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RE: Area Contest Percussion

To: <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: Area Contest Percussion
From: "Tim Sawyer" <Tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 21:09:11 -0000
Importance: Normal
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It's really hard when percussion is provided on stage at contests.

My pet peeves are:
	- Timps with a non-premier action (but see below...)
	- Xylophones with different width keys
	- Different size Tam Tam's (just how hard do you hit it for an mf?  You
have to guess...)
	- Forcing people to use small percussion equipment.  I too like to select
sounds (tambourine with/without head, different sizes/types of cymbal etc.
etc.)

We got a lottery grant last year, and bought four new Majestic timps.
Unfortunatley, the tuning action is not the same as Premier's, and therefore
I had a personal nightmare on stage at the finals last year.  It was
something that I never thought about.  We're better prepared for this area
and borrowed Premier timps for some practices.  (On the timps question -
shouldn't the timps be tuned to the band, really?  How do you do that if
they're provided? :-)

Four minute rule - I can see why it's there but it puts even more pressure
on us, especially when there's loads of gear.

Thankfully, the Yorkshire Area this year (as for most in the past, as I
recall) has taken what I consider the most sensible line (though I still
don't like it).  All the big stuff is provided, and you have to use it, and
small stuff (including the glockenspiel, interestingly) can be brought on by
each band.

Personal horror stories
	- The year the sheet said four timps were provided (so we practiced on
four) and when we got on stage there were only three (and the bloke looking
after percussion said "Well you can change tuning here in this crotchet
rest, then tune the other timp while your playing this" and we just looked
at him in horror...)
	- Watching the first three bands of the section before ours at the
Birmingham finals one year, and seeing the gong break, the handles come off
the clash cymbals, and the tubular bells damper jam on.  Not good.

</rant>

Tim Sawyer
Percussion
Rothwell Temperance Band
http://www.rtb.org.uk


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