Brass Bands Contest

Southland Times, Issue 19551, 4 May 1905, Page 2

Brass Bands Contest

THE MARCHING COMPETITION,

The management of the Municipal Band Fair are to bo complimented on their courage in undertaking at this timii oi the year to run> a brass bands' contest to connection with their display. The sue*cess of a sing-lo day’s Contest depends s O . much on , tho weather that a committee might well be anxious that the chosen) daj* should be graced with fine weather.Tho weather was simply glorious yesterday for an outside gathering. The sun' was so lavish of his rays that in exposed\places it was almost uncomfortably hot. The contest vias in every way a' success. The attendance at tho Park numbered over 2000, £99 9s 6d .being taken at the gates and ring entrances. The lawn' an,d oval were in capital condition! though the latter would be the better of a more careful clearing away of chips after the Axemen’s Carnival. Seven bands competed, all, with the exception of Balclutha, coming from Southland towndhiips. The bands mossed at the post-office at 2 p.m., and were despatched to. the Park at three-minute intervals, and three different routes through the town were observed. On arrival at the Park the draw fox' places was conducted, and then the bands were xuarchcKl into the oval to prepare for the inarching contest. The judge of music was Mr E. Stratton, of Dunedin, who is known as one of the most consistently successful bandmasters in New Zealand. His association with bands commenced in the Old Country in his youth, and on coming to New Zealand he joined tho Artillery Band in Dunedin, which was conducted by Marcus Hume. He afterwards started the Caledonian Society’s Baxxd, which afterwards merged into the City Guards, then to the Battalion Band, and finally to-day it is known as the Dunedin Garrison Band. Mr Stratton was appointed conductor df the Kaikbrai Banil az few months after its: formation, and for 18 years he held that' o’ffxce, and was bandmaster when the Kaikorai won the Invercargill contest. About two years ago lie resigned, and took ovex - the Dunedin Navals Band fax' a short time. He recently resigned active connection with this band, and has since followed exclusively his profession as teacher of music. His appointment as judge of this contest was received with satisfaction, and h,o doubt his decisions I'l'll be greeted with the same favour.

The military judges were Captain Lennie, Staff Sergt.-Major Knee, Staff SergtMajor Grant, Batt. Sergt.-Major Lennie. Lieut. O’Toole acted las supervisor, and Qr.-Mr.-Sergt. Ferguson as timekeeper. There was a large committee of assistants, and the marches were got off to time. The 1 Mayor (Mr W. B. Scandrett) was present.

The inarching of .the bands was almost ns interesting to the crowd as their ploying, as it contained several evolutions which were new to tVi'e public. Tho first stretch was 100yds, to bo covered in 120 paces In 60 secs. ; then countermarch, right turn, march 50yds to flags, and left turn ; the band then to fonm from fours into twos, pass between two flags, and when through re-ferm fours ; wheel to the left, march a short distance and again wheel to the left, halting in, front of the judge's tent.

The Balclutha Band led off, and were followed by the Gore, Blufl, Nightcaps, Orepuki, Winton and Wyndham in order. The Nightcaps Band made their first appearance! in contest work, and they were given a specially hearty recognition by the spectators. Tho Wyndham Band also won a lot of popular favour, both for playing and marching. At the conclusion opinions were even for the marching between Gore, Balclutha. and Wyndham, according to the man in the street. Tho bulk of the bands performed the (march very well. The principal mistake all through was in direction, and in extending the "break from fours to twos and IvacW again. The distances in some cases were irregular, but the drill as a whole was very creditable. Tble marches played were all familiar, and as a rule they were pleasingly rendered. The judges did not take very long to work. 1 out their totals, ahd any tedium «ias dissipated by selections from ths Balclutha and Gore hands. At 5 p.m. the Mayor, from the grandstand, Announced the result of the marching, as follows :—

The Gore Band takes £5, and the . drum-major a gold medal ; the Wyndham Band takes £3 for second; and ’Nightcaps £2 for third. Tho result was received with great , cheering, and aS each band was named . its supporters gave it a hearty backing. H'te Gore Band “ chaired ” Drum-majdr ’ Donaldson, to whom their victory Was in a large measure due. THE WALTZ CONTEST. The average man does not care greatly about the classics, but he will listen for f hours to popular music, well-played. No music is more popular than the waltz, and last evening the large' audience in , the Zealandia Hall, representing £BO at the doors, had the pleasure of listening to half-a-dozen gems of this class of music. The contest commenced shortly after 7 p.m., and the results were available at 9.40 p.m. Gdre was prime favourite, .with Wyndham and Balclutha about even for second, and it will be seen that the judge’s award confirmed populan anticipation’. The judge made the following award

Mr Stratton said Chat in making this award he must express the pleasure ho had felt in listening, to the bands, who hud given most creditable performances. The Gore Band takes £3O and 25 silver medals, the Wyndham Band £l5, and v the Balclutha Band £7 10s. In the unavoidable absence of the Mayor the prizes were presented to the winners by Lieut. O’Toole, after which cheers were given for the judge and bands. THE JUDGE’S COMMENTS. Following are the judge’s comments on the march ’music :— No. I—Balclutha, 2$ men (’-J. Coombes. conductor) ; " Under the Double Eagle.’’ —This march was fairly well played all through. The, opening wanted a little more attack, and the last’ note in the second bar of the second strain was incorrectly played every time tho bund came to it. The bass passage was very well played, and the trio and melody fairly well played, though the phrasing was not quite right—7,l3 points. No. 2—Gore, 26 men (H. Mayo, con ductor) ( J “ Indopendentia.”—This was very well played. They were out of time several times, probably when they were executing the turning movement in the march. In some of the strains there was a little too much big! drum. The soft movement at the beginning was very well played indeed. A well-balanced-bnnd and a good performance. —84 points. No. 3—Bluff Nnvals, 26 men (W. Sid■.'all, conductor) ; “ The Warriors.”—This was not so well played. At the beginning they were over-blowing, and not playing distinctly enough. In the piano passages the side-drum was too prominent and the accompaniments generally in this passage were too loud. The. bass solo was very well pl.<yed, but the trio was rather too heavy for the melody. Ths other parts were much the same, and the band was out of tune occasionally.—7.l ooints.

