BANDS COMPETE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 49, 21 November 1932, Page 11

BANDS COMPETE

Contest at Masterton WIN TO WELLINGTON B Grade Event to Artillery Dominion Special Service. Masterton, Nov. 20. Masterton was en fete on Saturday for the first band contest held hi the town since 1903. There was a large influx of visitors from Wellington, Manawatu, and Hawke’s Bay. The Park Oval was thronged in the afternoon for the quickstep, and a wellfilled Opera House listened to the test selections at night. Nine bands competed, Palmerston City having to withdraw. The winning ■bands were:— B Grade Quickstep; Carterton Municipal. . , C Grade Quickstep: Levin Municipal. B Grade Selection: Wellington Artillery. , C Grade Selection: Levin Municipal. The weather on Saturday afternoon was showery, but did not seriously interfere with the quickstep. Beautiful Masterton Park made a magnificent setting for the gathering. The bands, which had arrived the previous night or during the morning, marched through the town at two-minute intervals, and on arrival at the park drew up in formation before the grandstand, where under the baton of the judge, Mr. K. J. Estall (Christchurch);, they played the march “Colonel Bogey.” The Mayor of Masterton (Mr. T. Jordan) extended a warm welcome to the visitors. He recalled that it was 29 yearssince a contest had been held in Masterton, and congratulated the Wairarapa Brass Bands’ Association and the Band Contest Committee on the effort, expressing the hope that it would be the forerunner of many such contests. Mr. Jordan announced that one band had generously offered to donate its prize money to the mayor’s relief fund. He wanted to thank the band for its very generous offer. If it played in the same fashion it had made the offer it deserved to win. The music for the quickstep was all own selection, so the public was treated to a varied programme. The bright uniforms of the bands, and the multicoloured throng which encircled the Oval made a most attractive picture against the green foliage of trees and shrubbery in the park. Addressing the bands at the conclusion of the quickstep, the judge.stated that it seemed to him that the playing of the bands had been of a very fair order, but that quality of tone had •been lacking. This was due to faulty tuning. Generally speaking, he had been disappointed at the brass end of the bands. Most of the bands had very fair cornets and good euphoniums, but the trombones were only fair. Generally the technique had been good—better than he had expected. The results were announced as follow: B GRADE QUICKSTEP. First Prize £5 and Shield Valued £5. Second Prize, £2/10/-. Points.

C GRADE QUICKSTEP. (First Prize £5 and Shield Valued £5.) Levin Municipal ... 1414 63 204 J "Woodville Municipal 139} 60 199} At the conclusion o£ the judging of the test selection in the Opera House, Mr. Estall stated that some of the movements in the selections had been really beautiful, but then had come that great disaster of band music—bad intonation and wrong ideas. Generally speaking, the bands were better tuned than they had been that afternoon. The instrument that had impressed him had been the euphonium, and he wanted to congratulate the euphonium players in practically every band. In one band he had heard a real artist—and he had not been in a B grade band either. Mr. Estall said that he had judged the bands from an A grade standard, and had given what were almost top marks to a- C grade band (Levin Municipal). That band, he said, had given an excellent performance, and he wanted to congratulate the bandmaster. It was a good job for the B grade bands, he said, that this band had not been in the B grade. The results of the judging were announced as follow:— B GRADE TEST SELECTION. First Prize £5 and C. and Y. Shield. Second prize £2/10/-. Tl. pts. "Wellington Artillery (“Halevy”) . 74 Royal Naval Vol. Res (“Undine’’) . 72 Masterton Municipal (“11 Bravo”) 69 Carterton Municipal (“Hamlet”) .. 69 Miramar Silver (“Fra Diavoio”) . 66 Wellington Boys’ Inst. ("Recollections of Verdi”) 65 Upper Hutt Municipal (“11 Trovatore”) 60 Feilding Municipal ("Verdi”) .... 60 C GRADE TEST SELECTION. First Prize £5 and Shield valued at £5. Levin Municipal (“Knight Errant”) 73 Woodville Municipal ("Classic Gems”) .. 60 In a brief address at the conclusion of the judging, Mr. W. White, chairman of the band contest committee, expressed thanks to all who had contributed to the success of the contest. The military judges in connection with the quickstep competition were Captain S. C. V. Sugden, Lieutenant J. ,C. Holmes, S.S.M. C. H. Ritzema, S.S.M. 0. E. Rogers, The supervisor was Mr. F. J. Hunn, who had as assistant supervisor Mr. W. P. McLachlan (Wellington). Mr. W. G. Lamb acted as marshal, while Mr. H. Rees was inspector of instruments. The personnel of the band contest committee was as follows:—Patron: The Mayor, Mr. T. Jordan; chairman, Mr. W. White; committee, Messrs. R. J. Young, W. E. Knott, R. Russell, A. W. Russell, J. J. Mulvey, W. J. Palamontain, J. Candy, I'. J. Hunn, G. Jackson, G. Hutchinson, H. L. Roberts, W. Laird, J. V. Dolan. L. S. Nicol, L. Jago; treasurer, Mr. W. G. Lamb; joint secretaries, Messrs. W, G. Lamb and D. B. Curry. Wellington visitors to the contest (and there were several hundred of them) had a long day. A special train had been arranged for their convenience and the conveyance of the Wellington bands, and it was 11.30 p.m. when this pulled out from Masterton station on its three and a half hours’ journey to Wellington. A number of prominent band officials and a number of old bandsmen attended the contest. Among the former were Mr. J. G. Osborne, secretary of the New Zealand Brass Bands’ Association, Messrs. C. Patchett and W. P. McLachlan, members of the executive, and N. E. Nolan (all of Wellington), and Mr. H. A. McPhee, secretary of the Wairarapa Brass Bands’ Associaj tlon.

Military Carterton Municipal 174 Musi 77 eal TI. 251 Masterton Municipal 163$ 74 237$ Wellington Artillery 159 76 235 Royal Naval Vol. Res. 156$ 74 230$ W’gton Boys’ Inst. 156 73 229 Feilding Municipal . 149 69 ,)218 Upper Hutt Municipal 144 64 20S Miramar Silver .... 129 75 204