Brass Band Logo

NJH Music Logo

Some of the contents of the pages on this site are Copyright © 2016 NJH Music
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: European???

I'd like to make some comments regarding the European Championships.

In the contest schedule the test piece contest was due to finish at 1.30 PM
to be followed by the own choice section at 2.00 P.M.. As usually happens at
a band contest things ran slightly behind schedule and the last band in the
'morning' contest finished around 1.50 P.M.. Following this the entire
audience left the hall to refresh themselves for the feast of music in the
afternoon ahead and among the attractions in the terrific surroundings of
Symphony Hall was a group performing under the title of European Youth Band
who had apparently been hired by the organisers to entertain the audience
during the 30 minute interval.

Personally I never heard them playing (I'm sure they were splendid) because
our Secretary managed to draw no. 1 for the own choice section and we were
in the warm up room at the time. Imagine our surprise, however, when we were
summoned to take the stage at 2 P.M. precisely to perform to a hall with
less than 50 people in it. They seriously expected us to play to an empty
hall 10 minutes after the previous section had finished while a band
employed to play during the interval were performing outside the contest
hall !!!!.

Some might suggest that delaying tactics were employed during the stage
set-up (have you ever considered how important it is to have every music
stand at exactly the same height and correct angle ?) to allow the hall to
fill up a bit. But at five past two some bigwig ( I wonder how many major
contests he's played in) demanded that we should get on stage now or not at
all. We eventually took the stage around five minutes later to play to a
half empty hall, hardly a suitable reward for our test-piece performance an
hour earlier which had received acclaim from the large audience and judges
alike (all the judges, not just the large ones).

The European Brass Band Association really must take a look at this
situation to ensure there is no repeat in the future. It's bad enough
getting an early draw having played late in the test-piece but to have
virtually no break compounds the misery somewhat. Point of Ayr actually had
even less time than we did between performances and I'm sure their playing
suffered because of it. It may even be worth thinking about arranging the
afternoon draw so that none of the late bands in the morning play very early
in the afternoon. Mentally and physically it is a very difficult thing to do
and I should know as this is the 3rd time we've drawn first in the European
own choice.

I thought the main point of the whole weekend was to determine the European
Brass Band Champions whilst giving all the bands an equal chance of success
so does it really matter if a concert at night is delayed by 15 or 20
minutes to take account of some hold up during the contest?. As far as I can
see the only thing that suffers from a delay is the announcement of results
which the players find deeply unsatisfactory. But when did bandsmen and
women's views ever come into it ?. Perhaps they should try having a contest
without us sometime.

Kenny Crookston

Whitburn Band

PS for anyone that doesn't already know, we were still 4th overall, not bad
is it ?

PPS by the time I found out we were 4th one of my main concerns was getting
another pint of Guinness before the pub shut.

--

[Services] [Contact Us] [Advertise with us] [About] [Tell a friend about us] [Copyright © 2016 NJH Music]