Bands tune in for first international online competition
THIS was a history making first international online brass band competition organised by the Cory band and assisted by Arts Council Wales, World of Brass, Besson, Majestic Europe, Indoor Music Games, Thurrock Marching Brass, Wright & Round Music Publishers, Kapitol Promotions and Brass Band World Magazine.
The Third Section started it off on Friday, September 18 with 10 bands competing.
Apart from bands from the UK there were entries from Australia, Germany and South Korea in this section and the playing and the brilliant video coverage really set the standard.
They were followed by eight bands competing in the Second Section and there was an entry from Norway and there really was some lovely playing from these 2nd Section bands.
Saturday night saw the First Section and as expected the standard of playing was higher and some of the video work was absolutely fabulous and of an extremely high professional standard.
One particular band – Brass Band North Virginia – deserved a prize just for the fantastic video scenes that were produced, irrespective of the music they produced, and that was also of a very high standard.
I did not envy the adjudicators their very difficult job of selecting the best bands in these three sections as I recall being emotionally moved with the fine performance of Downshire Band from Northern Ireland and Lion City Brass from Singapore.
There was something for everyone in the music programmes produced by all the bands.
On Friday, September 25, came the turn of the Fourth Section and those bands who were not registered with any band association for contest purposes.
There were 20 bands in this section and the standard of music produced certainly belied their 4th section standard.
The programmes produced were excellent and the section was a great advertisement for listening to brass bands.
Finally, on Saturday, we had some of the best bands in the brass band world and there were 15 competitors from various parts of the world including all the home nations, Australia, USA and Belgium.
There was a tinge of disappointment as the contest attracted not one of the top ten ranked bands in the world.
Of course, we can forgive Cory, who had organised it and they are the world’s number one band!
The adjudicators for the Second and Third Sections were Glyn Williams, Nigel Seaman and Rob Nicholson.
The First Section was adjudicated by Steve Stewart, Ailsa Russell and Steve Kane.
The Fouth Section with 20 bands was adjudicated by Steve Stewart, Helen Williams and Steve Jones.
The Championship Section produced some really great programmes, which will be remembered for some time.
The adjudicators were Nigel Seaman, Tom Huchinson and Simon Howell.