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Re: Area Rehearsal

on 1/3/00 11:54 pm, BigChap27@xxxxxxx at BigChap27@xxxxxxx wrote:
> I hear tonight that Coventry CPA band (1st section) are also
> rehearsing at the venue this week.
> This must look like a pretty poor show to our readers in foreign parts.
>
> Big Chap
> Bedrock Brass

True enough, although it was a surprise to me - I only found out this week.
It has to be said that it WAS extremely useful as we normally rehearse in a
room that has the acoustic properties of a sponge!

For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to have had a rehearsal at
Burton Town Hall recently, here's the inside information:

The hall is a long thin hangar shape, like the Corn Exchange, and is
extremely boomy (far more so than Cambridge).  When playing on stage, it is
almost impossible to hear yourself and the main risk for the uninitiated (o=
r
incompetent) is of serious overblowing. It's hard to produce a genuine
fortissimo that the hall can control without the sound distorting, but on
the other hand, the quieter dynamics are hugely amplified, making sensitive
playing very difficult.

Then again - you should bear in mind that this is the advice of a baritone
player...

I sat in on the rehearsal of the top section band that had the hall after
us, and they were struggling to achieve any sort of definition in the corne=
t
runs, and didn't manage to produce a dynamic I'd recognise as piano
throughout the piece (although I only heard their first run through, so the=
y
may have got the hang of the acoustic later on).

Perhaps the most important thing is the size of the stage.  It's
approximately 32ft wide and only 18-20ft deep (16 feet deep from where I
intend to stand to conduct - there's no edge to stop the conductor falling
off the stage!).  If your bass section hasn't been on a diet recently, your
percussionists may struggle to get round them. I expect most bands will hav=
e
to give up on the idea of percussion running around at the rear - especiall=
y
if you have your middle to bass line in three ranks.  This is actually a
critical problem for my band and I'm really quite angry that I haven't been
informed of this in advance.

The 'sweet spot' for sound is approximately 20 feet in front of the stage,
and was the only place in the hall that I felt gave a fair representation o=
f
the sound the band were producing on stage.  If the Area Committee have any
sense, that's where the adjudicator will be, but don't be surprised if he's
at the back (where the sound was thin, cold and indistinct).

If anyone wants more info on the hall that I've not mentioned, please feel
free to e-mail off list.

In general, I'm not sure it's all that unfair for the various bands to be
rehearsing in the hall - any more than it's unfair for one band to have
better regular rehearsal facilities than another.  Do these bands benefit
from their =A380 spent on rehearsing in the hall any more than others do
spending =A3200 per rehearsal on a professional conductor?

Truth is, most bands don't simply rehearse their piece, turn up and perform=
.
They re-score the back row parts, bring in a few extra players who owe them
a favour, buy some time with a pro conductor, book a different hall to
rehearse in the week before, use bucket or felt mutes to modify their sound=
,
or any number of tricks that they think will give them the edge over other
bands.  Money will always be able to buy you some extra points from
somewhere, and will always be used that way.

None of these practices have anything to do with musicianship, or
performance, or entertainment, or the pursuit of a personal hobby... But
then neither does the area contest.

The area contest exists for one purpose only, and that is to determine who
gets to compete at the Nationals.  It is not a level playing field and it
never has been.  If you try and pretend that it's ever going to be fair, or
that bands will simply rehearse their piece, turn up and play it, then
you'll just end up bitter and disappointed.

If you're looking for fairness and the celebration of a community of
musicianship then you're looking in the wrong place - try the BASBWE Concer=
t
Band Festivals for that.  Brass band contests are about winning - it's sad,
but there you are.

Good luck to everyone who's playing this weekend, and if, like the band I
conduct, you're planning to just rehearse your piece, turn up and perform
it, then I hope you win, because you deserve to.

Mac

--
City of Coventry Band (for the next 40 hours or so)


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