BAND COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 62

BAND COLUMN.

Notes by Cornet.

flatzttftiitii ef bands aie invited to eend'in Ut»r«»ting paragraphs, also brief reports ef ' iuftiU^ and ether functions in -which their •Mub tik« part. All communication* should ba address.! to "C»rn«t," Otago "Witn«ss office.

Although a big question, and one productive of lengthy argument, the Dunedin .publio are about as satiated with tihe newspaper correspondence on Kaikorai Bamd and sacred concerts as they are with " By special arrangement." Of courss if the utnd are successful in their mission, all will be forjfiven, and no questions will be asked about tine spending of about £600 of good Dunedin money. The absurdity of the City Council banning the Sunday evening band concerts is more than emphasised when concerts at tihe various tram termini on Sunday afternoons are encouraged to the fall. On- the came question a Home paper remarks that some 12 years ago but one. (performance was given on summer Sundays in "Finsbury ,Park (London), whereas now 12 bands take part in the performance. The London Prize, Band, under ~ihe ooniductorebip of Mr.Cbpe, played regularly in ;tjhe park for a few seasons, giving as manyss three concerts per ' Sunday to thousands of .music-lovers. -

-The Hamilton band contest will take place _on October 8, 9, and 10, with the followinir bands as competitors: — Fir3t Battalion (Auckland), Onehunga. Municipal, Cambridge Town, Waihi Federal, Waiklno, Hauraki, Thames, Second Battalion (Thames), Hamilton. The reception by the Mayor and the garden party will be held on Thursday, October 8, in the afternoon. On Friday afternoon (Labour Day) the marching competition will be held on Claudeland's racecourse. On Saturday everting, at 7 o'clock, in the Horse Bazaar, the test selection and distribution of prizes mil be held, and seating accommodation for an audience of several thousande will be provided. The en-tries for the quartets, trios, and solos will dose on September 8. On Wednesday evening the inmabea of the Bemevolent Institution were^ accorded a treat by the Mornington Band. In addition to a programme by the full band yoeal items weTe contributed by Messrs Dickinson and Duff. At the conclusion of fche entertainment Mt Mcc (the manager) expressed the thanks, of the inmates for the very enjoyable concert, and 1 trusted that at somie future time the band would favour the institution with another visit. The programme was: ,Ma.rch, "Marine Artillery " j fantasia, "Memories of Old Ireda-nd" selection "American Beauties"; cornet duet ". Panorama."

Prior to announcing his award in the Huddeisfield contest, Mr J. W. Beswick, I«he adjudicator,' who judged at the 1907 Ballarat competitions with much success, remarked on the beautiful playing of the conteatante— real good old Yorkshire playing. The prize-list was an extensive one ; fcut h© wished thece could have been more first prizes, which several bands deserved. They had heard a good deal about braseband playing in Australia., They had scarcely had a. band here that, if they had t»een out there, they could not have run away with the £200 first prisse- Yet the Australians talked about sending over a .band to teach them to pla-y. Evidently the poor playing heard by him at Ballarat has not yet been eradicated from his memory. No colonial band has mooted any intention of dispersing musical knowledge to the Home bands, and any trips would only be projected for pleasure. The playing of Besses Band revealed to us that we have yet everything to learn.

A writer in the Musical News eavs that two concerts given by the Black Dike Mills Band in GTeenhead Park quit© put Besses in the shade, the collections being over £50.

' Mr Qladney has won a dozen contests at Bell© Vue by insisting on plenty of tone. Give me clean, clear, musical tone, and plenty of it. I do not like a dry, starved whisper. A whisper cannot be musical, because it is not musical at all.

The circulars are out for the fifty-sixth eainual contest for the championship of the British Isles at Belle Vue. It gets a more difficult matter year by year (writes "Wright and Bound's editor) for bands to get within the charmed circle. Messrs Jennison, the sole promoter of the Belle Vue contests, raturally inclines to those bands which have none well at Belle Tue, and that leaves a .Tery small opening for outside bands, beCfrttee those bands that have don© well at Bejle Vue will make- the greatest effort to JaSiEiioeAi heir j reputations there. We trust/ fat Lieutenant Godfrey will' again give "us big piece, with three or four cadenzas his old style, and crowd 'as nruoh as he cam. into the 10. minutes each band has to Splay, so that we can show the world that 0© cream of contesting bands to-day is sficher than ever it was. The Gisborne Private Band have decided lo hold a grand poster ball on the 24th September. The demand for tickets forecasts a huge success. The King's Band is a very old Court institution, which his Majesty the King ksa finally decided to abolish. The expense of keeping up the band is very considerable, •md its place will be taken by the Guards Band, supplemented with private players •when, necessary. Programmes for Sunday band concerts meed not now be stinted for appropriate tlhart items, as the music houses are making & specialty of short items taken from the classical sacred standard works of the masters. The latest to hand are four short pieces, the solo comet copies of -which are issued in the British Bandsman. The fact $iat they are arranged by W. Rimmer is guarantee of their excellence. The pieces ag» suitable as separate items, or would tifeiy equally well as one grand number. fb« met is th© " Andante " from BeetJoven'a O Minor .symphony, followed 1 by 4& offerfcoire arranged in three-four tbtt». A fantasia, entitled "Bethlehem," «M composed of weil-anranged hymn tunes, fcrmf tioe leading number to tihe sxand Meaadeisoohn chorus, "He t>hat shall encu*e to the end." This latter is & moveTOtoifc in common iixoe, and if played «s 9oS Rimmer -would like, it would sound-foeft-reoily. Beaud-mAtfietts mould male© a point of feounng fibeae nurobei*. )m* 8. 0. fihepperd, ©f Liverpool, bat adJooiafcted at move oonteM* thaJi wiy other iuoge of the present day. H© has a record tf_Mo to &tifi credit. ■ Tte OraUl Poke* contests -mil be held f»n September 26, under the •oie direction j>| Mr J. fi. Ue«. There wit! be six or $e?ea d«g3<e«B .of ogmbMt, from the ohamVfonshjp refection down to 'boye' and oon-

