The Brass Band Forum

I don't want loads of young people protesting as I'm hopeful that what I'm about to describe is no more than a rare occurrence (lets face it, if something's gonna happen it always happens to me), and I'm sure that many young people wouldn't dream of behaving in such a thoughtless manner.

I know contests are apparently one of the most important factors of our movement in it's modern day state, but has the competitiveness this incites caused us to lose some of the comeradery I have always considered an integral part of belonging to a brass band?

Mount Charles and St Austell bands have an age old rivalry - it's bound to happen when 2 top section bands are based so close to each other (i.e. the same town) when there are so few top section bands in the area. Not to mention both bands boasting a wealth of youthful talent in their respective youth bands.

Despite the contesting rivalry that exists between the 2 bands, I have always helped St Austell whenever they have needed help for concerts etc. If I've been available I've been there. Recently the senior band requested my help on more than one occasion and literally at the last minute told me I was no longer required.

As a result I said I wouldn't be available to help them for the foreseeable future. However, when I received a call yesterday morning from the conductor of their youth band I agreed to help out the kids at a charity concert yesterday evening - not the first time in recent weeks I had been asked at short notice.

I put on their uniform leaving my own walking out jacket on top of my instrument case while I went into the next room to get the music sorted with the conductor. I was gone for only a couple of minutes but when I returned someone had spat all down the sleeve of my walking out jacket.

Is this honestly the way youngsters believe they should treat someone who is trying to help them out? No matter what band that help comes from, surely they should understand better than this.

Needless to say I didn't stay and play (having apologised profoundly to their conductor for letting him down before leaving), but it has left me pondering the question as to whether or not the emphasis placed on competition has spoilt the friendships between bandsmen (and women). Are we now in the situation that a player cannot trust another band to help them? And if this kind of hostile behaviour is occurring outside of contesting, what kind of behaviour would they stoop to in a competition?

I love contesting, always have and probably always will. Maybe the youngsters today don't really quite understand how it should be (well, how in my opinion it should be), or maybe they just haven't been taught the right attitude... God I sound like my dad, complaining about the attitude of the youngsters of today when I'm only in my 20s myself, but I would never have dreamed of behaving in such a manner.

In my personal opinion, if I took the kids I teach to do a concert and asked someone to help them out and one of them behaved in such a manner, they wouldn't be welcome to play either on the day or ever again. I wouldn't accept such behaviour. To me whether you compete against each other or not, whether there's ongoing rivalry or not, such behaviour is not acceptable. It's not what banding is about.

Can we still help one another, or was the above a sign of things to come? I really hope the latter is wrong.

Healthy rivalry is one of the enjoyable aspects of banding for me..... Just as in football. I originate from the north east area so the main rivals were Newcastle and Sunderland.....
Next door neighbours sometimes supported the other side, passionately. Animated conversations would often sprout from time to time using colourful eloquence. But at the end of the day they were friends living in the same nieghbourhood with more in common than not, the only obsticle that they both supported the wrong team, and both knew that deep down

Its the same with brass bands however, just as in football there is a minority of trouble makers who can't distinguish a health rivalry that drives standards up from all out war.

Again , you have to remember, these were kids, some of which may be misinterpreting exactly how 'rivalry' should be interpreted.

Anyway, wern't they spitting on ther own uniform ????

If they were I wouldn't be complaining...

Things work differently down here to up North, I seem to have noticed, so I shall explain. We wear our own walking out uniforms when helping another band and use only the other band's stage uniform whereas up North it would appear from observations that both walking outs and stage uniform are used by the helper.

Likewise, when helping out bands up north, the norm appears to be that you have your expenses paid whereas down here you help out for absolutely nothing and are simply owed a favour next time your band needs a hand.

Therefore, getting to the bones of my argument really, I was annoyed because I gave up my free time (which I don't get a lot of) for absolutely nothing to help a band that was extremely ungrateful. Not only for nothing but I live some distance from the venue and therefore I gave up my free time at my own expense. And yes it was a youth band, but they're not a bunch of kids, they're all of an age where they're old enough to know better, there's not one kid among them.

So, back to the original question having clarified those points:

Are we still able to help one another without fear of repercussions, or is the brass band community becoming a massive bunch of "thems" and "us's" where we can't trust anyone?

So, back to the original question having clarified those points:

Are we still able to help one another without fear of repercussions, or is the brass band community becoming a massive bunch of "thems" and "us's" where we can't trust anyone?

yes, we can trust people, your unfortunate bad experience was horrible but rare.

the money thing though I feel terrible now for being northern.

Well done Tracey, I wouldn't of stayed if they spat all over my jacket. You were doing them a favour and they didn't appreciate it.

I agree with John about the rivalry statement, but it does not excuse what they did. With my last band there was a similar rivalry with a band that was a section higher and things got nasty- nearly resulting in fights and arguments on and off stage.

Rivalry won't disappear as most bands always have the view that their band is better than the other, but it does appear that people let their arrogance get in the way of decency.