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29th May 2005 - International MastersAdjudicators: John Miller, David Read, William Relton RTB was not originally due to be at the ‘New’ All England International Masters in Cambridge this year. Following last years event, the organisers changed the format, inviting back the top 11 bands of 2004 and a number of high profile Europeans to a new international competition. A number of bands declined this invitation, including YBS and Brighouse who publicly expressed their displeasure that English Bands who had supported the event in the past had been shunned. Early in 2005, RTB received an invitation back to compete in the new contest. After some discussion, the band felt the opportunity to compete against a strong field of bands was too much to turn down, so we accepted and begun work on the set test, ‘Cloudcatcher Fells’ by John McCabe. The piece demands much from the entire cornet section and this posed us with a minor problem – our regular 2nd and 3rd men on the front row, Tim Hammond and Andy Riley had work commitments and holidays already booked so we enlisted the help of Phillip Cobb and Dave Giblin. Phil has established himself as one of the finest young cornet players around – lucky for us, he is best mates with another fantastic young player, Tom Hutchinson…our end man! Dave ‘Gibbo’ Giblin was back with us for Whit Friday and pleased he was able to stay in Leeds for the lead-up to Cambridge. Glyn Kearsley assisted on 2nd Baritone, Emma Farrow, who continues to help until we find a permanent end euphonium, was with us again and John Gillam (who won on ‘Cloudcatcher’ in the 1992 Open) added his considerable presence and experience on Bb Bass. In the previous years the band has travelled down the night before, staying on the outskirts of Cambridge. This year, it was decided that we would travel down on the day. Tom Hutchinson was relieved as he has nearly ended up in the river on previous overnight stays in Godmanchester! The pre-draw introduced by the organisers is helpful to those bands who do travel on the day. However, on this occasion we were drawn in the first segment of bands (1–6): with the contest commencing at 10am, this meant a 5.30am departure for the majority of the band from the bandroom. Some players took the opportunity to stay with friends and family nearby to Cambridge on the Saturday, meaning they would be fresher than others come 8.15am when we met for a rehearsal at the Scout Hut in Grantchester! After the band had unloaded the bus, drank our cups of tea (thank you scoutmaster!) and made the obligatory contest day toilet visits (you know who you are!), the band sat down for a short rehearsal and waited for the draw. Mick Shenton, our contest secretary (and generally good bloke) has the gift of pulling out great draws for us: the law of averages meant we he was going to pull a duff one at some stage. The time had come – we were drawn the dreaded second, sandwiched between Hepworth who are on a roll at the moment and the BAYV (Cory) Band, one of the best bands in the world and the pre-contest favourites. We were philosophical about it: more than ever, what mattered was how we performed. Upon arriving at the City Centre, the bus driver had no idea where to go. The idea of using a map seemed alien to him and at 9.55am, with five minutes to go until the first band had to be on stage, Andrew ‘Moneybags’ Padgett took care of the situation by paying a taxi driver for us to follow him in. Well done Mr Padge, if not for you we still might have been lost in Cambridge now! We arrived shortly after 10am, leaving us 15 minutes to change, get back stage and register…nothing like cutting it fine eh? All the rushing however gave us less time to get nervous – it was a case of getting on stage and doing the job. The band was very pleased with the performance and felt it was as good as we have played for some time. All the soloists did their bit (Fester on Sop got a number of mentions in the judges remarks) but this was all about the ‘band’ performance. The warm and rich sound that we pride ourselves in was in evidence. From the adjudicators remarks, it seems they were impressed with the quality of the bands sound and the way the MD found musical flow in the interpretation. Our concern now was how our early draw would affect our chances…we had at least 15 very good bands to follow us, including BAYV (Cory) Band, Fodens and Scottish Co-op. We would just have to wait and see…. Some of the band left Cambridge either to go home or to start their holidays while most of those left went for a drink and something to eat. I went into the hall to listen to the remaining bands with Mick Shenton. I missed BAYV, 1st Old Boys and Aveley but heard everyone else. Fodens, Scottish Co-op and Willebroek stood out for me for different reasons. Willebroek were drawn fourth and gave a technically strong performance. Soloists were rock-solid, their sound was excellent but it just lacked a bit of space and atmosphere for me. Fodens were very similar in sense that they were technically very sound and their ensemble was excellent. They encountered some difficulties in the early movements, especially with a little sticky and hesitant playing in the back row. I enjoyed Scottish Co-op’s reading but their execution was not that of Fodens and Willebroek. With the rest of the bands, I found that although there was some good playing, the approach was often a bit aggressive and wild. Some bands opted for an excitement factor at the end by notching up the tempo. Some opted for very slow tempos at the beginning and middle movements and suffered from a real lack of flow. In particular, Flowers (drawn last) made as good a band sound as I heard all day but their beginning was well below the marked tempo. I was sat directly in front of the box for this performance and could clearly hear one of the judges say ‘it sounds great, but this is just far too slow’. By the time the band had clicked into gear and sensible tempo, the damage was done and they ended up in twelfth. You got the feeling that judges thought that because they could not be seen, they could not be heard. Throughout the day, you could hear the judges in conversation, at first I just thought it was some rude audience members!! At point you could hear one of the judges singing a note and saying ‘that rep is flat, very flat’. Although part of me thinks they could have been a little more discreet, it was nice to hear what they were thinking!!! Results time came round and the feeling was that we were in with a chance of good placing….top ten at least. After the usual presentations were made, the top six was announced. 