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SCABA SPRING CONTEST - Sunday 6th April 2008
For the first time since 2002 the band entered their local contest, being the SCABA Spring contest held in the Hove Town Hall. After the thrilling success at the London & Southern Counties Regional Qualifying Contest, the band were hoping to reproduce some of that form locally. As the contests were so close date wise there was only 3 full weeks for rehearsals.
The band met up for an extra Sunday lunchtime rehearsal at their normal rehearsal church, mainly to fine tune some parts of the test piece. It was then an easy walk / drive / bus trip down the road to Hove Town Hall. Unfortunately the draw meant the band had to hang around for 3 hours, but that allowed some to pop home for a bit of daytime TV!
With such a short rehearsal time since the National Qualifiers Mathew stressed that "we weren’t going to set the place on fire but we can be proud of the performance we put together and delivered on the day". This was indeed true as the band came 6th in the test piece and 4th in the march. There is still a lot to look forward to though. As well as the National Finals in September the band contest next at Crawley with renewed excitement and enthusiasm.
Here are the adjudicator's remarks from the day.
March - NFB
Good start, well balanced and rhythmic. Ensemble doesn’t always move together and it would be beneficial to expand your dynamic contrast/range. Be careful with balance make sure all parts are heard in the final section.
Test Piece - Symphony of Marches
Good start but I hear slips. Appropriate style evident. C – Melody could sing out more. In the loud sections cornets tend to overcook. F – Not balanced. G – Could be lighter in style. L – Not all parts heard and some untuneful playing evident
Grave: Good ‘pp’ but not balanced. Troms/Euph/bass not together 4 before C. C – This is effective. Well done sop. Tuning not good troms before E. F – This is persuasive. H – Pleasing sounds heard, balanced and together with nice contrast at end.
Brioso: Too loud but very good style, rhythmic and dainty. C – controlled and rhythmic. F – don’t rush the quaver/2 semi-quaver rhythm and make more of the expression. J – Could be more ‘pesante’. L – Too loud. Well done euph. N – Tuning suffers here. O – doesn’t knit together well. Q – Lacks rhythm/pulse. R – Some very good sounds here. U – Lacks clarity rhythmically and at times overblown but leads to a fairly convincing conclusion
The final placings:
BAND, ORDER OF PLAY, MARCH Points & Position, TEST PIECE Points & Position
BAE Systems, 3, 184, 8, 190, 2
Betteshanger Welfare, 1, 185, 7, 184, 8
Brackley & District, 8, 190, 2, 187, 5
Brighton & Hove City, 4, 188, 4, 186, 6
Chichester City, W, W, W, W, W
Crystal Palace, 7, 191, 1, 185, 7
Fairlop Brass, 5, 187, 5, 191, 1
Friary Guildford, W, W, W, W, W
Thundersley Brass, 2, 186, 6, 189, 3
Uckfield Concert Brass, 6, 189, 3, 188, 4
Best Bass Section: Thundersley
Best Horn Section: BAE Systems
Best Tenor Trombone: Thundersley
Best Bass Trombone: BAE Systems
Conductor’s Prize: Kevin Jordan (Fairlop)
Mathew was pleased with the performance, thanking everybody with a drink at the bar. He especially thanked Dougie Blackford for covering soprano cornet, and gave a special well done to our 15 year old percussionist Sam on surviving his first contest.