Honours to Ashburton

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 47, 25 February 1938, Page 7

Honours to Ashburton

B Grade Championship At Bands’ Contest WELLINGTON INSTITUTE SILVER SECOND Ashburton Silver Band won the B grade championship at the New Zealand brass bands contest, the second test for which was played last night. Institute Silver (Wellington) finished in second place, while the third prize went to Dannevirke Municipal. Actually Ashburton Silver finished fourth in the first test and second in last night’s selection, but their aggregate points gave them a lead of one over Institute Silver. Tho piece chosen for last night’s test was “Stabat Mater,” by Rossini, while the first test selection, played on Tuesday night, was “Nadeshda” (A. Goring Thomas). Hawera Municipal took the honours of last night's playing, but as they were well down in the first test they had to be content with fifth place in the aggregate. In commenting on last night’s playing, the judge (Mr. E. P. Kerry) said he had heard some very good B grade playing and some poor B grade playing. The winning band had given a really good, solid performance, displaying good tone, interpretation and training. Mr. E. Palliser, president of the New Zealand Brass Bands’ Association, conveyed the congratulations of tho association to the Ashburton and Hawera bands.

SOLO EVENTS B Flat Cornet Solo. (Amateur.) (“Sans Sonci.”) D. Christensen (St. Kilda Municipal), 79pts 1 R. Milligan (Timaru Municipal), 78pts .. .. .. 2 J. Storrie (Invercargill Citizens) j 77pts. • Lloyd Lee (Timaru Municipal, 77 pts • # Equal third. Also competed: J. King (Wellington Institute SiYver), ffipts.; B. (Palmerston North Garrison), ?spts.; R. Gumming (Timaru Municipal), 74pts.; V. Aldridge (Woolston Brass), 73pts.; H. Clarke (W T elliugton Tramways), 72 pts.; A. G. Taylor (Hawke’s Bay Regimental), 71pts.; W. McPherson (Hastings Citizens), 60pts.; P. Badcock (Hawera Municipal}; L. A. Boyer" (Invercargill Citizens), N. Hewitt (Wellington Tramways), W. Holmes (Wellington Tramways) retired. Mr. E. P. Kerry described the class of playing as very poor. Most players imagined more trouble than there really was, consequently they did not get the results they should have. The winner gave the best performance of the caprice idea. Euphonium Solo. (“The Mermaid’s Song.**) G. Claydon (Onehunga Citizens), 87 pts 1 H. Wephoff (Timaru Municipal), 85 pts 2 H. Guthrie (Palmerston North Garrison), 82pts 3 Also competed: J. Smith (Port Nicholson Silver), 72pts.; L. Claydon (Wellington Tramways), 71pts.; T. Fleetwood (Wellington Tramways), 70pts.; T. A. Miller (Ashburton Silver, 67pts.; R. Lee (Te Awamutu Municipal), 64pts.; L. J. Hickman (Feilding Municipal;, 62 pts.; A. Dix (Wellington Institute Silver), 60pts.; H. L. Abrahams (Nelson Garrison), D. McKechnio (Auckland Artillery), W. Gibb (Kaikorai), retired. Mr. Kerry said ho was terribly disappointed with the playing. There was only one competitor with euphonium tone and unfortunately he was not up to standard. He had heard so many toned instruments during the event that he had begun to wonder. Ho had never heard such euphonium tones in his whole career. Many players had not studied the solo. He had had 5$ years under the composer and must have played the composition 2000 times so knew what the composer required. TLero were several good technicians but taking tho section as a whole, he was sadly disappointed. Tenor Trombone Solo. (“Jeannette and Jeannot.”) H. Croucher (Hawera), 92pts 1 J. Glennie (Institute, Wellington), 84pts 2 G. Langridge (Timaru;, 81pts 3 Auso competed: R. Woods (Palmerston North Garrison), 64pts.; W. L. Payne (Dannevirke), 79pts.; T. Denne (Waipukurau), 60pts.; A. B. Marston ( ), 67pts.; A. M. Wills (Invercargill), 70pts.; W. Smith (Wellington Tramways), 02pts.; W. Campbell (Timaru), 65pts.; L. Abraham (Wellington Tramways), 66pts. Mr. Kerry said tho winner gave an outstanding performance in tone quality, interpretation and expression. He had heard some very queer renditions of this solo. He could not tolerate glisando which was not true trombone playing. If competitors wanted to so play they had better join a jazz band.

Detailed points were as follow 1st. 2nd. Test. Test. Total. Ashburton Silver .. Institute Silver 117 112 239 (Wellington) .. Dannevirke 120 118 238 Municipal . •. Christchurch 119 116 235 Municipal . • •. 118 107 225 Hawera Municipal Te Awamutu 94 130 224 Municipal .. •. 88 114 202 Welliugton Artillery 100 89 189 Hastings Citizens 85 94 179 Feilding Municipal Palmerston North 89 84 173 City Silver .. .. 86 83 169