CONTEST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7661, 17 January 1901, Page 1

CONTEST.

. \— — ♦ . r ■■ . THE JUDGE'S REPORT.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE CON-

TESTS.

; ,Mr W. Jenner, the . secretary of the iJabilee Band Contest Committee, has re'Ceive^ the following ' letter from Mr 3", !M. ; Wa!laoe, the judge of the recent contests t— ■ .. ; '■-...... | . -It is quite /beyond my power to attempt 1 anything like a full report of the performances at the Jubilee Band Contest, a*' the , impression made' by each band-^strong . enough at ;the tame-^-was soon almost obliterated by the playing of the subsequent, ones. The notes taken down by the shorthand-writer you will find scrappy, disjointed and inadequate, and a constant, repetition of similar short sentences. Unavoidably so, as there was no time for . consideration, or choice ol language j eacfc defect or merit 1 had 'to be- noted instantaneously, and in' the most concise ananner possible^ These notes, unless read in, conjunction with the full scores, will prove, I am afraid, scarcely comprehensible. ' . , First, let me express- my astonishment at, amdi adtairation of, the many fine performances given : during the contest. It was a great surprise and pleasure' to me to find the colony possessed such a number of capital players on brass instruments/ and so many thoroughly equipped', brass bands. All who were present on Thursday evening must have been delighted with the brilliant performances and' (with few exceptions) ambitious choice of the several bands. One of th,ose exceptions I feel compelled to-^draw. special attention '. to— 4he one' entitled "E4 Dorado;" a v pjece quite unworthy a place in the; grand' Jirogramme submitted to criticism oni the." own choice right. * The'werdf "selectioV' "l take 1 it, means a selection from a work, or works, of some eminent composer.' "El Dorado" is certainly not that. It is, as. certainly, not an overture in the accepted sense of the term, although so dubbed .by, the writer, but . simply a string of short (about sixteen.-bai| phrases, tuneful enough;, but commonplace and easy in the extreme. It contains no attempt to display the capabilities of a good band, and should have had no place in a competitioa of saoh. a hjgh. standard as the Jubilee Band Contest. ; In justice to the other competitors, who had chosen 'high-class, and! . mostly . very difficult, selections, I was obliged to treat with severity even minor defects in the rendering of this paltry, piece. ' The sclo coipipetitions compelled! my wannest approbation. The high .pitch of -exceUejice, attained \by many (players on basses, baritones, horns and.iJ ttajt cornets, ; and " the . all-roundi . jp&it of mo?t of thei .atliersr, 'far ,excfipded ; . any •expectation, of •• mine. The irombones affll" sapraioo-'cpinejla, I musb confess, caused iine.'disappointmensb.; The to^bonesj 'as a rule^ -were fair, but., only two ox 'three' really shone .as solo players 5 whilst the E flat cornets gave a much strained- and frequently painful exhibition. The cultivation! of so useful, and in the bmd so effective, an inetrument as the soprano cornet ought to be strenuously encouraged by all bandmasters. With few exceptions, I found that phrasing (am essential study for all who aim at solo playing), when not entirely inegleoted, was mucth exaggerated. An instance, which ccastantiy cropped up,, to exemplify what I mean by exaggeration! : a 1 dot over or under a note does not always imply that that note, whether quaver, crotchet or minim, should be played staccatissimo. A v ocalisb would not dream* of singing such notes in the ludicrous fashion most of the c^loiste played .them. The singing style I -ought to be more studitod, Th»-meaiE©r one

the more pleasing, effective and correct will be the phrasing of the piece. Are there no good solo's for brass instruments? All but 'a very few of the com>petitors played! pieces (with varying titles, it is time) bearing to .each other suoh^ a strong family resemblance that it \tf"as difficult to distinguish, one from the other. All were built on the same lines, worked after the same pattern,, ca**.™ 1 *'^ 6 sap 16 mould, ground;' out of 'the Vsarne mdl. There's a choice of metaphors v -^or you! Receipt . for manufacturing a . soloM or anybrass instrument: An introduction, witfi at least one cadenza "(preferably t^vo), with plenty of staccato notes in it; some simple, melody, "My Pretty Jane," "for example, but any well-known tune will do ; Var 1, triplei quavers throughout ; -Var 2, .in semiquavers ; a short distortion in minor of the selected melody; finale, alia polacca, or bolero, or polonaise/ witb a .goodly 1 amount of trlple-tongueing, to display the executant's dexterity. I, retain-, fiifhly pleasing recollections of Reynolds and! other celebrated English comet players. • Occasionally, but rarely, they indulged mi fiis^works. As a rule they chose for their solosV the highest class, of song, such as Schubert's " Serenade " or Beethoven's „". Adelaida." :Of these, and of similar compositions, Reynolds gave >& complete and; altogether satisfying reading, charming amateur and professional musicians alike, with his beautiful, rich and singing tone, and) by his filched, artistic phrasing — jan example for all performers, tin brass; instruments to follow. •'/.' ,;•.■."'■'"... ',_/! \should like to air my views ; upon several matters connected 1 with band contests, such as the advisableness of obtaining three judges in future, especially if the contests are likely to approach the dimensions of the one just passed. The brainparalysing, nerve-shattering strain and responsibjlity are much too great for one, merely human, to undertake. Some means of adjusting the " own choice " seleefiqn to the standard of the "test" piece should also command the serious consideration; of' the committee. There are many other, points upon which I have strong opinions, but I refrain from particularising, as my letter has already reached an unconscionable length. ' ' . A. few words with reference to the marching competition and I have finished. The great majority of the bamd.s made identically the same mistakes in phrasing. Surely, bandmasters ought to realise, with-' out any hint from me, that, in a con-test-piece, one cannot be too particular in observance of marks of expression, slurs, accents, ©tc. In the trio, the euphonium, in most of the -bands, whilst playing the . melody in unison with the cornets, dropped' a third (I don't know in which, bar, as I have not the score with me), and played C. D. minims, instead of E flat F. It is trua it is so written (wrongly) in the score, amdl doubtitess the some mistake occurs in the printed euphonium part ; but I maintain that, amongst a bandmaster's duties, I a most important one is the correction c£ wrong notes. Probably, bandmasters consider the side-drum too insignificant an instrument to claim any notice from the judge, otherwise, it is inexplicable, how they allowed their drummers to simply •vamp all through. In marches, to my mind, the side-drum plays 'a prominent and important part, and If the composer takes the trouble to write a special part for that instrument it is the iiuty of the performer to play exactly. what is set down for him, and still more is it the duty of the ba?ndmaster to see that the part is -correctly. . jrtayied:. _. .., Three^fourtW ■■ of^ths,; drummers vamped ~6cme^SSa^l^^ ! %S''fi- J semblance to the part written for them 1 , amid all. but two or three, at the outside, ignored the directdonj extending over two bars, "to be played on the rim."

I beg to. offer to yourself and to your committee my hearty congratulations on the perfect) manner in which the business portion of the contest was managed. ; .