MissRepiano
New Member
I don't suppose any tMPers heard South Molton play? I honestly thought we played pretty well, but we came 2nd to last! It wasn't a winning performance by any means but even so, we weren't THAT bad! :cry:
West of England Regional Championships - 2009
- Thread starter Di
- Start date
Ali Woodman
New Member
I only heard Brunel Brass from outsise, and they sounded very good.
Please pass on my congrats to Paul Richards, I spent a good few years with him at Sun Life, he'a s legend. IMHO you have the most talented player in the SW Brass Band scene, and that includes the Championship section too.
It's great to see so many young players doing so well, Camborne B too were just fantastic too.
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We at Totnes felt that, although our performance was far from perfect, we gave a consistent, committed and musical performance of a difficult peice. We played at sensible tempi that allowed us to play all the notes. Many people told us how well we had played and this backed up the bands opinion after we left the stage. In the adjudicators summing up one mentioned how lots of bands played the piece too fast - this gave us some hope of a good placing. Lots of bands that came above us played the first movement so fast and struggled with the semiquavers as indeed would many top bands at these tempos which is frustrating and then to read comments from one adjudicator that bore no resemblance to the performance that I conducted is very demoralising.With your consent to the results then, you are saying that Totnes deserved 11th do you? I seriously think not! They are and were much better than that. It must have been a real shock to them, seeing bands that quite simply were well out of their depth get better results: For Weymouth, (I'm the MD), it is quite gut-wrenching to see all the hard work gone into a contest like this on such a demanding piece (which left so much to chance due to the unanswered inaccuracies in the score), only to find bands that scraped through their performance, with a weak sound (seems that's what scherzo means) and either an incomprehensible quick tempo or a something that hardly matches an Andante where is should be Allegro, do much better.
I look forward to hearing from others on this one.
QAD
Member
I agree, I'm only jealous that you have someone so enthused about you and your band.
Shame to miss you at Weston, we always prefer that accoustic to a lesuire center. Have fun with the good ol Cory - say hello from me
Our bad days always seem to coincide with the regionals - never mind - and I no idea who Mary is - perhaps she can introduce herself????
Mesmerist
Well-Known Member
Told you we were a nice band Tubby!
To reply to the Totnes question - they were on 4th and the first band that I heard so difficult to be fair without a score or being a talented adjudicator but I thought their performance was tight and very controlled and the tuning in the quiet unison passage was lovely. Later bands did take it faster and some had bigger sounds (like Weymouth) but as I said before, for me Spinnaker was the band that should have been capable of a win had they not had disastrous nerves... Cheer up its on again next year...
Sn0uter
New Member
Demoralising it is, but nothing we say or do can change the results now.
I am looking forward to reading what the independent set of ears has to say on 4barsrest.
I wonder if anyone made recordings of the 4th section? I'd love to listen back.
I see some comments were made by Mesmerist of Verwood (well done by the way) on Totnes and Weymouth. I have worked a lot with Weymouth on differentiating our dynamics and we do have a big sound when required which The Talisman demanded in a lot of places. A lot of bands simply hacked through the three movements without a thought to dynamics (and for some bands, the tempi as well).
I would have thought also, that Simone Rebello may have mentioned something about the use of percussion. It’s obvious that some bands in the 4th section struggle, some try to manage with one player and some just put a surplus player to fill the slot. The percussive effects in The Talisman demanded finesse and refinement. Surely if a part (i.e. clave, triangle, tam-tam, etc.) is missing, then it is effectively a wrong note. Think of it this way, if the principal cornet missed out a few difficult notes in a solo, it would be classed as being played wrong. So for those bands (and there were a lot) that didn’t manage to cover all the percussion parts and get away with it, well done. I do think however, the bands that did cover everything and weren’t praised for it, it is a travesty of justice.
Dwarfcornetist
New Member
Just found this on 4 bars rest full article in the comments section. Does anybody have any views on this ?
The scenario is as follows:
Yorkshire Area: Nigel Boddice and Steve Sykes sat jointly to adjudicate the Yorkshire Area on ‘Salute to Youth’.
In carrying out his duties, surely Steve Sykes would have gleaned how Nigel Boddice likes this piece to be played and what he is looking for in the ideal performance.
South-West Area – 7 Days on: Nigel Boddice will sit with another panel member to adjudicate the West of England Championship Section. Amongst the bands to perform – Lydbrook Band conducted by Steve Sykes.
As is the case, like every conductor, for every band, in every contest, Steve Sykes will do his utmost to prepare his band to impress the adjudicators.
Whilst 11 conductors in the championship section can only surmise what Nigel Boddice may be looking for in the ideal performance, Steve Sykes (having spent 5 hours in the box with him) will have benefited into exactly what he is looking for.
Is this fair? I think not.
Am I alone in expecting every adjudicator and regional association, not only to be fair and reasonable in word and deed, but also be seen to be fair and reasonable - to conduct and organize themselves, and do everything they can so not to give rise to any suspicions of unfairness and calls for closer scrutiny?
