Applauding Bands in National Comps

[stephen2001]

The thing that annoys me most at contests is bands standing up at the end of their performance to take the applause.
In both bands I've been in, we haven't because we think that it is against the rules.

To be honest, the only way you are goning to stop this from happening is by just having the band, and adjudicator in a room, alone. It will get rid of any shred of bias that the guy in the box receives and there will be no distractions for the band like mobile phones. But of course, if you did that, all the fun of contesting will be lost.

 

[PeterBale]

I was in Swansea and the clapping of Cory etc definately caused a stir. It's not about whether or not we can trust the judges to be impartial despite their knowing who is playing on stage- the fact is they shouldn't have to be put in that position. Its not fair to put that pressure on the judges, its not fair on any of the bands and its un-proffessional. Plus it proves that everyone loves Cory and nobody loves us! :cry:

To my mind that is one of the strongest arguments for all bands to be politely applauded onto the stage, as you would in a normal concert setting. It is much more natural, and could help ease the nerves of those who are a little tense.

I do agree with Stephen though about bands milking the applause at the end - totally unnecessary to go right the way round as you would at the end of a concert performance, and also, becuse it is entirely in the hands of the bands and conductors, rather than the capricious whims of an audience, easy to deal with by an amendment to the rules.

 

[impycornet]

Nick,

Yes I was there at Swansea and heard 3 of the top 4 Bands ( Unfortunately Missed Cwmaman) Of the ones's I heard I agreed with the placings. There were some parts of Tredegar's performance that I preferred to Cory's and Vice Versa but overall Cory probably just edged it IMHO.

Congratulations to Beaumaris for gaining a qualification spot.

 

[nickjones]

Area 2004

thanks for that Rob..glad you enjoyed the performance , still you can't win em all..a lot of people thought Beaumaris were faithful to the score and didnt have to be clapped on stage and put extra pedal parts in to get a good result..still what do I know..
ta

 

[johnflugel]

Re: Area 2004

thanks for that Rob..glad you enjoyed the performance , still you can't win em all..a lot of people thought Beaumaris were faithful to the score and didnt have to be clapped on stage and put extra pedal parts in to get a good result..still what do I know..
ta

Crikey...those grapes you are eating must be sour :wink:

Nick - YOU HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE RAH! At times, we have all felt badly done to about results and people above us, but look on the bright side, you have achieved what 80% of other Championship bands have not - stop moaning about it, for cyring out loud mate!

John

 

[Tuba Miriam]

A warm round of applause before each band plays is fine, as others have said, it could act as a nerve-steadying welcome to the stage. However, if we were to allow applause before a performance, we would have to accept that people will always clap more enthusiastically when a named band comes on stage and more mutedly when a non-named band comes on stage ... it's impossible to control the decibel level, too!

In addition, I don't see there's any problem with bands 'milking' the applause at the end with conductors asking the band and/or soloists to stand and take a bow. These events should be viewed as music festivals (and, indeed, are often billed as such) and not just contests. Therefore, it's difficult to ask the audience to behave in a way that's different to any other type of music festival, especially if we want to attract more of the general public to our major brass band competitions. (Other than asking them to refrain from walking passed the adjudicator's tent making comments such as, "didn't Dyke play well, and off the number three spot"!)

In the end, regardless of whether applause is permitted before a performance or not, an adjudicator is likely to realize by the end of a performance if it was a named band on stage, especially if they receive a raptuous ovation from a couple of thousand enthusiastic banders at the RAH.

We should learn to trust in the adjudicator's ability to maintain an unmusical impartiality whatever the audience does!