MUSIC AND BANDS

Southland Times, Issue 17553, 17 January 1914, Page 10

MUSIC AND BANDS

(Notes by “Eupho”). Tlie Auckland contest commences on the 9th of next month, and continues for a week. The three local bands sent an entry, but only one (the Hibernian) will compete, circumstances having arisen which wiU prevent the Dominion and Garrison from making the trip. There are twenty-nine entries, IB A grade and 1 3 B grade. The Hibernian Band intend giving two concerts on the way 1o Auckland, it satisfactory arrangements can be made, one at Timaru and the other at Wellington. It is to be hoped that ail players will be able to obtain the necessary leave from employment, so that the band may enter the competition with their strongest team,'and thus give them a chance to do themselves and the town credit. 1 learn that the class started by the Territorials some time ago are making good headway, and the Regimental Band will secure many good recruits from its ranks.

The municipal concerts are a bit late in starling this year on account of the local contest. The Council expect the bands to give concerts in the suburbs again, notwithstanding the fact that the suburban concerts have been a failure. I attended two concerts in the suburbs last year, and 1 am certain that the adult portion of the audience was not more than a couple of dewen in each case. If the Council want the bands to give successful concerts in the suburbs it is quite evident that they will have to provide some sort of convenience in the way of a stand to play on. and suitable lights, then the concerts can be made enjoyable and the public will patronise them. Should the Council decide to build rotundas at the Waihopai Reserve and Georgetown, or Soutli Invercargill, the trouble about suburban concerts would be at an end.

Music lovers are in for a treat next Tuesday evening, when Paul Dufault, the great Canadian tenor, and his concert company will occupy the Muncipal Theatre. _

Mr C. Mills, cornet soloist for the Garrison Band left for Melbourne last week. Mr Mills will be a great loss to the local band, as he was a good bandsman and a capable player. The Hibernian Band gave a concert in Rugby Part last Sunday afternoon, and will play again at the same place next Sunday evening after church services are over.

The Royal Artillery Band is proving one of the main attractions at the Auckland .Exhibition —in fact, to many people it is the chief "draw." Crowds flock to hear Bandmaster Stratton and his company of accomplished musicians, and toe programmes are greatly appreciated. There is not much likelihood of the band being heard anywhere else in New Zealand, for when its northern engagement is ended the band will in all probability leave Auckland direct for the OJd Country.

Napier has ambitions, and the principal one at the present moment to increase its population by attracting people there and inducing them to make it their permanent abode. A Thirty Thousand Club has boon formed, ■with the object of bringing the burgess roll of tbe borough up to that strength, and (he members are sanguine of success. A Marcli Gras carnival was recently held, and proved very popular. In pursuance of its policy the club has decided to put in an application to the North Island Brass Bands' Association, asking that the next contest he held at Napier, and the necessary deposit, with a guarantee, has been forwarded. Such enterprise should bring its own reward. Mr Alexender Owen still maintains his wonderful personality and the way he bandies a baud leaves nothing to he desired (says the "British Bandsman ). He seems as ‘lively, cheerful and active as ever/ A fine teacher, soloist, and author, as .veil as arranger of brass band music. Mr Owen is one of a school whose splendid gifts deserve better appreciation among the younger generation of brass band players. A band contest was held at Belfast. Ireland, recently, Lieutenant J. OrdHume adjudicating. The first prize carried with it the Irish championship title. This was won by the Bessbrook Band. The Sirocco Silver Band had held the championship for some years and its defeat at Belfast caused surprise. But there is no better judge in the Britisli Empire than Lieut. Ord-Hume. and the Sirocco players must have been fairly beaten. King Cross Band. England, has a thir-teen-year-old cornet player, by name Willie Rush-worth, who is quite adept on that instrument. At a solo contest held recently at Oakengates, he gained second prize and cornet medal in the adult section and first prize and cornet medal in the boys’ section. During the past season the number of performances given by tbe London County Council’s three bands and hired bands was 1259. Of these. 1070 performances were given at fifty places under the Council's control, and 189 performances at sixteen places under the controlof other authorities. The sunt voted in respect of the performances was £12,500, and the total expenditure amounted to £12,296 15s 7d. Receipts for the sale of programmes at %d each, and the letting of chairs at %d each, amounted to £834 19s 7%d and £683 5s 2d respectively, these figures showing increases of £9B Os and £9O 19s 9d respectively, or a total of £lB9 0s 5%d, upon the corresponding figures for the season 1912.

