The Besson sponsored Scottish Open Solo and Ensemble championships took place in the Regal Community Theatre in Bathgate on the weekend.

The championship weekend kicked off on the Friday afternoon with adjudicator Les Neish presenting a masterclass at Barrhead High School in conjunction with West of Scotland Brass Band Association and Levern Community Brass in support of the SBBA youth development policy.

An audience of local tuba players and upwards of 30 schoolchildren benefitted greatly from the tuition and tips passed on by Les.

Bearing fruit

And it looks like the youth development efforts of the SBBA are beginning to bear some fruit with an entry of 45 soloists and 21 ensembles competing in the three youth sections on the Saturday.

Indeed, some were to remark that the day turned into a bit of a marathon but for the right reasons. It was fantastic to witness the resurgence of interest in the youth Solo and Ensemble Championships and long may it continue.

Youth events

The youth events themselves came to be dominated by players representing the town of Carnoustie, from both primary and secondary schools.

As well as a Championship golf course, the town of Carnoustie can now boast to be home to the junior, intermediate and youth Ensemble Champions of Scotland and also the Intermediate Solo Champion.

This is a quite remarkable return and is in no small part due to the superb tuition provided in the areas schools by Michael Robertson.

Winners

Thanks to the sponsors that success will now be assisted by the provision of three cornets awarded to the winning ensembles.

In the solo championships the Junior Section, for players under 12, was won by Rachel Jones from Dalmellington ahead of Craig Knight from Carnoustie primary and Rachael Downs representing St.John The Baptist primary school.

Intermediate Section

The Intermediate Section, for players aged between 12 and 15, was won by the aforementioned Joe Walters of Carnoustie High school just ahead of Ross Knight, also of Carnoustie High. Haley Edmond of Whitburn finished in third place.

Youth Section

In the Youth section, aged between 16 and 21, Rachel Brown of Loanhead Brass Roots took the title ahead of Ailsa Russell of Carnoustie High and Frazer Kirk representing Broxburn & Livingston.

As mentioned previously the ensemble contests provided a hat trick of wins for Carnoustie based groups.

Junior Ensembles

Having said that the adjudicators did have some hard decisions to make such was the standard of playing.

Finishing second to Carnoustie primary in the Junior Ensembles were Williamston primary closely followed in third place by Cumbernauld primary.

Intermediate Ensembles

The Intermediate Ensembles was won by Carnoustie High school ahead of the much travelled Campbeltown ensemble with Dalmellington coming home in third place.

Youth Ensembles

In the Youth Ensembles Carnoustie High duly completed the hattrick, finishing ahead of Edinburgh University Band and St Margarets Academy respectively.

Gala Concert

Saturday evening was brought to a close with a gala concert featuring the Scottish Youth Champions, West Lothian Schools band and the Champion band of Scotland, Kirkintilloch. The concert also showcased the talents of the weekends adjudicators Les Neish on tuba and Michael Dodd on euphonium.

James may be a little old for the label of “the comeback kid” but he has certainly shown that he has lost none of the old magic and it is great to see him back at the topSBBA

Open Solo and Ensemble

The Open Solo and Ensemble contest on Sunday also provided a great story with former Scottish Solo Champion James Smith making a return to the soloist arena.

It was to prove a successful return for James too as he lifted the Scottish Open Solo title with a performance of Webers 'Last Waltz' that really turned the clock back to the glory days.

James has been concentrating on conducting and teaching work in recent years but returned to playing earlier this year when he was appointed principal cornet with Kingdom Brass.

40 year old record

He made his return to competitive soloist playing at the Fife Championships at the end of January and following a comprehensive victory there decided to return to the Scottish Championships. James’ win was his eighth in total which is a modern day record. He won his first Scottish Soloist title in 1968 at the tender age of 16 and his latest victory comes 40 years later and 21 years after his last win.

James may be a little old for the label of “the comeback kid” but he has certainly shown that he has lost none of the old magic and it is great to see him back at the top.

Rivals

Young Richard Kidd recovered from a below par performance, by his high standards, in the qualifying round to take second place overall. Up and coming Eb Bass star Ross Knight ensured that Carnoustie were represented again in the frame by claiming third spot. Former YBS top man Ian Culross finished in fourth place with Dalmellingtons Alison O’Donnell and Charlie Farren of Scottish Co-op completing the final six lineup.

Open Ensembles

In the Open Ensembles contest Kingdom Brass retained their title ahead of trombone quartettes from Whitburn and their own colleagues from Kingdom Brass in second and third respectively.

Campbeltown Brass did enough to finish in fourth place ahead of Bathgate in fifth.

It was pleasing to note that this years Open Championships were again well attended. The number of entries in the Open Solos was a very respectable 24 competitors. If improvement could be made it would perhaps be in the Open ensembles where there were only five entrants. Whilst maybe short in numbers it must be said that all of those entrants were of a high standard.

Thanks

The SBBA would like to pass on its grateful thanks to everyone who helped make this years Championships a success. Special thanks go to the accompanists over both days and also to Besson who generously supported this years contest. Our congratulations go to the winners in every section and our thanks to all of the competitors for their valuable contribution to the weekend.

Full Results:

The full results can be found on the SBBA website at:

http://www.sbba.org.uk/news/news176.html for the juniors and
http://www.sbba.org.uk/news/news177.html for the seniors.

Many thanks to John Martin.