2007 Australian National Band Championships

Report: D Grade Hymn and Test

A report from Saturdays performance of the Hymn and Test.

D Grade Hymn and Test                              
Adjudicator:  Chris Earl
Test: Glasgow Overture, Alan Fernie

Oakleigh City (Vic),  Hayden Dinse
Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns, George J Elvey

Nice fanfare work to begin just marred by touches of intonation. Flugal did well. Well balanced sounds in the fortes. Good chord sounds to finish. Good attempts at dynamics. 13 year old flugal played well.

Test - The intonation lapses to start - mutes. Cornet solos well handled. Good sensible tempos set throughout the piece and generally well played with all soloists secure. Good secure and solid bass end throughout.

A good start to the section.

Latrobe City Brass (Vic)   Dr Cyril Payne
Hymn - Excerpt from "The Kingdom Triumphant" - Eric Ball

An ambitious choice which didn't really come off well for us. Marred by missed entries and wrong notes.

Test -  Good solid bass chords. Cornet solo and flugal did well. Allegro vivo quavers not together took time to settle into a good tempo. Nice flugal at 5. Good atempt at syncopated rhythms throughout.  Intonation and loose playing affected overall performance.

Sale city (Vic), Hugh Davies
Hymn: Lloyd, Alan Fernie

Recovered well after a loose start, nicely played by cornets, phrasing neat and tidy but could have more dynamic contrasts.

Test - Good positive start cornet and flugal doing well.  Allegro sets off at a lively pace with syncopated rhythms not always clear, good work by horns at 8. Good exciting ending,well done.
For us the allegro tempos were a bit quick with come clarity lost in sections to make a small point.
 
Why is there a 10-15 minute delay between bands already??

Darebin City-Northern Brass (Vic), Andrew Power
Hymn: Sandon, arr.Roy Newsome

Well balanced sounds to start,good attention to dynamics,good work in the obligatos by cornet and Sop. A lovely dynamic to finish.

Test - Euphos and basses start well and well done to solo cornet and flugel. Allegro good tempo and everything in its place. This was a very good performance with all soloists playing well and little intonation problems to speak off. We have them in front so far.

Echuca Federal (Vic),  Doug Morrison
Hymn: The Old Rugged Cross, Bennard arr. Simon Wood

Twenty five minutes after the last band left the stage the percussionist came out and tuned timpanis! They then left and still we wait.

Untuneful mutes to start. Well done to the horn but we felt the tempo a bit too quick. Nice work by the solo cornet. This piece would have been enhanced by a slower tempo and a more legato style.

Test - Confident opening and again cornet and flugal played nicely. Allegro vivo rythms seemed to get crossed over throughout the band. More detail to dynamics would have enhanced performance.

Mildura District Brass(Vic), Leigh Penna
Hymn: Who is he? arr. Richards Phillips

Lovely start to the hymn by solo cornet. Perhaps more dynamic range needed. Cymbals a tad overdone. Untuneful parts at stages throughout.

Test - Opening chords not quite balanced. lovely work by Euphonium. A safe tempo at the Allegro. Good attention paid to dynamics. The band played at a steader tempo than previous bands but we felt this paid off with the parts coming through clearly.

City of Bendigo (Vic), Andrew Trewartha
Hymn: Kingsfold, Vince Jordan

Nice tempo flowed nicely. Intonation generally good. Maybe a bit more dynamic range would have added to this enjoyable performance.

Test - Cup mutes not quite in tune at the start. Moved nicely through 1. Good tempo quavers together. Flugal does well at 5. Good ff at 11. Good dynamic range throughout, some nice tight playing and a good finish. Well done.

Mornington Youth and Citizens' (Vic), Marc Nethercot
Hymn: Evening Song arr. Jan de Haan

Intonation at beginning. Tempo a little stilted. Well done cornet soliost.

Test - Good opening with cornet and flugal. Nice tempo band parts together good solid playing. Would have like to hear more risks taken with dynamics. Nice playing bass end. Well done.

