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RE: Adjudication correct?

As it happens, the Hudds Uni band had a rehersal on Purcell last Thursday 
morning with a student who is taking us on it at a concert for his final 
conducting assessment.  His rehersal technique was excellent, but PMcC (our 
regular conductor)  really tried his patients, constantly 'chiming' in with 
his comments.  One of which refered to the Horn Passage.  Marked 116 (I 
think) he said that was a bare minimum tempo and he would take it much 
quicker if he was conducting.

I don't know if he is due to judge any other 1st sections, if he is and your 
band is in it, BEWARE!!

Adjudicators;  what approach do you take?
I used to conduct a 4th Section WoE band.  At the area 2 years ago we had 
Dennis Masters in the box (Mexican Fiesta).  All my 'learned' friends said 
'he likes things loud', I was advised to blast the FF's, I wasn't overly 
convinced about asking a 4th section band to do this (intonation never being 
a strong point!!) but they did.  They got a good result and looking at his 
remarks afterwards, for the 1st movement, at the point of the first full FF 
of the piece, he'd written "Quality band sound, well done!"  (It sounded 
dreadful, and I knew it).

Why DO we put ourselves 'in the firing line' like it?

Adrian D on the Double B
(Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band)

 ----------
From: brass-band-approval
To: 'INTERNET:brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: Adjudication correct?
Date: 10 March 1998 05:06



W had similar comments from Philip McCann at Basildon where he told the
bands that the grazioso movement would be the one that won the contest. A=
nd
it proved so (according to him) - he was particularly watching the tempo
and anyone who took it too slow (his opinion, not mine) was wrong. Howeve=
r,
i take the view that music is an art form and should be appreciated as su=
ch
 - i.e. don't go into it with preconceived ideas, accept what you hear as
an
interpretation in it's own right and then judge it as such.
IMHO, our version of that movement had a hell of a lot of musicality in i=
t
 - we were running it around crotchet =3D 103, well below the minimum 116
mark
on the score - but for us it worked!

It has always annoyed me that in the brass band world, we don't allow our=

conductors the same freedom of expression that an orchestral one would ha=
ve
 - as an example, I have 2 recordings of the Barber Adagio for Strings - o=
ne
conducted by Ormandy & one by Bernstein. The difference in tempo is very
wide, the piece lasting 7 minutes in the Ormandy version and 10 1/2 in th=
e
Bernstein. Now, I for one do not feel that anyone has the right to say th=
at
either is wrong!  Can you imagine the reaction you'd get from say, Andre
Previn or Karajan if one of our esteemed judges told him his tempi were a=
ll
wrong?!

I recall an adjudication from Maj Peter Parkes a few years ago - "wow, th=
is
is fast - but it works!" - a much more enlightened view.

Kris Leech wrote:
>Concerning the recent area contest for the Midlands area, First Section
>Contest, performing Purcell Variations...etc


>Any comments, or am I just being a sore loser? Sorry, I don't mean to be=
,
>but it gets right on my tits when this apparently mindless judging occur=
s


Encore!!


Andy Wooler, Conductor, Uckfield Concert Brass
MD "The Classic Dance Band", Trumpet "Sussex Symphony Orchestra"
awooler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (home),
andy.wooler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (work)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/awooler


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