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CONTESTS ARE ESSENTIAL

"For what it's worth"

I believe that if a bands"person" attends rehearsal for reasons other than to
improve and maintain his/her, and the bands' playing standard, then it must be
one of the following -

*    Comradeship
*    Overcome loneliness or boredom
*    Drinks after rehearsal
*    Does not like the sound of his/her playing at home
      and attends rehearsal to inflict it on others
*    Escape from wife/husband and/or kids
*    Avoid creditors
*    Lucky door raffle

Seriously though -
Australia as do I believe many other countries, has in place a system called
"Quality Assurance" which provides for certain checks and balances to maintain a
quality level of product and services.

If contesting serves to inspire a higher standard of competence resulting in an
end benefit to the general public then I am for it, however I do not believe
that this not always the case.
Too often you will see the situation where a band will gain high placing or win
a contest only to find that after the contest the players who have been borrowed
to assist this band achieve success at the contest are no longer available to
play at public performances which someone has already suggested is our "bread
and butter". This does nothing for the moral of this band.

 <"Why? Is the paying public (our bread & butter) less worthy of the rehearsal
time and effort that you would normally reserve for a contest?
<Adrian"

If contesting is your way to excellence then let it be 100 per cent supported by
EVERY member of that band as this also the band that will have to perform in
public to those high expectations.

I learned of a band who eagerly accepted a paid performance and turned up with a
number of players missing; of course the organisers were disappointed that they
did not get the band that they were paying for and consequently reduced the
payment.

An adjusted quote may read-
	    "The bitterness of a poor performance may
	     well remain  long after the sweetness
	     of a good performance"

MARCHING, yes marching, it has long been a tradition of brass bands to march in
parades, and marching competitions I am sure do provide an incentive to get
their act together. How many bands are there that regularly have marching
rehearsal. We and the public do expect that the musical ability of the band at a
performance will be up to scratch, but can this also be said for the marching
ability. I have been fortunate enough to have played with a band that was
sponsored by the AXE Brewery where the majority of our playouts involved
marching, even through hotels and bars. Of course this band got a lot of
publicity and as a result engagements followed.
I am not aware of any engagements coming our way as a result of our contesting
performances.

In summary, I do enjoy contests, however not if it means restructuring a band to
artificially win and only if the band does not lose focus of its duty to the
public from where our supply of new players will eventually come from if we
attract them.

Regards to all
Mike     Argentino
Brisbane Australia


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