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Re: Instrumental straightjackets

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Instrumental straightjackets
From: Cameron Mabon <cmabon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 16:18:32 +0100 (BST)
In-reply-to: <354506C9.4170E0CF@cam.ac.uk>
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, David Read wrote:

> Granted - [contesting is] fun and exciting. But does it do the brass band 
good  musically? Would a highest note competition? Would a loudest note
competition? They might be fun too. 

I think the high standards set by the best bands today are largely the 
result of contesting - of the desire to improve. A highest note 
competition wouldn't involve any musicality whatsoever; neither would a 
loudest note competition. It is common for a band contest to be won on 
the slow, quiet, expressive passages of a test-piece. That is to say that 
the bands' performances are judged on their musicality rather than their 
technicality. The conductor's input is crucial in this 
aspect of playing.

Re: the analogy between contesting and film-making...
> But in the end, has the film industry benefitted? Surely we should let
> the directors choose the script that they want to work with and give
> them the tools they want. That has to the most creative way, with the
> best films as a result.

Is this not analagous to an own-choice or entertainment contest? Most 
bands cannot actually create their own music (i.e. script) for a 
performance, so the nearest they get is to choose music to suit them. (Of 
course, at the top level, with associate arrangers, composers in 
residence etc, bands do have the opportunity to try new things - YBS Cry 
of the Celts is one example).

Regards,

Cameron

-- 
  Cameron Mabon (International Idiot)	   cmabon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Piano, cornet and duck-call
  Fundamental Brass	       http://users.ox.ac.uk/~newc0349/fun
  City of Oxford Band     http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/~cmabon/COSB.html

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References:
- Re: Instrumental straightjackets
  - From: David Read

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