Middleton youth and training bands recently entered the inaugural Brass Fest UK entertainment contest. This was a unique contest in that it was an online contest. Each band had to record and submit a 20-minute programme of music which was adjudicated by Alan Duguid.
We are delighted to report that our fantastic training band, launched in September 2017, won the development section of the contest. This section was for bands with players who have been playing for less than two years. Here’s a video of one of the recordings we sent off and the adjudicator’s summing up of our training band entry.
“Overall, a really enjoyable programme of music very well played with style and confidence. I am very impressed by the attention to rhythmic detail and you play very well together as an ensemble. I would suggest working a little more on now getting some greater dynamic contrasts into your performances – this will really make take these pieces to the next level. I hope I can hear this ensemble again in the future as you continue to make excellent progress. Bravo!”
Our fabulous youth band also came away with a fantastic 2nd place in the training band section. This section was for any unregistered band of any age with the first prize going to an adult band. Our two soloists received very positive feedback in the adjudicator’s comments. Here are our fantastic soloists performing the solos we sent off.
“Overall, a really enjoyable and contrasting programme featuring fine band sounds and some excellent solo playing. This was a joy to listen to and I can imagine that your audiences must really love your concerts! A special mention has to go out to the two soloists who perform extremely well, particularly the superb flugel horn performance in ‘Under the Boardwalk’. To develop further I would suggest doing a bit more work on balancing the sound from the middle of the band (horns/baritones/euphs) as these sounds can get obscured and the band can get a bit cornet/trombone heavy in the sound.
Bravo and thank you!”
The full results can be found on Brass Fest UK’s website http://www.brassfestuk.com/entertainment-contest-results
We are delighted with these results at the first contest both bands have entered independently. Previously the youth band has joined forces with Besses Boys youth band to attend the National Youth Brass Band Championships as North Manchester Youth Band in 2016 where they gained a bronze award.
This is a fantastic pair of results to add to our organisation’s record year – the senior band became regional and national champions when they won the 2nd section regional contest and then went on to win the 2nd section national contest. They will now be promoted to the 1st section from January 2019 for the first time in the band’s 142 year history.