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 Site © 1999-2008 Rothwell Temperance Band and All Rights Reserved. |
2nd March 2003 - Yorkshire Area (Championship)Adjudicator: Goff Richards This year’s Area contest took place with a very controversial piece of music as the set test. Prague was definitely not a listener-friendly piece, being a piece of music full of discords and not many tunes. Many in the brass band world felt it was a completely unsuitable piece for an area test. Supporters were often recommended not to attend the contest as it was not an easy piece to listen to. In our run up to the contest, we had some significant player problems. Andy Rigby, our principal baritone player, had moved down to Milton Keynes with work, and so could not attend regular rehearsals. We also had problems with a couple of front row cornets, Tim and Jonathan Hammond, as they were military bandsmen and were required to go out to the gulf on short notice. We were lucky to have Dave Giblin and Dai Hale available to play for us and replace them. In early February, the band had a weekend away in Clitheroe. This was a weekend of intense rehearsals for the area, and was later seen as excellent preparation for the contest. The rest of the month was spent doing rehearsals for the contest, developing the piece. Our conductor, Dave Roberts, was very relaxed over the whole time, more so than he had been for a while. Contest day came up too fast as usual, and we met at 12.45 for a short rehearsal then to wait for the draw. When it came it was excellent, with most of the top bands right at the start, and only Brighouse towards the end. We drew ninth, nicely away from the first group of top bands, yet still far enough away from Brighouse. As we didn’t have to be at the hall until half five, most people went off for food before we met back at the bandroom for a quick rehearsal and then left on the coach for the hall. We arrived at the contest and immediately lost Michael Cox, one of our bass players. The rest of us went down under the stage to get ready. The contest was running early, so we were more rushed than we expected. Michael turned up in time, thank goodness! We played well, and were pleased with ourselves. Paul on sop nearly blacked out at one point after playing a high note, but thankfully recovered in time to complete the piece, putting in an excellent performance. It was fairly obvious at the end that the audience didn’t like the piece very much, as there was very little applause. I listened to a few more bands, including Brighouse who were excellent (they made the piece sound easy) and then the band gathered to wait for the results. The final results were: 1. Brighouse & Rastrick 7. Skelmanthorpe There were gasps from the audience when fifth and sixth were announced. Fourth was us, which was an excellent result, and we were finally glad to get a good result after three years of mid table, just out of the top six results. The bands placed second and third raised even more gasps, as most people thought they had given good performances, but expected the big four bands to have been above them. At this point, both Black Dyke and Brighouse had no been given a placing, and Sellers were hoping that Dyke were given the prize, as this would have meant them going to the finals. As it was Brighouse were given the first place, and it was well deserved as they played well. So the final result was good for us, but terrible for Black Dyke. In my opinion, the type of piece that was picked left the contest wide open. Big name bands often do “something special” with the music, but that wasn’t really possible with this piece. Brighouse played a flawless performance and showed off their talents, but it wasn’t “special”. The band would like to thank Andy Rigby, Dai Hale and Dave Giblin for travelling long distances to play with us at the contest. We would also like to thank Diane for playing percussion, even though she joined on condition she wouldn’t have to do any contests! We are now looking forward to the next two contests, which take place in May. The Senior Cup, in Blackpool should be interesting, following our relegation from the Grand Shield last year, and the Masters in Cambridge should be its usual difficult self. Tim Sawyer |