Editorial ~ 2008: October

This month we give our opinions on Nationalising the Registry, no more points and praise young soprano players.

Nationalise the Registry

With just about everyone else in the world employing radical policies to fix problems to systems that were once thought to be perfect, isn’t it about time we did the same with brass band registration in this country.

And a bit of ‘nationalisation’ is the key.

The underlying need for the security of a Brass Band Registry is not in question. What is bankrupt and broken beyond doubt however is the system that the English, Scots and Welsh currently administer.  

Having three Registry bodies has become totally inappropriate and irrelevant. They don’t work together, and in some cases we are informed, don’t even speak to each other.

Their Byzantine rules are outdated, intrusive and over prescriptive, working against the greater good of the movements well being. Instead of being liberal enough to encourage participation, they militate against it, imposing hurdles to stop bands actively encouraging younger players to be part of a movement that desperately needs new blood.

The movement needs a radical solution, and the answer, like Gordon Brown found out, is a simple one – pump our own money into it by nationalisation.  The time has come to pay for a single, independent National Brass Band Registry.  

The actual body, and the right man to run it are already in place. All the admirable Colin Johnson needs is proper funding to implement it for all our benefit.

So why not get each of the approximately 20,000 players registered in the UK to pay £12.00 per year (that’s 25p a week) to be a member of a true independent body. 

That’s £240,000 a year to run a non-for profit organisation that can implement a system that allows for each player to be issued with a simple ID card on a data base that can be updated at the flick of a mouse button.

Get rid of the complex rules, let the players play for the bands of their choice without worrying about 28 days or ‘fresh registrations’, implement a system of transfer fees that assists bands when they are in genuine need of players, but also militates against those who think they will be able to ‘buy’ a contesting band - and put it all under one roof.

The ‘surplus’ income, after the running costs has been taken out can be ploughed back to each of the regions on a pro rata basis.

And guess what?

In future it will mean a system that works as well as giving benefit to those who actually pay into it.

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

Points of order 

The news that the Regional Contests and the Finals of the National Championships of Great Britain will do away with the antiquated system of awarding points to competing bands should be welcomed.

As adjudicator Kevin Wadsworth has pointed out for some considerable time, the award of points has never been a reflection of the true musical value of a contesting performance. It is just a mechanism to allow bands to be placed in order of merit.

Black Dyke’s memorable National victory on ‘Le Roi d’Ys’ in 1959 - Geoffrey Whitham, Maurice Murphy and all, is without doubt one of the truly great musical moments in the contest’s history. It was awarded 193 points. Black Dyke in 2008 gained 198. Five points better then?

Traditionalists would say that in a crude way it allowed for comparison and measurement of winning margins. And that is true.

At the 1902 Nationals, Black Dyke won with 140 points, five ahead of runner up Wyke, and 23 ahead of the 6th placed band. After them there were another 14 bands – so heaven knows what the band in last place got.

One hundred years ago the method may well have reflected the perceived value of musical performance, but over the last 40 years, a sliding single point scale has become the norm, even when the true value of the difference between first and last has become significantly less obvious.

Now its time has passed, with adjudicators like Kevin and others now taking time to explain in detail to audiences just how and why the competing bands came where they did. That’s all we’ve ever needed – a clear explanation.

Points no longer mean prizes – well thought out placings do. 

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

In praise of young soprano players

Although the soprano players lot has not been a happy one of late on the major contesting stages, it seems that a new breed of fearless top note tyros are coming through the ranks.

And ever younger masters of the high wire act they are too.

At the recent National Finals in Harrogate a whole batch of knee high screamers were on display (some not even teenagers yet), whilst all around the country conductors are giving young players with nerves of steel the opportunity of playing an instrument that can be an adrenaline mix of driving a formula 1 racing car and bungee jumping off a cliff top.

To survive the roller coaster ride that invariably comes by playing the instrument, players need strong characters, lips like bumper cars and techniques hewn from granite.

They also need sympathetic teachers and conductors, who knowing they have found a rare talent don’t then try and mould them into the next Peter Roberts by getting them to prematurely blow their lungs and lips into submission.

With careful nurturing, an emphasis on tone and correct technique, all will blossom in time.

Then we can all sit back and enjoy a new generation of the most thrilling performers of all that a brass band has to offer.

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

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