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Re: Contesting

Glenn McGowan in his two mailings makes some interesting points, and 
I share his vision:

> to establish brass bands as a respectable musical form in
> its own right, just as legitimate as orchestras, and other ensembles.

and to:

> dispense with cruddy music.  I know we have to please audiences, but we are not rock and roll bands, and we should
> accept that.  We are our own musical form.  Let's do what we do best - entertaining
> concerts playing music of nearly every description and style.  That is, brass bands
> are amongst the most versatile musical mediums there are.  This should mean we can
> appeal to the widest possible cross-section of musical tastes and audiences.  Why
> don't we?  Often we lower ourselves to the lowest common denominator (musically) and
> do jobs we shouldn't because we need the money.

but I don't necessarily believe that this means that we have to 
dispense with contests.  I'd like to emphasise that I wouldn't 
ever want contests to be the be-all-and-end-all of banding, but 
kept in a balance with other musical activities which suits the 
members of that band.  I've a number of reasons for this:

1) Contests have, and still do, provide bands with most of the the 
serious side of their repertoire, and entertainments contests have 
helped all bands to sharpen up their presentation.  Without the 
contest I suspect that many bands would spend nearly all their time 
playing 'cruddy' music.  For many of the bands (at all levels) which 
I hear, the idea of presenting 'serious' music (which might include 
orchestral transcriptions, original works of all lengths, extended 
solo pieces etc. - I'm not just talking test pieces here!) in a 
concert has seemingly not occured to them...    They clearly 
underestimate the intelligence of their audiences (Glenn's 'lowest 
common denominator') and then whinge about not being taken seriously!

2) Concensus seems to be that contesting raises standards - we 
need this if we're to be taken seriously.   This has to happen at all 
levels - many of my colleagues seem to imagine that ALL bands sound 
the same (and play the same repertoire) as the non-contesting village 
band which they hear in the park or on the street.  They are not able 
to accept what they hear as a 'respectable musical form'.

3) Glenn wrote:

> How many
> orchestras contest?  Even private orchestras don't contest.  The crowds at the big
> contests are all 'bandies'.  

but competitions exist for all other musical combinations with the 
exception of professional orchestras - they simply have too much to 
lose: if anyone could 'prove' that the LSO was the best in London and 
the LPO the worst, the latter would go out of business.   
Competitions have increased public awareness of young musicians, 
opera singers, pianists etc. through extensive media coverage in 
the UK, and when I can persuade outsiders to attend band contests, 
they're generally hooked!

4) We've had contests for as long as we've had brass bands - the 
first records of contests are from around 1820!  No-one can say 
whether or not bands would still exist at all had we not had 
contests/registration/test pieces etc.  Personally I doubt it very 
much, and wouldn't want to jeapordise the future of banding for the 
sake of three or four days each year.

5) I really enjoy rehearsing for contests, performing in contests and 
winning contests!  (I also really enjoy giving good concerts and 
performing good music, but it is a very different experience and I 
need them both!)

Thanks for your thoughtful mailings Glenn.
David 


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