(4BR received this correspondence on the eve of the West of England Championship Section Contest)
The scenario is as follows:
Yorkshire Area: Nigel Boddice and Steve Sykes sat jointly to adjudicate the Yorkshire Area on ‘Salute to Youth’.
In carrying out his duties, surely Steve Sykes would have gleaned how Nigel Boddice likes this piece to be played and what he is looking for in the ideal performance.
South-West Area – 7 Days on: Nigel Boddice will sit with another panel member to adjudicate the West of England Championship Section. Amongst the bands to perform – Lydbrook Band conducted by Steve Sykes.
As is the case, like every conductor, for every band, in every contest, Steve Sykes will do his utmost to prepare his band to impress the adjudicators.
Whilst 11 conductors in the championship section can only surmise what Nigel Boddice may be looking for in the ideal performance, Steve Sykes (having spent 5 hours in the box with him) will have benefited into exactly what he is looking for.
Is this fair? I think not.
Am I alone in expecting every adjudicator and regional association, not only to be fair and reasonable in word and deed, but also be seen to be fair and reasonable - to conduct and organize themselves, and do everything they can so not to give rise to any suspicions of unfairness and calls for closer scrutiny?
(4BR received this correspondence on the eve of the West of England Championship Section Contest)
steve butler
Active Member
I take it he was nice to your band then?
hicks
Member
Good point. Particularly annoying for bands who are now in the position of being relegated, due to Lydbrook's high position. It's hard to believe they didn't benefit from the insight gained by Mr Sykes in the previous adjudication.
MightyForester
Member
No not really. Are you sure you didn't send the letter to 4BR either?
ophicliede
Member
This is a very delicate topic, unfortunately when so much is at stake for bands. I am sure if the regional committee had known the full facts they would have withdrawn Nigel Boddice from the adjudication panel. Maybe there were circumstances that they were unable to do this.
People will automatically assume the worst when competing against one another, it is natural. This is not the first time this type of thing has happened and I 'm sure it won't be the last. I do think that discretion and common sense should be used and I am sure the regional committee that organised the contest will have been dismayed that this has drawn an air of suspician over the Championships.
They are a great group of people that serve us well and are very conscientious about there responsibilities. Maybe a band should have complained before the contest rather than criticise afterwards. Hey it's only a contest!!!!
People will automatically assume the worst when competing against one another, it is natural. This is not the first time this type of thing has happened and I 'm sure it won't be the last. I do think that discretion and common sense should be used and I am sure the regional committee that organised the contest will have been dismayed that this has drawn an air of suspician over the Championships.
They are a great group of people that serve us well and are very conscientious about there responsibilities. Maybe a band should have complained before the contest rather than criticise afterwards. Hey it's only a contest!!!!
hicks
Member
Several bands did complain before the contest.
Dwarfcornetist
New Member
No I am not Steve Didcot and nor am I linked to any particular band.
grandad
Member
Well I see "the Wife" had a mention again...........:clap:
I suppose someone has to tell her ..................:wink:
PS we at the Green Machine are very pleased with our progress which is all down to the bands hard work:tup
Well Done Band!!!!
MightyForester
Member
That's cleared that up then!
Only because they were 'stirred up' by the above mentioned 'person' and a statement was issued to all bands at the draw by the WOE council.
Before going further, I do play with Lydbrook and I'll admit to being proud as punch with our result on Sunday. It's just a shame that some people feel the need to try and take some of our pride in our achievement away by implying that it wasn't an entirely honest result. Steve Sykes is a favourite conductor of the band and was asked to take us to the area contest shortly after last year's contest - certainly long before he was asked to adjudicate elsewhere.
We moved up from 5th place last year to 3rd this year. A movement of only 2 places that at any other time, for any section, is hardly amazing or worthy of comment. The band has actually improved its position by at least 2 places in each of the last 7 years (with 5 different conductors), but some people seem to feel that the 'high position' this year is only warranted because of Steve's 'insight' into another adjudicator's way of judging. I'd freely admit to the band doing well because of Steve's insight, but only to his insight of what he wanted from the music - an insight shown well before he adjudicated the previous week. I really wish that we were good enough to completely change the way we'd been rehearsing the music for the last 2 months in the week before the contest, but the fact is that although we put in virtually our best ever performance of the piece on the day, it was in the same style Steve had been asking for (but not necessarily getting!) for many weeks.
The last 7 years show a steady improvement in our results due to lots of very hard work by the band (in particular by Robert and Trevor who browbeat us into doing all the extra rehearsals and sectionals). Come on people, can't you give a little village band the credit for the result without pointing a finger at us to imply that the result wasn't deserved.
MightyForester
Member
Post. Nail. Head. Etc...
Thanks Andy for putting into words what I would have made a complete hash of!
Regards,
Andrew Brooks
3rd Place West of England Championship Section 2009.
And ****** Proud of it!
Well Andyshep what a well thought out statement superbly put and to the point.Well done on your 3rd place. Mighty Forester remember this is a forum where all people do is debate and comment there views are not always theres personally,and again to you im not sure if you play with Lydbrook but if so very well done and deserved