6 – Reg Vardy Band (11) I collected the remarks and saw we had been placed 7th. This place meant we had beaten local rivals Hepworth (sorry chaps!), Willebroek (who have made the top four at the European finals for the last 4 years) and achieved our best result at Cambridge yet. All this from the dreaded number two draw and being followed by the eventual runners up. After one or disappointing results, the band’s confidence is well and truly back. We can now build on our good Whit Friday and Cambridge showings and look to do well at the British Open in September. Thanks to:
John Ward After learning the result of the pre-draw on Thursday (drawn in the first six) we were all looking forward to an early start on Sunday morning so we could get to Cambridge in plenty of time, get the job done and enjoy the rest of the day. Some might have said, with hindsight, that we should have stayed near Cambridge the night before but it had been decided some time before that we would do the contest in a day to save money. With the bus leaving the band room at 5.30am the arrangement was to meet at 5am. Some more sensible band members had made arrangements to travel down on Saturday after the rehearsal and I must take this opportunity to thank Richard’s parents again for the lift. The bus ride down was brill until we picked up Acting Band Steward Rebecca near Doncaster where she lives. We arrived at our rehearsal room in Cambridge, which was a short distance from the town centre, at about 8am (ish) and unloaded all the gear off the bus. Within 10 minutes, those who had travelled down under their own steam had arrived and people were warming up, chatting and generally waiting for John Gillam to turn up. When he did Dave got the rehearsal under way and with the National Anthem just in case. The rehearsal covered the few points that had been picked up on the recording from the previous night and we were all set, with a general feeling was that we had not peaked yet and that the performance on the stage could be the one. The draw came through from Mick Shenton and the news could have been better. We had been drawn second, following Hepworth and before Cory. In good spirits we packed the gear back onto the bus and set off for the Corn Exchange, in theory a short 10min drive. As is so often the case, theory counts for nothing and as we began our third lap of Cambridge frustration levels were rising. With all their years of experience the two bus drivers, complete with map, were unable to get us to the venue. They got us close a couple of times but we never saw it. Eventually Les and Padge took charge with Padge (ever noticed how the spell checker wants to change Padge to Padre?) paying a taxi to lead the way. A short debate (on whether we should get changed, just put jackets on or simply go home) later with everyone looking at their watches we eventually made it to the changing facilities. A quick change and across to register found us listening to Hepworth from figure 3 in the test piece, so I don’t really know what the fuss was all about. The performance was as always over very quickly in fact it seemed to be almost a blur. The general feel of the performance within the band was that we haven’t really played much better than that lately and spirits were high as we got changed ready for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, nice day that it was, the sun could not really compensate for being packed up and changed waiting for the bus at 10.40 with the possibility that no beer would be served until 12.00. Luckily I had supplies. Supporters were saying that our performance was miles above Hepworth’s and compared well with Cory’s. Some supporters had nearly walked out after Hepworth thinking that it was the piece that they didn’t like but changed their minds after hearing us. A big thank you to the players that helped out, you are appreciated. The band made its way to the Wetherspoons pub (that used to be a cinema) as seems to be tradition. Sure enough no beer was being sold until twelve but lemonade and food was no beer was being sold until twelve but lemonade and food was. 12 o’clock came and the fun started with some of the girls hitting the wine straight away and a few challenging Paul to a strawpedo race which he won closely followed by Soapy Roads with Tom coming last because he was laughing at Paul. Yeah alright Tom. It was nice to see so many supporters make the journey and enjoying themselves with the band. It’s a shame the food wasn’t to everyone’s tastes, eh Loo Rolls. Billy was the font of knowledge tuning into 4barsrest on his phone and spreading the latest news. (I’m sorry did that say Billy, how silly of me I meant Neil.) Gas Cooker was also on form, I can’t remember my ears being battered that badly since he stopped getting lifts off me. Emotions were running high as it dawned on us that it was Tom’s last contest with us. Before too long it was time to head back to the hall for the results. After not getting a mention a few were a little disheartened but as it turned out we had been placed seventh which we all agreed is the best place to be if you don’t get a mention. With that we re-embarked the bus and headed for home. This was just in time, as the strain of the day was beginning to tell on some people! The full results were: 1. Scottish Co-op, Nicholas Childs (15) 7. Rothwell Temperance, David Roberts (2) Ed Hodkin |