The 6th German National Championships recently took place in Bad Kissingen in Bavaria, where there were further signs of the encouraging long-term developments of the brass band movement in the country.

16 bands took part in three divisions of competition over the two days, in what was the first National Championship event undertaken as full members of the European Brass Band Association.

The international panel of judges comprising Thomas Doss (Austria), Jan Van der Roost (Netherlands) and Armin Bachmann (Switzerland), also stated that they were 'very impressed' by the overall standard of playing.

Leading band

In the Championship First Division, Bayerische Brass Band Academie (3BA) one again showed that they continue to be the nation's leading contesting outfit.

Just a week after they secured their best ever result at the European Championship in Lille, they maintained their perfect 'National' record by winning the title for the sixth consecutive time under the direction of MD, Thomas Ludescher. The band has now qualified to compete at the 2017 European Championship in Ostend.

Their performances of 'Blackout' by Thomas Doss and a reprise performance of their European Championship own-choice selection of 'Vita Aeterna Variations' gave them a narrow margin of victory over a spirited Brass Band Sachsen.

Impressive

The newly crowned European Challenge Section band certainly showed that Germany now has at least two highly impressive top flight bands, as under the baton of Bryan Allen they produced another sterling rendition of 'Blackout' (which they performed in winning in Lille) as well as their ambitious own-choice selection of 'Red Priest'.

Third place went to the rapidly developing Youth Brass Band of North Rhine Westphalia directed by Martin Schadlich, who gave two well-constructed performances of the set-work and their own-choice of 'Standing on the Shoulders of Giants', whilst there were highly encouraging performances from the four other top flight contenders.

Regensburg victory

In the Second Division there was victory for the emerging Brass Band Regensburg, directed by Jaguar Land Rover MD, Dave Lea (above).

He has been working successfully with the band and their professional MD, Christine Hartmann for some time now, with the results of their collaboration clear to hear in their impressive performance of 'Evolution — Five States of Change' by Philip Sparke.

It also proved to be a successful weekend for Christine, as she also enjoyed playing cornet with the 3BA Band in winning the top section title.

In a contest that showed the growing quality of the bands at this level, Badische Brassband ended runner-up under conductor Dominik Koch, with Nordbayerische Brass Band, led by the 2008 European Conductor Competition winner Mathias Wehr, in third.

Encouraging

The most encouraging development of the weekend though was the performances in the Third Division, where four bands competed.

In the end it was an excellent performance of 'Parnassus' by Jan Van der Roost that gave Brass Band Bamberg conducted by Christian Lang the title.

The band was only formed in 2014, but showed their remarkable development in winning by a clear margin over their spirited rivals of Brass Band Westfalen, Brass Band B10 and Brass Band 'Brass for Spass'.

Bayerische Brass Band Academie (3BA) maintained their perfect 'National' record by winning the title for the sixth consecutive time under the direction of MD, Thomas Ludescher4BR

Results:

First Division:

1. 3BA Concert Band (Thomas Ludescher) — 93.2
2. Brass Band Sachsen (Bryan Allen) — 93.0
3. Youth Brass Band of North Rhine Westphalia (Martin Schadlich) — 91.5
4. Cologne Brass Band (Heinrich Schmidt) — 85.2
5. Woodshockers Brass Band (Benjamin Markl) — 85.0
6. Brass Band A7 (Johnny Ekkelboom) — 82.0
7. Brass Band Oberschwaben-Allgau (Ueli Kipfer) — 80.5

Second Division:

1. Brass Band Regensburg (Dave Lea) — 92.8
2. Badische Brassband (Dominik Koch) — 90.2
3. Nordbayerische Brass Band (Mathias Wehr) — 8.5
4. Brand Band BlechKLANG Jena (Alexander Richter) — 85.8
5. Brass Band Duren (Martin Schadlich) — 85.3

Third Division:

1. Brass Band Bamberg (Christian Lang) — 91.3
2. Brass Band Westfalen (Tobias Schutte) — 86.8
3. Brass Band B10 (Joachim Rath) — 86.2
4. Brass Band 'Brass for Spass' (Martin Schadlich) — 78.0