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find out all the latest news from the BEaK Bandroom
St Peter's Hospice Christmas Appeal
Following a festive carolling season we are delighted to send a cheque to St Peter's Hospice for £878.81.
We hope that this will contribute to the valuable work that they do in our local community.
January 2010, A letter from the MD...
I would like to say a big thank you to the band for giving me this great opportunity to lead them. I was particularly pleased with the Christmas concert we held in St Aidan’s Church where I really stretched the band with a challenging programme on very limited rehearsal time (Only 5 rehearsals!). Outstanding!
We are entering exciting times for the band now with new, experienced players joining almost every other day, or so it seems. (Five in the space of just three weeks!) With fresh, new ideas for concert programmes and the West of England Regional Championships coming up, the band really is on a high at the moment. I couldn’t wish for a better atmosphere in the band room.
If you are fed up with banding at the moment, and fancy a fresh start, please come along and give us a try. You won’t be disappointed. We still need a couple of seats to be permanently occupied to enable the band to reach their full potential. Things really are happening at BEaK Band. Watch this space!!!!
Goodbye for now. I’ll update you in February as to how the preparation for the contest is going.
Danny Jones
Hello 2010
As a successful concert season draws to a close, our thoughts turn towards 2010 and we are very pleased to announce our new, dynamic and delightfully youthful conductor, Danny Jones. Preparations for 2010, including the area contest, are afoot. Our principal positions are filled, but we would like to complete our line-up by engaging players for the following sections: horn, bass and percussion. Please contact Tom Doughty (Chairman) for further information.
West of England Regionals 2009
After a successful end to 2008 with a concert to a packed Colston Hall in October in aid of the Rotary Club of Bristol, and a merry Christmas carolling in the local community, BEAK Band now finds itself at the nuts and bolts end of the banding world preparing for the West of England regional championships.
Our resident musical director Jon Griffin will be taking the band at Torquay on New World Sketches by Daniel Price.
This is a new work for brass band which takes you on a descriptive journey through the landscapes and images of America in the early 20th century. The composition comprises of three movements, Sidewalk, The Deep South and Rodeo.
On the playing front there has been plenty of activity.
Lucy Jeavons has left to have a baby which is due we believe some time around the area contest on the 14th of March, so all the band wish her and her husband well for the pending new arrival. Mark Gaisford and Hazel Price have decided to call time on their stay at Beak Band and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for all their hard work with the band over the years, and wish them good luck in the future.
There may be a recession on but BEAK Band is extremely lucky to announce the signings of five new players at the start of the year. This has given us a full compliment of players for the contest, including a three man percussion section.
Ted Walker on back row cornet - Ted is an ex-member of the Sunlife Stanshawe Band and, brings with him a wealth of experience;
Lesley Lee on Solo Horn - an ex Bendix player and wife of Andy on flugel horn;
Jim and Claire Mitchell a father and daughter duo - Jim is Principal Euphonium with the Bristol Veterans Band and joins on 2nd Baritone and was a member of Bendix Band for nearly 20 years, while daughter Claire played Principal Cornet with distinction for five years and joins on the front row;
Oliver Scofield on Bass Trombone - Oli is fifteen years old and a pupil at King Edwards School Bath and has really added some brain power to the trombone section. He is a keen chess player, representing England at international level and also debates regularly at Model United Nations conferences.
So welcome one and all we hope you enjoy your time with the band!
BEAK Band has talent in abundance and for the regional contest the talented Kevin Trenchard moves across from Eb bass over onto percussion along with Alistair "Woodblock" Woodman and Ewan Ashburn. The gap left by Kevin has been filled by the evergreen Simon Pepper back after a short break (but we think the lure of playing again with his old mate "Tiny" Tim Perry on Bb Bass was just to great to refuse!) Long term steady eddie, John "Stoker" Stichcombe has also moved around the corner from 2nd baritone to 2nd horn
Thanks also to long time band supporter Lesley Connell for providing child care cover during our busy rehearsal schedule.
Well hopefully that covers everything except to mention tea and biscuits on Saturday rehearsals were provided courtesy of Jon Griffin enterprises, Whatever !Here's a few photo's of our weekend away as a taster.
Here's to another great year!
Postcard from Harrogate
On Sunday 29th September the band took part in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain in Harrogate finishing in a credible 8th position out of the 16 bands on display. Here's a few photo's of our weekend away as a taster.
Preparations for the National Finals
Our resident MD Jon Griffin has worked the band extremely hard over the summer period and his partnership with professional MD Roy Curran seems to be paying dividends as the standard of the band has improved considerably since the areas. The piece itself has been very challenging for the majority of the band, especially the cornets and euphonium but overall we have thoroughly enjoyed rehearsing the piece and are really looking forward to the weekend in Harrogate where we just might surprise a few people. Here's what our friends at 4barsrest.com have to say about the test piece......