No. 4—Nightcaps, 22 men (Burtenshaw. conductor) ; ” Onward.”—This band gave rather a poor performance. Thegimarcb seemed ■ to bo a little too hard for their

comets; this part being sot Very higti in the melody, and this seemed to tire the cornets very quickly. It-gave rather a bad effect, and made toe melody weak and uncertain.—TO ppijits. No, s—Orepuki, 25 men (Abbott, conductor) ; “ Independentia.”—This band did not play the march nearly so well ns the Gore band. In the forte passage the high notes for the comet, instead of being full in attack, were played staccato. The trio in the piano passage was made a, solo for one of the parts instead of being made a concerted movement. The effect was uneven, not properly balanced. In the last part of the trio, vqhero the melody is played double forte, there was not nearly enough attack.—72 points. No. 6—Winton, 22 men (D. Hirst, conductor) ; “ Spartan.”—This march was .airly well played all through. They were out of tune occasionally, but they were very well balanced. The piano passages were nicely played. No serious faults to be picked in the performance.—Bo points. No. 7—Wyndham, 20 men (A. Woods, conductor) ; " Loyal Hearts.”—This was played through very w-ell indeed the first time. In the second rendering the so-

prano broke some notes, and the cornets seemed to be failing. There was a want of balance towards the finish. The band gave a very fair performance.—77 points. Mr Stratton added that the bands should know that he did not receive copies of all the marches played. Those for the Winton and Wyndham bands were handed to him just before he entered the tent, and therefore he had not had time to make himself thoroughly acquainted with their selections. The copies should have been in his hands some considerable time prior to the contest.

The following are Mr Stratton's com ments in the waltz selections :—

No I—Orepuki ; “ Blue Danube.”—Tti'is waltz was a little too much for this band l . It is a beautiful thing, and they played it fairly well for a brass band, but they were unable to bring out what the composer intended. Some parts were played very nicely indeed. —81 points.

No. 2—Balclutha ; " My Colleen.”—This is a fairly easy waltz and presented no difficulties,. The band played it very well, and no great fault is to be found.—B2 points.

No. 3 — Bluff ; " Heliotrope.”—This waltz was played too quickly ; it would have been much better if played slower. In No. 2 the staccato passage was not very well done. The euphonium was very good indeed. In No. 3 the cornets were out of tune on the high notes. TCie accompaniments,. generally speaking, were rather heavy. A fairly gjood performance altogether.—Bo points. No. 4—Winton ; “ Mountain Daisy.” — The introduction was not played verywell—tha band did not get the right ideal,' The cornet played tho cadenza very well indeed. Tho basses wpre inclined to be very brassy at times, and the band was out of* tune a good bit.—7B points. No. sr-Wyndham ; “ Prairie Flower.”— This was a very good performance. In tho introduction the soprano was rather loud, but’.otherwise it was very well played all through. In No, 2 the euphonium played very well, as also did the cornet. In No. 3 the band got a little out of tune. In the coda the soprano was very good.—B('» points. No. 6—Gore ; “ Suspinul.”—Tho introduction was very well played, with the exception of the instruments getting a little out of tune occasionally. It is a minor movement,, and the chords seemed to trouble them a little. The cadenza was very- well done. No. 1 was also in a minor key, and it was well done, though a little out of tune. No. 2, in a major key, was good, and-the accompaoriments very good. TVn? soprano made his part specially good. In No. 3, with minor chords, the band was again a little out of tune ; cornets very good. In No. 4 the rallentando bar was very well taken, but the basses were rather noisy. A very good performance. —88 points. No. 7.—Nightcaps ; “ Mountain Daisy.” —This xqas not a very good performance. In the introduction they played fairly well, but were a little out of tune, and in No. 1 the accompaniments were too loud for the melody. In No, 2 the cornets were missing the high notes. It was the same in the other figures, the comets still struggling to get the notes. Only a fair performance.—7(s points.

Speaking to our reporter at the conclusion of the contest, Mr Stratton said that he had been very wefl pleased with what he had heard during, the day. The inarch music was good, and it had been a real pleasure to listen to* the waltzes. Some of t&le performances were so even that it was w little difficult to separate then. Though there were two or three which stood much above the others, there had lieen' no performance discreditable to any band. Generally, they were to be complimented on their playing. Gore, he was confident, would hold its own in a first-class bands contest, and one or two more would do the same. The country bands did not get much encouragement in the way of learning music by hearing other bodies of musicians ; they had to rely on themselves. and they deserved every encouragement.

O W C5 3* Q ■S = S 5*. = B’al 2 Band 60 General Drill io to o ct ci co m 20 Intervals etc. to to to IO to to to H O O 4> o - w 120 Paces O’ Ci tn Cl tn © O’ (XO-CCOCC 60 secs. Time H to M >-* M rp H rf- O © cn co O O 20 Points •»I -J '■» -Q oo OC X H* 4~ -J © h- ci -'J 100 Total

Band'. \ March. Waltz. Total. Gore. 84 88 — 1 72 Wyndham 77 86 — 163 Bulclutha . 76 ' 82 — -159 Winftfon 80 ■78 - 158 Bluff 74 80 — 151 Orepuki 81 — 153 Nightcaps .. 70 7.6 - 146