Brass Band Bones
The weekend of the 9th and 10th of September sees the start of a new concert and contesting season for most UK brass bands. The first contesting event is the 'British Open Brass Band Championships' held in the magnificent surroundings of Symphony Hall in Birmingham. This year we were all putting the finishing touches to a new work by composer Michael Ball; 'Ceremony'. This proved an interesting piece in so far as it gave challenges to most of the principal players and even more of a challenge to conductors. Many an hour was spent trying to achieve clarity and detail in a number of passages which were extremely thickly scored and contained numerous cross rhythms (Symphony Hall is a fabulous venue to play but, certainly for brass bands, the acoustic can create more of a 'wash' of sound than the intricate style required in this particular piece).
As usual the day turned out to be a big success (Symphony Hall being packed to capacity for the 'favourites'). This year the coveted title of British Open Brass Band Champions went to the newly restructed 'Buy As You View' Cory Band (who says sponsors don't get returns on their investment!) conducted by euphonium virtuoso Robert Childs. The contest proved fruitful for the Childs family, Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke Band came runners up! The full results are as follows:
1 Buy as you View Cory
2 Black Dyke
3 Grimethorpe Colliery
4 Williams Fairey
5 Fodens Courtois
6 Yorkshire Bldg. Society
7 Travelshpere Holidays
8 Tredegar
9 Carlton Maine Frickley
10 Leyland
11 CWS (Glasgow)
12 Brighouse & Rastrick
13 Woolston Brass (NZ)
14 Glossop Old
15 Todmorden Old
16 Rolls Royce (Coventry)
17 Whitburn
18 Flowers
19 DUT Yorkshire Imps. Rothwell
20 Desford Colliery
21 NSK RHP Ransome
22 Marple
23 BTThe weekends events didn't stop at the announcement of the results. This was a veritable feast of brass music! We were then treated to a gala concert by the Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band (Grimley Colliery to their friends!) and the Yorkshire Building Society Brass Band conducted by Garry Cutt and David King respectively.
The following day provided yet another opportunity for listeners to hear some of the worlds finest brass bands. On stage for a day-long series of concerts were the Williams Fairey Band, Fodens Band, Brass Band Columbus from Ohio, Brass Band Willebroek from Belgium, Black Dyke Band and the All Star Girls of Brass. Unfortunately I was unable to attend some of the concerts but I have been told there was a fine display of trombone playing from John Barber who featured Larsson's popular Concertino with the Fodens Band and newly appointed Brett Baker playing Dance Sequence by Gareth Wood. Good music, good players, what more could one wish for? Well done lads, keep up the good work!
One of the nice things about this years contest was the inclusion the New Zealand National Champions Woolston Brass conducted by David Gallaher. The band were on a brief tour of the UK which included visits to Bath, a concert in Salisbury Cathedral, a performance with Dobcross Silver Band in Uppermill Civic Hall and their final concert with the Williams Fairey Band in The Grand Opera House, Buxton. The concert attracted a large audience (quite a relief considering the current fuel crisis!) and gave us all the reassurance that brass banding is certainly in a healthy condition 'down under'.
Trombones of the Williams Fairey Band and Woolston Brass (New Zealand)
David Gallaher and Geoffrey Brand (Guest Conductor)
As usual at this time of year there have been a number of changes to principal seats within the brass band world. It was announced recently that Jonathon Pippen would be relinquishing his position of principal trombone with the Brighouse and Rastrick Band to fulfil a professional position in sunny Portugal. This has created an opening for a good friend, and fine trombone player, James Garlick to take over the top chair in one of the countrys most famous brass bands. I was fortunate enough to teach James for a while when he was studying at Huddersfield University and in September he crosses the Pennines to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Chris Houlding and Andy Berryman. I wish both Jonathon and James the best of luck in their new positions.
Contesting again takes high priority on the list of engagements when we all battle it out again at the National Brass Band Championships in the Royal Albert Hall in October - watch this space!
