11th October 2008 - National Finals (Championship)
Adjudicators: David King, David Read, James Gourlay
Test Piece: Concertino for Brass Band, Kenneth Downie
Venue: Royal Albert Hall, London
All too soon after the terrible result at the British Open, the band knuckled down to work on the test piece for the finals at the Albert Hall. We wanted to prove a point – that we were capable of getting a result, and that the demotion from the Open was a blip, and did not reflect the true quality of the band. Rehearsals went well and self belief began rising.
We arranged to rehearse in some different venues to hear the piece in different acoustics. One venue we chose for a good echo was Morley Town Hall. Unfortunately, when we turned up for our rehearsal the hall was in darkness and no-one could be found to open up for us. We ended up rehearsing back at our normal venue, where there was very little echo at all.
The band travelled down to London on the Friday afternoon, taking two coaches: a luxury VIP one for the band and an ordinary one for supporters. Many people were resplendent in their new band logo-ed T-shirts and fleeces – a donation from Mark Lowe and Aqua Enviro.
After waiting for band members to struggle their way across London (you know who you are), the final rehearsal in the hotel got underway at 8pm on the Friday night. (Sorry to the people sat near the timps, it was a very small room and the music told me to play it loudly.)
Come contest day the band were up bright and early for breakfast at 7am. We had a short rehearsal at 8:15am and then settled down to wait for the draw. When it came through, it was excellent. We had drawn 16th out of 20 bands, with none of the big boys either side of us; Cory at 14th was the closest. Black Dyke had a good draw at 11th, but Grimethorpe – looking for their third win in three years – had a terrible number one draw. The contest has never been won from number one and it looked like they would not be completing their hat trick. Band members went their separate ways, some going to the hall to listen to the first few bands and others going back to bed!
We then had another rehearsal just after 1pm and boarded the coach to take us to the hall. After a lengthy wait in the (rather toasty) bowels of the hall we finally got on stage and played our performance. We were very happy with it, feeling that we had got some music out of the piece and played it well. There were still some small bits we weren’t happy with but it was a good performance of a difficult work. We felt that we had performed it well enough to get a result. We left the stage on a high, got changed, and went out of the hall to meet the supporters. After a quick photo session the band went to local hostelries for some much needed refreshment.
Before the results, Grimethorpe played a short concert of Queen music, which went down well with the audience. When the results were finally read out we were first to be announced with a fantastic sixth place. Dyke took the honours in first place, with Carlton Main being placed fourth. The fourth Yorkshire band, Grimethorpe, came in seventh.
The full results of the contest were:
1. Black Dyke, Dr. Nicholas Childs, 11, 198
2. Fodens, Garry Cutt, 6, 197
3. Cory, Dr. Robert Childs, 14, 196
4. Carlton Main Frickley Colliery, Russell Gray, 20, 195
5. Fairey, Philip Chalk, 5, 194
6. Rothwell Temperance, David Roberts, 16, 193
7. Grimethorpe Colliery, Allan Withington, 1, 192
8. Leyland, Jason Katsikaris, 10, 191
9. East Yorkshire Motor Services, Frans Violet, 9, 190
10. Virtuosi GUS, John Berryman, 18, 189
11. Reg Vardy, Allan Ramsay, 17, 188
12. Whitburn, Steven Mead, 2, 187
13. Kirkintilloch, Selmer Simonsen, 13, 186
14. Aveley and Newham, Nigel Taken, 15, 185
15. Tredegar, Ian Porthouse, 3, 183
16. SWT Woodfalls, Melvin White, 7, 181
17. Redbridge Brass, Jeremy Wise, 12, 180
18. BTM Band, Philip Harper, 4, 179
19. Desford Colliery, Nigel Seaman, 19, 178
20. Mount Charles, Andrew Duncan, 8, 177
Given that there were two Yorkshire bands in the top four, a total of four bands will represent Yorkshire at next year’s finals. Black Dyke and Carlton Main have pre-qualified, so Grimethorpe will be going all-out to qualify and several other bands will be looking to take that final qualification spot.
The adjudicators’ remarks were complimentary, and are shown below.
David King said:
I. Opening tempo is good and the ensemble produce clarity of line. Some balance issues in the complex material where the main motif is lost by secondary lines. However, a detailed movement with musical intention.
II. Well defined and musically conceived approach to the score. Some excellent ensemble playing supporting some fine solo voices. Excellent shape to the overall movement, some occasional intonation problems but a thoughtfully delivered movement. Thankyou.
III. Excellent opening to the vivace and the music is colourfully integrated and finds the 'lines’ in a balanced and sequential manner. An exciting movement that captured the atmosphere with transparency and sense of musical intention.
A musically delivered reading. Thankyou.
David Read’s remarks were:
1. Impressive start, fine sounds at times sounds just a little hurried. Fine percussion team! (if a little heavy). Most of the ideas/fragments are heard clearly – but not all – fine playing to the close.
2. Expansive and well phrased but not without flaws. Lovely sounds pervade sensitive playing – all so musical. A pity I notice some faulty tuning before R – apart from that a fine movement.
3. Rhythmic playing, just the odd moment of loose ensemble, most of the fragments/motifs are heard clearly exciting playing with good perc colour. Sonorous sounds through to the final bars.
James Gourlay’s comments were:
1. Good tempo and clarity. Some balance problems where secondary material is too loud. Good attention to detail, especially dynamics.
2. Starts well. Bars 13-15 intonation not clean, but I enjoy your sense of phrase and musicality. 39-40 really nice. O was nicely musical, Q was again very musical but there were some intonation problems. Great ending.
_3. Mostly clear but with a few ensemble problems here and there. Otherwise this was great playing generally and I can hear lots of detail. Some very exciting sounds and an excellent finish._
Bravo to all. Thank you.
The band would like to thank:
- Dai Hale for propping up the front row as usual.
- Tim Hammond for coming up and playing flugel.
- Rich Wilton for doing a sterling job on Eb bass.
Special thanks go to:
- All the patrons who donated money to get us to the contest, I hope you’re enjoying your newsletters.
- Les Thompson of Pudsey Transport for paying for one of the coaches.
- Mark Lowe for providing the fleeces and T-shirts.
- All the supporters (we think there were about 70) who came to watch us.
This has been a real high point at the end of a very good year for the band, with just the blip at the Open off a terrible draw as a low point in the year. We look forward to next year, and hopefully rising back out of the Grand Shield back into the British Open.
Tim Sawyer
Percussion
13th October 2008
Photos
 About To Leave |
 Contest Day Dawns |
 The Sun Comes Up |
 The Albert Hall |
 London |
 The Albert Hall |
 Albert Hall from Hyde Park 1 |
 Albert Hall from Hyde Park 2 |
 Albert Hall and Albert Memorial |
 Band after performance |
 Supporters |
