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Black Dyke at Bury St. Edmunds - an American viewpoint

To: "Brass Band List" <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Black Dyke at Bury St. Edmunds - an American viewpoint
From: "mlathrop" <mlathrop@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 21:05:36 -0400
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My husband and I are back from our trip through the UK, and are now
reasonably recovered from jet lag.  Our first stop there was the Black Dyke
concert at Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral on May 23.

I can't claim to be an expert on brass bands, but we felt their performance
was superb.  If they are at all diminished by their recent personnel changes
we couldn't find it.  We have not heard them in concert before, but we do
have several of their CD's, including The Planets, to compare to.  There is
a unity of ensemble that is evident when any group is really focused on
playing together, that makes a concert worth listening to.  Its the
difference between a group playing notes and playing music, a precision of
inflection and nuance as well as pitch and rhythm.  They really had it.   We
were awed.

We met Rod (aka Grandad) from the list there and his wife Jean and their
Mums.  I thought it would be easy to spot a couple escorting 2 octegenarian
ladies into the concert until I saw the average age of the crowd....we did
hook up eventually.  Rod arranged for us to talk to Bob Child's at interval,
which may or may not impress all of you who have known him for years, but
really impressed us.  I did feel a bit like an idiot as we talked to him,
because we were extrememly short on sleep and had spent about 60% of the
previous 24 hours on planes or trains (Did you know it takes 4 trains to get
from Heathrow to Bury St. Edmunds?)  Add to that Bob's strong accent (What
do you call a Welsh-Yorkshire accent?  Workshire???  Yelsh???) which made
comprehension a little slow - so I'm sure we seemed a bit dim.  Everyone was
polite anyway, a wonderful British trait.

The band members graciously signed a program for us, and I can say honestly,
not a single signature is legible.  We are considering having it framed.

We were amazed at the number of musicians out for a cigarette break.  How
can they get such incredible breath support and smoke?  Is this a typical
brass band thing?

I'll write further posts about our experiences on Whit Friday and at the
Masters....hit the delete key if you find this boring...I'm sure as an alien
I was easily distracted by mundane details.

Talk to you all later!

Mary Ellen Lathrop
2nd horn
Cuyahoga Valley Brass Band


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