certina bands. Of the latter it is said that with a muster of about 30 players a concertina band sounds magnificent. I had the pleasure some years ago of hearing a onetiime resident of Caversham — a Mr Bellamy — play full-score selections on an English concertina. The music was as close scored as fear the piano, and sounded really well. In Dunedin streets at the present time the public are treated to concertina-playing galore by a somewhat eccentrio individual. Hie playing seems good, the execution alone beang brilliant. For the twenty -third aimual July contest at BelLo Vue the selection was, as usual, arranged by Lieutenant Chas. Godfrey from Humann Goetz's comio opera "The Taming of the Shrew," the libretto of which is based on Shakespeare's play of that name. The bands ace charmed with the znusio, which i* all concertante. There are a few awkward bars in. it, but. taken on the whole it is not a difficult piece, and will be most interesting.

Besses recently gave a concert, whioh was attended by 4000 people. Rain interfered with the programme, some of the numbers? being omitted. Many went purposely to hear Kerry, th© celebrated euphonium player, lately acquired by Besses, but his solo- was .not given. Mr A. Owen conducted.

"Trombone" (Canterbury Times) kindly .draws my attention to a slig-ht error in regard to my mention of Mr Welle's name as on© of the judges wifch Messrs Squairise and Macintosh at the Dunedin Exhibition, 1890, contest. It was Mr Pleyer, and not Mr Wells, who officiated at that contest. Tihe latter gentleman, with Messrs Martin and M'lntosh, were the judges at the Cbrisfcohurch contest in 1889, where the first prize was gained by Oamaru Garrison, second Ohristchurch, and third Oamaru Navals. The contest was held in the Colose&um, and the judges were suspended in a cage from the ceiling. When the three distinguished gentlemen, climbed into and out of their quaint abode for the time being on each evening of the competition much merriment resulted amongst the audience. At t<he Edinburgh international contest Mr A. Owen, of Besses, judged the bands in the open and in full view of competitors and publio alike. Being shut up in a tent would never suit a gentleman of Mr Owen's temperament. First they did and then they didn't grant pernjiesion to the Kaikorai Band to hold Sunday evening concerts. At tho last meeting the City Council rescinded the motion granting- the band permission to give three sacred concerts in His Majesty's Theatre^ As a set-off against fche loss of Eroapectiv© necessary revenue, and inspired y patriotic speeches by the vaoillatory members of the council, the sum of £25 was voted to the band. Humour was infused into the dreary discussion by Councillor Fiddes, the valiant knight of the (paint pot, who, to mark bis satisfaction with the council's donation, planked down on the council table with his own horny fist his donation— a"quid," at the same time calling on the rest of the members to follow suit. However, Oarnegies were not of the number, and it was left to the council to make up the amount by adding a cheque of £24 to Tom's pound. I understand the band is well satisfied with the deal, and is casting evil eyes on other councils, -hoping for the same result.

At a meeting of the Christohuroh Band "Contest and Musical Carnival Committee, held on Wednesday evening-, the- Programme Committee submitted a draft programme of the combined competitions, which was adopted. The Hons. Hall- Jones, G. Jones, and C. Louisson wrote granting their patronage to the carnival. The Minister of Railways wrote stating that competing bandsmen would be allowed to travel on the railways at th© usual excursion rates. It was stated tbat tlie guarantee foj-nis were being fre«lv taken up. and the entire liability would l*e covered in a short time. Several special prizes have been promised, and will be allocated to their respective seotlons. Seovetaries of bands ar© reminded that entries close on September 21. Arrangements were made for the Woolston Band i:o give a programme in Hagley Park on Sunday, when a collection will be taken in aid of the contest fund. Thanks to the energy of the secretary, Air C. J. Bollen, the concert recently given by the Qisborne Private Band in aid of the Everitt Benefit Fund proved a great success. The Gisborne Private, Gisborne City, and tho. Salvation Army Bands combined to play several marchea before the concert commenced. The programme was an attractive one. During the evening it was announced that the Second Batallion Band, Thames, had made a donation of £3 9s. A telegram was read from Mr W. Webb from Auckland, stating that he had ooUeoted a large sum towards the fund. Mr Holds-worth, in thanking the performers, said the proceeds from, various sources amounted approximately to £80.