Chris BENTHAM said:
Have been present in the last 5 years when two brothers who conduct bands at the elite end have on seperate occasions had huge outbursts in our bandroom.
One was directed at me personally and the other at the whole band.
Sometimes you just have to take it and bow to their superior musicianship. To me it showed they both cared and wanted to win.
Chris BENTHAM - Solo Trom
Reg Vardy (Ever Ready) Band
To me, this highlights the fact that at top section banding level, even if I could play or conduct to that level, I'm not sure I'd want to know. I want my bands to do well musically. I want my bands to win contests they enter. I used to (as a young whippersnapper conductor who thought he knew more than he did) try to shout my way to getting a performance. It never worked. I suppose it works for some if they've got that in their character and can carry it off convincingly. I can't. As I've got older and I hope a little better, conducting wise, I've discovered that without molly-coddling, coaxing performances by imparting my knowledge and interpretation effectively (or at least, to the best of my ability) works better than trying to force one by losing your rag. I'm not criticising the MDs concerned in Chris B's incidents, but it just isn't me, I'm afraid. If I get to the stage where I shout and b$llock someone or a band, then I'm convinced that I've lost the band. If I can't convince certain idlers, wind up merchants, non concentrators etc. that overall, I can get them to overcome their faults and have to resort to shouting and screaming, then I've lost the battle.
Indeed, I left my wind band (Barnet) last September for a similar reason. I didn't shout at them so much, but a number of factors led me, at what turned out to be my last rehearsal, to throw a load of scores across a room and spend the rest of the rehearsal in a bad mood (they weren't contesting, and their next concert was a few months away so it wasn't a case of pressure of performance!) I hadn't truly lost my rag conducting a rehearsal for many, many years prior to that (occasionally irritable, sure, but plaers and conductors alike do that when things don't go according to plan!) and I knew then it was time for me to go and for the band to seek a new leader, and it subsequently proved (for me) to be the right decision, as I was sure it did for the band.
But still, the earlier example may well be regular at top section level, so as I said, I'm NOT criticising, just saying why it ain't for me!
