Editorial ~ 2007: September

This month we give our opinion on the troubles in Scotland; The search for the age of youth and the hat trick anomaly.

Trouble north of the Border

To deliberately misquote Oscar Wilde: “To lose one President may be a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.”

The recent travails of the Scottish Brass Band Association may not quite have reached the farcical proportions of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, but give them time it seems and they may well get there.

The hard earned reputation for forward thinking, transparency and good governance of the banding movement north of the border has been hit hard by recent revelations and rumours of internal squabbles and in house arguments that has led to the resignation of their second President in as many years.

From a position of strength and optimism that was deservedly enjoyed after the triumph of the 2004 European Brass Band Championships in Glasgow, the appointment of a fully funded Development Officer and the growth of the Scottish Open Championships, the Association now finds itself leaderless following the departure of one of its longest serving and most influential members, Peter Fraser MBE.   The sense of optimism has been replaced by a feeling of almost divisive tribal rivalry – a trait that fellow Celtic nations in all walks of life, are seemingly all too familiar with.

Scotland has led the way in many areas of brass band administration over recent years, but it would appear not everyone is happy at present with the way things are currently being run. 

It can only be hoped that Scotland can sort out any problems quickly and with the minimum of blood letting. The Scottish Brass Band Association has come too far and achieved too much for it to become ruined by pressing its own self destruct button.  

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

The search for the age of youth

The continued excellence of the National Youth Bands of Great Britain is one of the most heartening signs that the movement is still capable of producing an almost inexhaustible supply of talented brass players. The same can also be said of the courses held in Wales and Scotland as well as in many of the regions of the country such as Cornwall and Wessex over the past few months.

However, it would appear that what interpretation of what is a youth varies greatly between various organisations. On its website the NYBBGB states that the age range for the National Youth Band is 12 – 18, although that is not correct when you speak to the organisers personally, who state that it is from 13 – 19.

Meanwhile the National Youth Brass Band of Wales caters for players up to the age of 21 and the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland for players under the age of 21. In a slightly different genre, the National Youth Orchestra caters for those players from 13 – 19, whilst the National Youth Jazz Orchestra up to the age of 25. The European Youth Orchestra caters for those 14 – 24.  

There is also understandable leeway in the brass band organisations to those age limits too, with a number of ‘mature’ youths allowed to play to help fill shortfalls in certain instruments categories.

So who is a youth and who is not? According to the UK Children’s Act there is no legal definition of a youth although other legislation covers age ranges of ‘young people’ up to 25.  Children are legally defined as are those under the age of 18, whilst Child Benefit can be paid to dependent children up to the age of 19.

Perhaps then that should be the cut off point for our UK National Youth Bands – as anyone over that age cannot be reasonably be said to be a dependent child or youth anymore, other than in the most exceptional of circumstances.

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

The hat- trick anomaly 

At the conclusion of this year’s British Open Brass Band Championship, the organisers may well be faced with a historical anomaly that for most intelligent people would seem impossible to reason.

If Black Dyke win (and it is always a big if given the capricious nature of contesting) then they will be barred by the rules of the contest from being able to defend its title in 2008. The honour of being only the seventh band in the history of the contest to achieve a historic hat -trick of titles would mean that they would have to sit out the contest in 12 months time.

Rules may well be rules, but in this day and age can there be any intelligent argument to suggest why both the British Open and the National Championships for that matter, should invoke such a historical anomaly? Tradition? No. The contest used to invoke a two wins and out rule in its early years, so that argument doesn’t stand up.

Would anyone seriously think of barring Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Joe Calzaghe from defending any of their titles just because they have won it three times? Or what about barring Manchester United if they win the Premiership three years in a row (although some rival fans may well quite like that idea). So why brass bands?

It’s a historical nonsense that deserves to be replaced in the 21st Century. It doesn’t lessen any past bands achievement and in many ways would be a true reflection of the dominance of a truly great band at a contest in a given period of time (YBS at the Europeans comes to mind).

The rarity of a band returning to win a fourth time (Brighouse, Fairey and Dyke have done it, with Dyke making it five wins in six years) would still be an immense achievement of true greatness, but at least it would mean that any band wouldn’t be unnecessarily penalised in trying to do it by having to sit on the sidelines through no fault of their own.

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

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