It’s that time of year again when over sixty invited bands prepare for the Spring Festival at Tackpool… sorry I meant Blackpool (Freudian slip). My band, City of Cardiff, got the best deal this year with Hubert Bath’s Freedom, a great piece of music that isn’t as tricky as the other sections. After recalling the […]
Would Lewis Hamilton prepare for a Grand Prix driving his formula one car round a few roundabouts in Milton Keynes? Would Fred Astaire have practiced his amazing tap-dancing routines with Ginger Rogers atop a tin tray on the kitchen table? Would Jürgen Klopp, Manager of Liverpool, train his first team squad for an FA Cup […]
When a brass banding competition or concert approaches, you can rehearse as much as you like, but there is always the potential for something weird to happen before, during or after the performance. My first encounter happened the very first time I stood up in front of an audience way back in the mid 70s […]
The band on stage are ripping through the loud fast and furious section of the test piece as the quiet middle section approaches. The piece calms down to a mere whispering timp’ roll. It’s almost silent in the hall as the first of the lyrical cadenzas is about to sing out. The atmosphere is electric, and everyone […]
It has been six months since I sat on a stage with my band at the area finals in Swansea. Apart from online collaborations, I truly thought there was nothing else going on in the banding world. I was so wrong! There is one pastime that has been totally unaffected by Covid-19. A dark and […]
Back in the day a Mark 1 Ford Escort could get from Cardiff to Edinburgh in 5 hours. Now, the trip to the Spring Festival takes longer than a flight from Heathrow to Las Vegas. Friday rehearsal is at the band room, before setting off, as you never know what unearthly hour you will arrive. […]
Ray Steadman Allen’s Seascapes, used for this years Area test in the top section, is based upon a poem and each movement describes a different time, vessel and location. Well that’s what it says in the score…but I beg to differ! Seascapes isn’t about ‘rowing home to sunny Palestine’, ‘dipping through the tropics’ or even […]
After a long coach ride to London, rehearsal and a dubious Persian restaurant I camped down for the night ready for the contest. My bass trombone ‘roomie’ announced he was as tired as ten adjudicators and was asleep before you could say Handle in the band. Just as I entered the land of nod it […]
It is the first time for 21 years that I have been in a band that has qualified for London and as I cast my mind back two things jump out. Playing in the Royal Albert Hall and hotels. The latter still gives me nightmares. I have been to many contests where a hotel is […]
After qualifying for the first section finals this year with Ebbw Valley Brass at the Welsh Area I was delighted to find out that ‘Ballet for Band’ by Joseph Horovitz had been chosen as the set piece for the UK first section finals. I first heard the piece when I travelled over to Cory bands […]