Tl}e Besses-o'-th‘-Bajxi Band gave a concert at Stalybridge. Lancashire, recentlv. Newspaper reports credit the band'with giving an exceptionally fine performance. The programme- was as follows:—March. ‘'The President”; overture "Don Giovanni”: cornet solo, ‘‘Abide with Me” (soloist, R. Hutchison)selection, •‘Elijah”; fantasia, “Voure vpir de Russe”: hymn , (varied) “Austrian"; selection, “Les Huguenots”; chorus, “Kyrie and Gloria.” The euphonium solos were played by F. Webb, a young instrumentalist who is likely to develop into a-Car-ter, a Scott or a Kerry. W. Weedall was the' trombone soloist, and G. Bromllow the tenor horn soloist. Three of these names. Hutchison. Webb and Bromllow are new to bandsmen of these parts. It is astonishing to note the number of clever young instrumentalists that are heard in England from time to time. The programme synopsis of the Auckland Exhibition band contest has been circulated. From it the following extracts are taken concerning the order of events: —Monday, February 9. 9 a_m„ baritone competition*: p.m., B-fiat trombones: 7 p.m.. E-fiat cornets. Tuesr day, February 10 —9 a.ir... euphonium solo: 2 p.m.. E-flat cornets; 3 p.m.. Bilat basses: S p.m., B grade first test selection; 7 p.m., A grade first test selection. Wednesday, Eebruary 11—9 a.tn.. tenor horn competition: 1.30 p.m., garden party at Exhibition Grounds; 7 p.m., quartets: 9 p.m.. trombone trios. Thursday, February 12—9 a.m., . E-flat bass solo: 2 p.m., 88-flat bass; 7 p.m.. B grade second test selection. Friday, February 13—9 a.m., flugel horn competition; 2 p.m., G trombones; 6 p.m., A grade second test selection. Saturday, February it—9 a.m., side drums competition; 12 o’clock. B grade quickstep. Domain cricket ground: 2 p.m.. A grade quickstep competition. Domain cricket ground; S p.m.. Exhibition-grounds, grand military musical programme, including massed performance of test selections, conducted by the judge. Captain W. G. Bentley. The test selections will bo played on the band rotunda in the Exhibition grounds and the solo, quartet and trombone trio events will be decided in the concert' hall. The drawing for places will take place half an hour before a competition is timed to commence. A little success to some people is nothing less than a huge calamity. Generally speaking, success acts like a tonic and supplies the necessary motive power for achieving greater tilings in the future. This, unfortunately, is not always the cuse (writes “Observer” in the “British Bandsman”), and many a hand has become a hopeless wreck as the 1-e.sult of one or two iirir.es at minor contests. It is all a question of “side." We have known bands which, after winning the fourth prize at third-rate contests, have become as inflated over the affair as if they had -won the Thousand Guinea Cup. and much more so than the majority of bands who do actually win it. On ona occasion the writer heard the solo cornet player of such a band declare that he would not play second to any man in the kingdom. What a statement to make! Men who talk in this strain are generally musical nonenties who. either by a fluke or a stroke of good luck, have been put in possession of something which they do not really merit. But. there you are: Suppose all the first violins iii a good orchestra were to be a# fected with the same kind of madness, and all demanded to sit on the leader's chair or else refuse to play. Fancy a man who would rather plar solo cornet in a fifth-rate band than assistant solo in a band of decent pretensions! But we have heaps of bigheaded comet players of this sort, men who must be heard, and generally men who, the less we hear of them, the better they are liked. The non-musician stamps himself in every movement. Some people consider that all bandsmen are musicians, but this is not the case by any means. Some musicians there are, certainty, but there is more than a sprinkling of the other sort. The man who dedines to play seconds to anybody is a good example of this kind of man. The true musician is content to play In anv capacity so long as he is playing a part and playing it properly. He does not object to play replano if the man wb® plays solo cornet is capable of doing this properly. Brass bands are not organised merely for the benefit of one band, but this is the idea which some comet players entertain with regard to themselves. They are always ready to tell what they want, and if they are not successful in securing it they stoop to all kinds of mean tricks in order to cause inconvenience ta the other members thinking, no doubt, that their services are indispensable. The only way for a band to be entirely successful is for every player, from top to bottom, to sink his individuality and get rid of his selfishness. He must look upon the band as a community of men all doing their best for one common cause. When this is accomplished half the way to success is assured.