Perc. remarks at contests.

[Railybobs]

I am fast moving towrads the belief that we should go back to the old system where there are no percussionists on stage at a contest due to the severe lack of decent comments about the section.

The championship area test piece was a killer for percussion. why couldn't we have a more detailed comment apart from "Good Perc." "Solid Perc." etc etc.

Having never adjudicated I can't begin to understand how difficult it is to read a score and comment on the entire brass and perc section.

Why not leave us all out of it and let the brass get on with it.

I may seem ungrateful but with Tristan I would have appreciated more than just "Good Perc."

Am I the only shed builder in the land that is getting P****d off with this?

 

[MRSH]

What more do you want them to say?

Adjudicators can't comment on intonation or tuning of percussion, can they :?: :?: :?:

If you play it right then it's "good" isn't it?
If the percussion holds a particular section together then it's "solid" isn't it?

I'm sure if any percussionist came in the wrong the place the adjudicator would note it. If any percussionist missed a section out the adjudicator would note it.

If you're constantly getting the remarks "good perc.", "solid perc" then I would be damn proud that I had done my job properly, played everything in the right place and contributed to the performance of the band as whole.

Am I missing something here :?: :?: :?:

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

Am I the only shed builder in the land that is getting P****d off with this?

:roll: Yes, possibly...


The fewer comments the better really... means you've done your job right... you wouldn't have been the only band to have so little comments with Tristan... we had "noticable percussion" as our comments... We were happy! :lol:

Percussion makes the band... how you can say "Why not leave us all out of it and let the brass get on with it", really beats me Railton (sorry, pun not intended)

Concerts have adjudicators too you know. They're called the audience... and I'm sure many percussionists get comments afterwards about how good it was all sounding back there...

If you don't like it Railton, don't do it... simple as.

 

[drummergurl]

i like percussion parts and i like contesting it gives me summat to do, so i dont care wot the adjudicator puts about percussion i just like playing no matter wot!

and if u dont like the adjudicators remarks from a contest, join a non contestin band then the only remarks ur gonna get are audience ones from a concert

 

[IcklePablo]

poo percussion maybe?

 

[drummerboy]

The fewer comments the better really... means you've done your job right... you wouldn't have been the only band to have so little comments with Tristan... we had "noticable percussion" as our comments... We were happy! :lol:

Exactly. I always work on the fact that if percussion isn't mentioned then we did our job right! (Like at the areas this year).
Part of it is possibly lack of knowledge on the adjudicators part. How many of them are percussionists? I don't know of (m)any. How many truly know what is a good snare drum roll, other than being the right dynamic and being in the right place? I agree with Naomi. The fewer comments, the better you've done, and be happy with it!

 

[Dave Euph]

Although I can see your point, I have done five different contests (four different events) over the last few years, and everytime there has never been a mention of how well/badly the euphonium/baritone section was.

With Emley, I have done three contests, and the section that has received the most attention in every case has been the trombones and the basses. It annoys me because I have sometimes felt I have played very well and recognition of that would be nice ...

... but in the end no news is good news.

 

[Richard Dyson]

Although I can see your point, I have done five different contests (four different events) over the last few years, and everytime there has never been a mention of how well/badly the euphonium/baritone section was.

Maybe we should get rid of Euph and Baritone sections then :wink:

 

[fartycat]

Totally disagree Railton but I know where you're coming from. Although we came a disappointing fourth at Torquay with Tristan, the remarks mentioning our team of shedbuilders cheered us up no end;

161 fine timp also the later solo
V great ending with the glock
VI strong start and splendid timp
X Brilliant percussion
XIII great percussion effects

However, we have had some remarks in the past that have left me bemused. Whilst playing Jazz, the conductor dropped a few beats during our drum break which meant that we had to repeat a bar before the band came in again! No prizes for guessing that we got a "good perc" remark for that one!

And I was also pretty disheartened after playing Blitz at the area a few years back, to learn that a few colleagues got "great timp solo" remarks for playing random triplets in those 4 (?) bars

And Matt, what about intonation on the timps!

 

[MRSH]

And Matt, what about intonation on the timps!