Test Piece: Rhapsodic Variations - My Strength, My Tower - Dean Goffin
Adjudicators: Jim Davies and Peter Roberts
Sunday 28th September
Commences at the conclusion of the First Section
If you part with your £10 on Sunday to enjoy the delights of the First and Second Sections then we think you will be in for a great day.
The Second Section comprises an excellent selection of well matched bands that will have to overcome both a fairly long wait and very difficult test piece if they are to leave Harrogate as Second Section National Champions. .
Stern musical test
For when they do walk on stage they will be faced with perhaps the sternest musical test of the entire weekend, with Dean Goffin's demanding, ‘Rhapsodic Variations, My Strength, My Tower’, which came into prominence for many non Salvation Army people with it's inclusion on the YBS seminal recording, ‘Essays of Brass’ during the mid 1990s.
The popularity of ‘Rhapsody in Brass’, used at the British Open in 1949 led admirers of Goffin's music to ask for more. The end result was a return to an earlier test piece: ‘My Strength, My Tower’. As per convention in SA circles, a religious text was added to the original work and Goffin opted for Scheffler's hymn, ‘Thee I love, my strength, my tower.’
The end result is an excellent work, although it's choice may have a surprised a few people. Like ‘On Ratcliff Highway’ last year though, it has the potential to challenge the bands to the full and beyond, and should provide an essential ingredient in what promises to be an intriguing contest.
West of England
"It's a fair old trek from the West Country, but with a fine record of achievement to uphold from the region, both champions Bristol East and Kingswood and Shrewton Silver should be confident of doing well. Bristol were great in Torquay under Roy Curran and the experienced campaigner will lead the band's charge once again"
4BR Prediction:
Could be very close this, but we think experience may well prove to be the telling extra ingredient on a test piece that should test the bands to their limits.
With that in mind we opt for a close run fight between Point of Ayr and Barton with the two North West bands of Haslingden & Helmshore and Wardle and District Anderson Brass close behind. Tylorstown are a band on the up too and should make it into the frame whilst Johnstone Silver and our dark horse of Alder Valley make up the numbers.
1. Point of Ayr
2. Barton Town
3. Haslingden and Helmshore
4. Wardle and District Anderson Brass
5. Tylorstown
6. Johnstone Silver
Dark Horses: Alder Valley
So we go to Harrogate with the element of surprise!
Latest News From the Bandroom from the MD
As the last notes of our final summer engagement at the Parade Gardens in Bath on the 31st August float gracefully into the distance, we now find ourselves in full swing preparing for the National Finals in Harrogate on the 28thSeptember.
The summer went by so quickly and the band maintained a good level of performance throughout even if the weather sometimes was against us.
There were some memorable performances at Bournemouth, Kensington Gardens London, Victoria Park Bath and Bath Flower show to name but a few, and I would personally like to thank all band members for their commitment to the cause.
There has also been a lot of player activity with the usual comings and goings, after the areas we lost Ashley Keyte (solo cornet) who moved to sunny Weston Super Mare, Trevor Landcastle stood down from soprano (due to all his hair growing back) only joking Trev, and Nick Wilmot left on BBb Bass, many thanks go to these players for all their hard work with the band.
Sometimes you lose a few but then you gain a few and we certainly did gain a few, local banding legend (captain) Jim Bell joined on soprano, Alistair Woodman (ex Sunlife) on percussion, Tim Perry on BBb Bass, Barbara Jefferies on percussion, Alli Jowett on cornet plus Steve Rocky and John Lear on trombone, all of these players have made a great difference to the band and a big welcome to all of you.
A special mention goes to Bob the (TROMBINATOR) Shore who was asked to stand down for the contest to make way for Steve Rocky.
Also a big thank you goes to Lesley Connell partner of Mark Gaisford Solo Horn who has been the band child minder looking after various children at engagements and while their parents come to band.
More good news on the cornet front with Beth Ewins being appointed Principal Cornet, and I would personally like to congratulate her on this achievement. Beths’ playing over the summer and in the band room has impressed everyone including professional conductor Roy Curran (and if you please him you aren’t doing band).
Preparations for the contest are going well with two good weekends with Roy, who in his own inimitable way has lifted the band in readiness for the big day.
I have enjoyed rehearsing the band on the test piece Rhapsodic Variations by Dean Goffin which is a fantastic piece of music with some lovely moments and a real test at second section level and I thank the band for their attention and application.
Bad news is I have been drafted in on bumper up for Harrogate, which just goes to show there is no fool like an old fool!
Till next time.
Regards,
Jon Griffin MD
Latest News From the Bandroom from the MD
Fiona and Beth leading the way at Torquay!
This is still a mystery to the banding world how the photographer managed to miss me, you can just see a small part of my cornet in the bottom left hand corner, (never mind) Since March (which now seems a million miles away) the band has been very busy on the concert front, with a job or engagement nearly every week, this is largely due to band secretary Mark Gaisford's tireless hard work. Still as they say a busy band is a happy band.
