Exmouth Entertainment Contest 2011

This Saturday saw Phoenix travel to Exmouth to take part in their annual brass band entertainment contest. In previous years the band had done well at the contest so we had high hopes of coming away with some silverware again.

In preparation for the contest the band invited two professional conductors to come in and take our rehearsals whilst Dave Hatton was off on his belated honeymoon. We owe a great deal of thanks to Dave Hayward and Dave Barringer, both excellent musicians and band trainers, whom helped put us through our paces so we did not  "slack off" whilst Dave H was on holiday.

The theme of the contest programme was "A Night at the Movies", with all pieces taken from a variety of films. To accompany the music, Dave had a friend create a slideshow which we had projected onto a screen behind the band on stage.

We were drawn 11th out of the 12 bands which entered. Being drawn so late in the day meant that the stage was baking hot but the plus side was that we had a pretty full audience to entertain.

The programme we played consisted of:

• Where Eagles Dare
• Through the Eyes of Love (from the film Ice Castles)
• Star Treck
• Avatar
• The Incredibles

Getting us off to a cracking start were our percussionists, Ash and Myra who starred at the beginning of Ron Goodwins march, "Where Eagles Dare". Following the march came our soloist our principal cornet, Matt Read, who played a lovely rendition of "Through the Eyes of Love" which was taken from the film "Ice Castles". More on this later ... "Star Treck" was next up, which was especially arranged for the band by Dave. Continuing our exploration into space we payed a slow section of the film music from the blockbuster "Avatar". Our finale was the fast and furious theme music from the family animated film, "The Incredibles".

All in all the band played well and coped on a very hot stage. There was the odd "blip" here and there but it was probably the best we had played the pieces altogether so think we were all pleased that it was over and we had done our best.

To the results ...

Sadly we didn't quite match up to the successes we had in the past couple of years, but we did come a very credible 4th. The adjudicator commended Dave on his attempts at trying new things, mentioning the use of the slideshow in his post adjudication speech. In the bands adjudicators notes, we were also praised for the choice of music, with Melvin liking the arrangement of "The Incredibles".

We didn't walk away empty handed however as our cornet player and soloist won the Mary Rous shield for the best soloist. This is the 3rd time that Matt has entered as a soloist at the contest and the 3rd time he's walked away with the trophy. Congratulations ... perhaps next year he'll have to leave it to someone else in the band to win it for us

Finally

There are a few people who we need to thank who helped us prepare and perform on the day, these are:

• Tom Lisset, for his superb comparing of our performance
• Dave Hayward and Dave Barringer for their time covering Dave Hattons rehearsals whilst away on holiday
• Dave's friend Adam for his time preparing and organising the slideshow on the day
• Alan, Gary and Simon for playing horn, BBb and trombone

Alan Harding	Simon Carr

 Anyone wishing to read the adjudicators comments can do so here

More information and full results can be found on 4Barsrest.

Released On 5th Sep 2011