Hmmm. Yes, I did think about that after I'd posted. But then I thought in all my 25 years of contesting I have never, ever had an adjudicator mention 'intonation' of the timps. Once or twice when I've blatantly hit the wrong timp and therefore totally the wrong note the odd comment has been made. But, itonation, nah

 

[Aidan]

intonation haha nice one adjudicators

 

[Straightmute]

Obviously adjudicators need to prioritise and (a) mention the most evident problems and (b) praise the most prominent successes. So it might be that any individual player or section works very hard and plays well but doesn't make it onto the remarks, percussion included. The remarks can only really be viewed as a summary of a band's performance since there will never be enough time to write about eveything a band does, positive and negative.

My only gripe about adjudicators and percussion is when they accept second best from percussion sections. A couple of years ago I was astonished when a band came second at the area contest having made no attempt to play a prominent two-bar percussion solo. (Fortunately we won, so my concern was short-lived). Had it been a two bar soprano solo would the outcome have been different?

D

 

[Accidental]

The championship area test piece was a killer for percussion. why couldn't we have a more detailed comment apart from "Good Perc." "Solid Perc." etc etc........ I may seem ungrateful but with Tristan I would have appreciated more than just "Good Perc."

Sounds like you got more notice from the adjudicator than the average back row or horn and baritone sections - and it was a killer for all of them too!

I've heard so many percussionists complain that they don't get adequate notice or remarks from adjudicators, but in fact just about every adjudicator writes something about perc. so you're better off than most of the brass players. If that isn't good enough, tough - why should you get special treatment?

(Duplicate post deleted, PB, Mod)

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

I think Railton possibly sees the brass band divided into 2 sections...
There's the brass types... and then percus, i mean shedbuilders :? :? :? (sorry Railton, I hate the shedbuilders term... my dad uses his shed for junk!...) anyway...
yea... so in light of this thought, brass types get 99.9%, maybe 99.5% of comments... ;-)

Oh I feel lucky to be on percussion! :lol:

 

[lynchie]

I think most sections get similar treatment... often I see remarks like "Nice Cornet" "Good Horns" "Tight Basses" "Trombones out of tune..." with no further explanation. Sure this isn't particularly helpful, but if you're doing it right then what's to improve??

 

[Trigger]

I think that good perc etc is a good comment, isn't it?? I mean, I can understand some of the percussion gripes, but adjudicators can't mention everything, even on major brass solos they sometimes only write "solid solo line" etc. In my past experience, some percussionists think they are soooo important that if they don't get an extra special mention, (we are not worthy!!) then they throw their toys out of the pram!! That gets really boring after a while!! That's not to say that's what you are doing though. :wink:

 

[Railybobs]

I think Railton possibly sees the brass band divided into 2 sections...
There's the brass types... and then percus, i mean shedbuilders :? :? :? (sorry Railton, I hate the shedbuilders term... my dad uses his shed for junk!...) anyway...
yea... so in light of this thought, brass types get 99.9%, maybe 99.5% of comments... ;-)

Oh I feel lucky to be on percussion! :lol:

i only wrote shed builders because there is ony so many times you can percussion without it sounding repettative.

 

[Railybobs]

I think that good perc etc is a good comment, isn't it?? I mean, I can understand some of the percussion gripes, but adjudicators can't mention everything, even on major brass solos they sometimes only write "solid solo line" etc. In my past experience, some percussionists think they are soooo important that if they don't get an extra special mention, (we are not worthy!!) then they throw their toys out of the pram!! That gets really boring after a while!! That's not to say that's what you are doing though. :wink:

No I can promise you my rattle is still in my pram ! ! ! !

 

[Trigger]

I think that good perc etc is a good comment, isn't it?? I mean, I can understand some of the percussion gripes, but adjudicators can't mention everything, even on major brass solos they sometimes only write "solid solo line" etc. In my past experience, some percussionists think they are soooo important that if they don't get an extra special mention, (we are not worthy!!) then they throw their toys out of the pram!! That gets really boring after a while!! That's not to say that's what you are doing though. :wink:

No I can promise you my rattle is still in my pram ! ! ! !

Glad to hear is Railybobs! Rattle away! :wink:

 

[markhall]

In our area remarks, the percussion hogged 50% of the comments. And all the comments were good. I can understand the frustration though - I am a euph player in a top section band who has not had a 2nd euph since Blitz was the area piece and it has been years since I was mentioned (positively or negatively) in contest remarks. It makes me wonder if I could have spent hours on the golf course rather than practising runs and checking tuning on high notes, etc!