We would like to give a warm welcome to two new players on the cornet section, Lucy Jeavons and Leanne Brown, these two new recruits add to our growing crop of female players in BEAK Band which is fantastic. Also we welcome back Roger Randall (trombone) after a long lay off following surgery on his shoulder.
The test piece for the National Finals in Harrogate has been announced, it is RHAPSODIC VARIATIONS by Dean Goffin. Having had a quick look at the score this piece offers a test for all sections of the band and should be very interesting to rehearse.
On a very sad note it is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Fiona Cameron’s father who was killed in a car accident in May. Fiona joined the band on cornet in January and is a student at Bristol University. From everyone at BEAK Band our deepest sympathy go to Fiona and her family at this difficult time.
Jon Griffin
2008 West of England Championships - Retrospective (2nd Section)
Plenty of foundations laid here - from the great winners to the plain speaking of the judges. Something to keep everyone interested then...
Saturday's opening contest of the West of England Championships laid the foundations for how the rest of the weekend would pan out: Some excellent playing that reaped reward with qualification, some indifferent playing, some ineffective direction from the middle and some firm and at times, hard hitting comments from the men in the box who were charged with making those all important decisions.
Full potential?
Whether all the bands here really played to their full potential on the day is open to debate. The ones who finished at the top end certainly produced performances that had the level of consistency judges Colin Hardy and Alan Hope were looking for.
Some of the other bands didn’t manage to produce three good movements of Kenneth Downie’s delicate work, whilst for others, it just didn’t happen at all and they’ll very quickly want to forget Torquay 2008.
If the twelve competing bands weren’t quite sure how they were going to fair come the results, they very quickly realised that they were going to either fall into the ‘it could be us’ or, it’s ‘certainly not us’ camps once Colin Hardy started to speak.
In the opening movement, the 'Prelude', Colin cited the importance of tempos and the lyrical style of the composers intentions - and immediately looking at the audience, shoulders slumped from several representatives as they immediately knew it wasn’t going to be their day.
So what about the 'Romance'? Control was very much the key here to everything that was implemented and in a number of cases, not implemented. Those who were still ruling themselves in with a shout after the first movement, pretty soon discovered if they were still in with a chance as Colin again told them plainly what he and Alan were looking for.
As for the ‘Caprice’? Doing what it says on the tin can be something of a get out clause as a judge’s comment – but once again Colin told it straight and took no prisoners. You can’t complain the bands didn’t know what the two men wanted.
Nine point margin
Walking out of the hall and pondering the results, the nine-point margin that separated the top six bands certainly created a few talking points, but only the odd band can have cause for complaint on the day over where they came.
Roy Curran directed Bristol East and Kingswood to the title in a thoroughly engaging performance that was stylistically excellent, with plenty of time and space given to the music, although they did survive the odd blip to maintain an impressive level of consistency throughout.
The Romance was delightful in its execution and the two outer movements were delivered with plenty of self assurance from the middle and matched from the players. Yes, it was beatable, but in the end no-one got close to them.
Source: www.4barsrest.com
Bristol East & Kingswood Crowned Best in the West!
The Band are delighted to announce that they have been crowned West of England Champions in the Second Section and have qualified for the National Finals in Harrogate in September.
Under the baton of Roy Curran, the band put in an all round performance of Kenneth Downie's "Three Part Invention" that hit all the right notes in the eyes of adjudicators Alan Hope and Colin Hardy.
Click here to view the adjudicator notes
2008_Adjudicator_notes.pdf
More news to follow!
2008 Areas Test Piece Announced
The Music Panel of Kapitol Promotions, which presents the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, has announced the test-pieces for next year’s series of Regional Championships.
They are:
Championship Section: Festival Music (Eric Ball)
First Section: James Cook – Circumnavigator (Vinter)
Second Section: Three Part Invention (Kenneth Downie)
Third Section: The Dark Side of the Moon (Paul Lovatt-Cooper)
Fourth Section: Four Cities Symphony (Rodney Newton)
Alan Hope has also confirmed the dates and venues for next year’s contests:
Yorkshire
St. George’s Hall, Bradford
1 March - 4th & 3rd Sections
2 March - 2nd, 1st & Championship Sections
Midlands:
Civic Hall, Bedworth
8 March - 1st
9 March – 2nd & Championship
Nicholas Chamberlain Technical College
8 March – 3rd
9 March - 4th
Scotland:
Rothes Halls, Glenrothes
8 March - 2nd, 4th & 3rd
9 March - 1st & Championship
North-West:
Winter Gardens, Blackpool
9 March - All Sections
Wales:
Brangwyn Hall, Swansea
8 March – 3rd, 2nd & 1st
9 March – 4th & Championship
West of England:
Riviera International Conference Centre, Torquay
8 March – 4th, 2nd & 1st
9 March – 3rd & Championship
London & Southern Counties:
Arts and Leisure Centre, Stevenage
15 March – 1st & 3rd
16 March – Championship, 2nd & 4th
North of England: Dolphin Centre, Darlington
29 March – 3rd & 2nd
30 March – 1st, 4th & Championship