Cresswick Municipal Brass (Vic),  Lloyd Stinton
Hymn: Deep Harmony, Handel Parker, arr. Alan Fernie

Nice tuneful start, cornets not moving together. Intonation suffers throughout.

Test - Cornet and flugal at beginning could have been played in more of a cantable style. Excellant bass and
Eupho sound at figure 1. Allegro vivo good change in tempo  Nice tune at 3, solo cornet, Eupho and flugel. Lack of dynamic contrast throughout piece.  Nice work tenor horns at fig 8. number 11 good solid band sound. Figure 13 horns not quite together. Bass trom and basses not together at 14. Nice work at rall at coda sign. Well done to the end.

Croydon Citizens', (Vic), Melina Benger
Hymn: Crimond, arr. Herman Oldenstijl

Intonation suffers in the intro,tune moves along nicely through the verses perhaps a more legato approach would suit. Nice full sound to finish.

Test- lower end could have been more p as marked,Horns move nicely through fig.1 Tuning before allegro Sop/glock? Some good work through the running quavers in the allegro,good basses at fig14 Cornets loose and not balanced through 16. Good euph before 18, Nice tight finish but overbalancing in the cornets marred this performance.

City of Holroyd, (NSW), Stephen Nolan
Hymn: Nicaea,  arr. William Himes

Nice work by the solo cornet to begin and good band sounds follow with good attention to dynamics throughout the hymn. Well done

Test-Ex opening well balanced and good work by cornet/flugal Nice work flugal through fig.5 Nice sounds coming through at 10-12 Loose bar before 18. This was a well directed performance.  Good balance and tempos. Well done.

City of Frankston, (Vic),  Kevin Morgan
Hymn: Lloyd, Cuthbert Howard arr. Alan Fernie

Intonation problems at the intro. Verse 1 settles. Good use of dynamic range. Good work by euph in verse 2. Percussion not together at end.

Test - Not really p at the beginning. Percusson not together with soprano. Allegro vivo good and together. Basses and troms not together after 14. Good sounds in the bass end. 10 thru 12 displayed good band sounds. Good finish.

Moonee Valley Brass, (Vic), John Breen
Hymn: Nottingham arr. Goff Richards

Not together at the start. Intonation in the horns. Band not together through verse 2. Solid bass end. A pity about the intonation lapses throughout.

Test - Bad luck solo cornet at start but you recover well. Not balanced at 1. Nice euph at allegro vivo. Rythms crossed before 5. Nice flugal playing throughout. Lower cornets not tidy at 8. Figure 16 cornets not together. Good sop at 17 band nice and together here. Some good playing but also lapses of concentration. Some of the nicest flugal playing today. Good solid finish.

Bairnsdale Citizens', (Vic),  Kees Dogger
Hymn: Crown Him With Many Crowns, George J Elvery

Nice bright sound to start. Good solid verse 1. Intonation not always true throughout band. A more legato style would have benefited your performance.

Test - Intonation not good at start. Safely negotiated by solo cornet. Rocky at allegro vivo. Settles at 3. Figure 8-10 nice work by the horns. Fig 16 good ff. Good attempts at dynamics. Solid finish.

Conclusion:

At the end of a very long session - 14 bands in total spanning 7 hours, at least 2 hours could of been cut off this session had the bands not been kept to the half hour time slot. Why allow half an hour per band when the test is approx 7 minutes long plus a hymn, and then have the adjudicator and audience sit for 15-20 mins waiting for the next band. On the positive side it was good to see so many bands making the effort to attend with full section.  Also the number of young conductors coming through was very positive. It was a well chosen piece for the D grade and all the bands seemed to enjoy playing it. Overall intonation problems need
to be addressed more thoroughly as this was an issue with nearly all the bands.

Our picks for the Hymn were:

1. Darebin
2. Holroyd
3. Bendigo

Our picks for the Test were:

1. Darebin
2. Holroyd
3. Frankston      

Brent Hoy