26th May 2002 - All England Masters

Adjudicators: David Read, Eric Crees, James Scott
Test Piece: Atlantic, Philip Wilby
Venue: Corn Exchange, Cambridge

The contest was always going to be more difficult for us to do well in that the Grand Shield. The competition here was much stronger than that we encountered at Blackpool, and the piece was more difficult. The set up of this contest is also different from the others we play at. There are three judges, each of which are sat in their own individual box, and give their own remarks and placings. The placings are then added up and an overall position is obtained. This can lead to some interesting results, such as Brighouse winning last year when not one judge put them first. It can also mean a result being dragged down if one judge thinks the performance is terrible, whilst the other two liked it. Coming so soon after the Grand Shield, everyone in the band was tired of so many rehearsals, but we still had some excellent practices. We didn’t like the piece at first but once we could play it, in did grow on some of us.

We travelled down to Cambridge on Saturday afternoon, and had a rehearsal in a school nearby after checking into our Travel Lodge. We then went out to a local pub as a group, with the band eventually going their separate ways to find some food. Only a handful of us were left in the pub, and the band forgot to come back for us. The bus was on its way back to the hotel when we phoned them to remind them where we were!

We drew 13th, which was very good, given the string of early draws we have had recently, including the number one at the Grand Shield. This meant we had a relaxing morning, with as much rehearsal time as we needed. We played really well on stage, and were very pleased with the performance. Then we had time to retire to the watering holes of Cambridge whilst the other bands played the piece.

The final result was as follows. Individual placings by the judges are shown in brackets after the band name:

1. Fodens (2,1,1)
2. Williams Fairey (1,2,2)
3. Travelsphere Holidays (3,4,4)
4. Sellers (6,6,5)
5. Flowers (7,5,6)
6. Yorkshire Building Society (8,9,3)

7. Leyland (4,15,8)
8. Brighouse & Rastrick (14,7,9)
9. Aveley & Newham (5,10,16)
10. Ransome (9,8,15)
11. Besses o’ th’ Barn (13,3,19)
12. Rothwell Temperance (17,12,7)
13. Ever Ready (10,14,14)
14. JAG Mount Charles (12,19,10)
15. SWT Woodfalls (11,11,20)
16. DUT York Imps Rothwell (18,13,11)
17. Thoresby Colliery (15,16,12)
18. Hepworth (16,18,13)
19. Rolls Royce (Coventry) (20,17,17)
20. Fishburn (19,20,18)

We were expecting to finish in the top ten, but were hoping at best for a top six finish, so twelfth was a little below what we aimed for, whilst still being a good result for us. Further analysis of the results shows that one judge dragged the result way down, placing us 17th. If he’d have liked the performance a bit better, then we could have reached our target. Ignoring his result, we would have been placed ninth. We were disappointed that he placed us so low, as we produced an excellent performance on the day.

The remarks from each of the judges are interesting, and just go to show what a subjective thing contesting is.

David Read placed us 12th. His comments:

1. Good start. I like the non-staccato! Good quality, the music flows. 72, a little fast for the detail to be heard clearly. 90, well done solo horn. 108, good attempt but it does not quite fit. 134, nice light texture but the ensemble at times a little loose.
2. Well done flugel. 214, a little uncertainty with the ensemble. 221, fine. 238, Good balance. 242, Euph makes an excellent recovery and plays with shape. 257, Nice texture, all goes well but 282 uncertaincy creeps in. Good pulsation under off stage cornet. Well done cornet.
Finale. Brooding & deep as it should be. Most parts are heard as they should be. Too many uncertainties.

James Scott placed us 7th. His comments:

The accel to begin could have been paced more successfully (it began to sound a little pedantic). The allegro had good tempo, and some detail. Solo lines later were played securely. Good ‘lower’ band sounds from B144 and smoothly played legato. Links not successful at B177.
The Nocturne opens with flugel playing with musical shape, and this continues into through B212. All solo lines are well shaped, though there are moments when accompaniments are rather forceful in the power dynamics.
The reprise is secure and your allegro pesante has good dynamic control with a powerful close.

Eric Crees placed us 17th. His comments:

Basses speaking late at opening and [demi-semiquavers] not always together. Accell left late. Allegro lacks rhythmic bite. Horn accompaniment poorly intuned at 90. Rather bluffed trom solo at 108. No real P.Mosso feel at 151. Did the 2nd trom [pedal note] at 179 change pitch? Rather foursquare flugel solo. 2nd trom again (sorry!) poor [intonation] and legato in “poco solo” at 221. Euph solo (242) a touch accident prone. Good sop after (257) ppp (273) not substantially different from pp. [Bass Trombone intonation] 309 [onwards] not true. Had it’s moments but overall not a top quality performance.

Hmmm. It’s interesting to note the direct opposites in these remarks. Eric Crees described our flugel solo as “rather foursquare”, whilst James Scott said the flugel played with “musical shape” and David Read said “Well done flugel”. Bias also shows, Eric Crees is an orchestral trombone player, and spends much of his remarks complaining about our trombone section, when the other judges never gave it a mention. (It was interesting to read his comments on the winning band on 4barsrest, where he again complains about the trombones)

So, a good weekend was had by all. Not the result we hoped for, but not as bad as the terrible placing at the Grand Shield.

Huge thanks to:

Johnny Hamel, for covering the principal trombone seat whilst Steve was busy doing exams.
Dai Hale, for covering the flugel part whilst Tim was abroad with work.
Thomas, for playing principal cornet (and off stage) at his first contest with us and doing a fantastic job.
Lucy for returning on percussion and performing excellently on the day (avoid the bloke from Besses next time)
Gibbo for helping us out once more, what would we do without you? (I still think the band should buy you a new leather jacket)

Tim Sawyer
Percussion
28th May 2002