingly difficult to develop their own players, or that many have realised that there is no real incentive to do so when they can just borrow instead.

The problem is not confined to the lower sections either, where ‘borrowing' can be used in a constructive manner to encourage and sustain many bands going through periods of instability, but it does seem endemic at Championship level too.  

Perhaps the time has come to look at the very question of player registration to see how it can be used to help sustain the long term future of bands rather than using borrowing as a ‘sticking plaster' answer to help them attend contests.

There is scope for inventive and progressive thinking on this that could well benefit bands at all levels as well as giving the registry itself a source of long term increased funding. 

Time then to get our own thinking caps on before we all need to borrow someone to do it for us.

What do you think?
Send an email to: comments@4barsrest.com

Contest fatigue syndrome

Could we be fast approaching a time where there is no space left in the world wide brass band calendar for any more contests to take place?

For too long the banding movement has equated quantity with quality - be it the number of competitions taking place around the country each year, to the number of bands in each section of a contest, to the amount of CDs that flood onto the market place. Quantity has been our barometer marker of telling us whether or not the long term outlook for the banding movement is set fair.

Perhaps it is time to look at it in another way and try and structure the contesting season to reflect quality rather than quantity.

The Regional contests are fast becoming a congested mess, the months of May and June a slog of contesting weekends, from Bugle to Blackpool, Preston to Prestatyn with stops at Cambridge, Buxton, Bathgate, Saddleworth and Tameside in between.  Then we get two months of next to nothing before a secondary burst of almost manic activity till we can hang up the instruments for a quiet Christmas break. Then its Butlins in January and it all starts all over again…

We certainly haven't reached saturation levels as yet – but we are fast approaching a point where contest organisers seem to want to put on their contests at a time to suit themselves and no one else.  

The result is that bands and their players are starting to feel a form of contest fatigue syndrome setting in – and so too are the audiences that traditionally support these events. Are there really that many people out there who want to spend so many long weekends in concert halls listening to too many bands playing the same test piece over and over again?

The signs are there for contest promoters to worry about – perhaps they should start talking to each other to try and sort it out before even the most die hard supporters have had enough.

What do you think?
Send an email to: comments@4barsrest.com

The lost art of melodic lyricism

It was refreshing and interesting to hear John Berryman talk about the ‘lost art' of melodic playing at the recent English National Championships. It was a point so well made.

For whatever reason (poor teaching, a move towards more technically inspired test pieces, the decline in slow melody solo contests or even larger bore instruments) the standard of true lyrical melodic playing is at a low ebb. And we are not just talking about young players here either – as was witnessed at Preston.

Perhaps players have forgotten what playing a brass instrument is all about? Or is it that they honestly believe that just playing the right notes in the right place is all that is required to become a successful performer with a top class band?

Thankfully, not in the ears of judges such as John Berryman who himself was rightly regarded as one of the most artistically musical performers of his generation. 

Both the Association of Brass Band Adjudicators as well as bodies such as the Nationals Music Panel and organisers of many leading events are placing a greater emphasis through test piece selection and the adjudicating process on what should always be the cornerstone of high quality brass band playing – the ability to make a nice sound. It is a move in the right direction as technically there seems little left for players and top class bands in particular to achieve.

All is not in terminal decline when it does come to the art form of melodic lyricism (there are still plenty of striking examples of it when you listen long and hard enough at any level), but perhaps conductors and players alike will continue to take heed of the message to ensure that it isn't lost forever.

What do you think?
Send an email to: comments@4barsrest.com

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