There was plenty of great music making to enjoy at the recent Brass Showcase event held at Johnstone Town Hall.
Coalburn Silver, Dunaskin Doon, Newmilns & Galston and Johnstone each presented a 30-minute concert programme to an appreciative audience, who in turn were asked to vote for their 'Band of the Day'.
All four bands featured varied and interesting repertoire, including excellent soloists and inventive multi-media presentations, whilst compere John Hamilton gave insightful explanations to keep things moving along. Each band was presented with a special prize certificate, a voucher donated by Band Supplies and a year's subscription to Brass Band World magazine.
Top marks
Judges Anne Crookston, Scott Kerr and Charlie Farren were seated in the audience, and were asked to give their score after each performance a mark out of ten in their respective category.
Anne gave her top marks for 'Quality of Performance' to Newmilns & Galston. Scott meanwhile gave top marks for 'Entertainment & Presentation' to Coalburn Silver for their 'Afternoon at the Oscars' programme which was brilliantly narrated by two junior members of the band.
Charlie awarded the top score for 'Individuals & Soloist Contributions' to Johnstone, whilst 'Best Junior Contribution' for an under-16 player, went to Alan Hunter from Coalburn Silver Band. The 'Best Soloist' award was claimed by the outstanding Johnstone cornet star Alex Ramsay.
There were also awards to Phillips MacDougall of Newmilns (Best Flugel); Ian Jamieson and Jack Archibald of Coalburn (Best Euph/Bari); Joshua Parkhill of Dunaskin (Best Trombone); Jams Tavares of Dunaskin (Best Bass); Dunaskin Doon (Best Percussion); Johnstone Silver (Best Section — basses)
All the scores were combined to give Johnstone Band overall success with a total of 25 points, whilst the audience 'Band of the Day' prize went to Coalburn Silver.
This year's Brass Showcase received a great reaction on the day, and the bands are keen to hear more audience and participant feedback to help plan future eventsspokesperson
Great reaction
A spokesperson for the even told 4BR: "This year's Brass Showcase received a great reaction on the day, and the bands are keen to hear more audience and participant feedback to help plan future events.
We feel this is very important as we look to attract more people to what is a great day of music making."
Feedback:
Those wishing to give feedback on the day please get in touch with the band at: