May
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Evesham Bandstand
Our first bandstand appearance of the
year took place in the sunshine at Evesham on Sunday 31 May. We squeezed on to
the bandstand and despite being two front row cornets short (well done to Helen
and Robin for maintaining their stamina throughout) gave a good concert for the
large audience enjoying the sun in the park.
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We opened with the march based on a
Frisian Air 'The Boy From Menaem'
by Goff Richards and followed this with the 'Overture
to the Music for the Royal Fireworks' by Handel to
commemorate the 250th anniversary of his death. The first of our soloists,
Hannah Williams, then stood up in the warm but breezy conditions to play 'The
Lazy Trumpeter'. We then went to the movies with an
arrangement by Andrew Duncan of Ennio Morricone's beautifully wistful 'Once
Upon a Time in the West' which featured our soprano
player, Kev Bennett, and the fun tuba solo 'The
Bare Necessities' featuring George Cullwick. A step
back in time followed with 'Jamie's Patrol', a piece describing the approach and
retreat of a Highland military band. The final soloist of the first half was one
of our young players, second cornet Grace Windsor, who stood up to play 'The
Sunshine of Your Smile'. The first half was brought
to a close with three popular Welsh tunes interwoven by Andrew Duncan into a
piece called 'Welsh Echoes'
that featured our Chairman, Mark Windsor, on solo saucepan!
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We opened the second half of our
afternoon concert with the uplifting Salvation Army march 'Goldcrest'.
This was followed by a short 'Stroll in the Park',
a fun light piece by Philip Sparke reminiscent of Gershwin's 'Walking the Dog'.
Our final soloist of the day was our principal cornet, Helen Walters who
demonstrated her ability to triple tongue in H. Round's 'Trumpet
Triplets'. We then took everyone back in time to
the 1950's and 60's with four tunes popular from that time. The first was the
spiritual 'O Happy Day',
the second featured our back row cornets in a quartet version of the duet 'Something
Stupid', the remaining two were combined in an
arrangement by Goff Richards entitled 'Rock Around
the Croc' - I'll leave you to figure out what the
tunes were!
We then took a swift hunting trip to
Vienna for the Strauss polka 'Auf de Jagd'
but only found Latin American cockroaches 'La
Cucaracha'. We rounded off our concert with a trip
through the United States of America with Harold Walters' 'Hootenanny'.
A good afternoon in the sun, hopefully the rest of our bandstand concerts will
be blessed with such good weather. |
Musical Appreciation and a Generous Gift
Occasionally there are moments and
events that catch you totally by surprise. One such event happened on the
evening of Wednesday 20th May. As sometimes happens we were contacted by e-mail
by an individual who was on holiday in the area and wished to come along to one
of our practices. Knowing how welcome Helen & I are made when we do the same we
wrote back to the individual inviting them along, asking them what instrument
they play and providing details of how to get to the Band Room.
The individual in question was an
American by the name of Paul Gunther, and as it turned out he didn't play a
brass instrument he just enjoyed listening to the sound of an English brass
band. So we welcomed him and his daughter, Janelle, into our Band Room and
allowed them to sit with several of our band supporters and listen to us
rehearse. He and his daughter enjoyed the experience and in their own words had
a marvellous time and were overwhelmed. On the night he left a donation of $200
for the Band (which we only found out about after he and his daughter had left
to return to their accommodation) and we presented him with one of our CD's.
Due to the generous donation we wrote
to him to say a big 'Thank You' and that we were glad he and Janelle had enjoyed
themselves.
Later that week we received a further
letter from Paul re-emphasising the great time that he had during his visit to
our rehearsal and saying that his wife had told him that if he had enjoyed it so
much he should give a larger donation. So he also enclosed a further donation of
$1,000 to the Band. To say that we were overwhelmed by his generosity is an
understatement.
On behalf of the Band I would like to
say an enormous
to Paul, Linda and Janelle Gunther.
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Tewkesbury Abbey Fete
On Monday 25th May the Band made its
annual appearance in support of the Tewkesbury Abbey Fete. This year was one of
those unusual years where the weather was fine!! As a result the fete was spread
out all over the grounds of the Abbey and there were thousands of visitors
milling around. The Band performed two half hour slots during the afternoon
featuring a mix of music from our current programme. |
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Training Band Concert, St John's Church, Churchdown
On Friday 22nd May the Training Band
gave a concert in St John's Church, Churchdown to raise funds for the continued
work of the Training Band and for the Gloucestershire Branch of the Alzheimer's
Society. The Concert featured a mixture of items from the Beginner and the
Intermediate Training Bands and was well received by the audience. |
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The Intermediate Band opened with the
jolly march 'Touchdown'
from the pen of James Pendleton. This was followed by 'Four
Spirituals' each preceded by an appropriate bible
reading; the four spirituals being 'Dem Bones',
'Amazing Grace', 'Jericho'
and 'When The Saints'.
The Beginner band then took the stage to show off their skills! Their programme
opened with Helen Walters' reflection on last years wet and rainy band camp 'Summer
Sunshine'. This was followed by an arrangement of
the French traditional tune 'Au CLair de la Lune'
by Helen featuring a wonderful opening gong clash from one of our youngest
players, percussionist Ben Stock. Next came one of the Beginner Band favourites
'Mr Jolly' by Gary
Young, before we took a trip to the wild west to meet an 'Afternoon
Cowboy'. The first half of the concert concluded
with the percussionists having fun in the piece 'Soul
Mate' from the Beginner Band Book. |
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After refreshments and the sale of
raffle tickets the second half of the concert commenced with Darrol Barry's
'Rocktangle' to wake
the audience back up after their snacks. We then returned to the wild west this
time to meet a few indians for a tour of their 'Big
Wig Wam'. The Intermediate Band then featured
several of its members in the easy solo feature from the pen of William Himes 'Muffins
Rhapsody' based on the popular beginners tune Hot
Cross Buns. The Band then brought things back up to date with a version of the
popular Mika tune 'Grace Kelly',
an upbeat version of 'This Little Light'
and an arrangement of the theme from Kung-Fu Panda 'Kung-Fu
Fighting'. The concert was brought to a close with
a descriptive suite by James Pendleton 'Castles of
Scotland'. This work comprises four movements each
based on a different Scottish Castle. The first movement 'Edinburgh
Castle' has a military feel to represent the
military tattoo, 'Stirling Castle'
and 'Rothesay Castle'
provide beautiful slow interludes that transport you to the picturesque
countryside of the Scottish Borders, before the final movement 'Loch
Doon' provided an impression of the historic
battles along the Scottish borders. |
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The audience greeted the end of the
concert with rapturous applause and requested an encore so the Intermediate Band
played 'Muffins Rhapsody' again.
The successful concert was followed by
the Training Band members enjoying a sleepless 'sleepover' in the
Church Hall playing games, eating snacks and chatting! |
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Charity Quintet, Ozleworth Park
On Sunday 17th May a quintet of players
from Tewkesbury Town Band were invited by the
Cheltenham Music Festival to provide some musical entertainment for
an Open Garden event at Ozleworth Park in support of the
Wellchild Charity.
Despite the rain the event was well supported and the quintet comprising Robin
Purser & Helen Walters on trumpets, Hadrian Walters on trombone, Dan Slater on
euphonium and George Cullwick on tuba provided a selection of old and new music
which was well received by those hardy individuals under umbrellas and in
raincoats!!
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Phoenix Festival Brass, Marlborough
Sunday 10th May saw the Band make its
annual trip to the Phoenix Festival of Brass Entertainment Contest. This year it
had move venue from the school in Hungerford back to its original venue of
Marlborough Town Hall; so our trip was slightly shorter than usual.
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We competed against four other bands and
were the third to play on the afternoon. We opened our programme with the hymn
tune 'Rockingham' that
caught the ear of the adjudicator Mike Kilroy and earned us the Best Hymn Tune
prize. We followed that with the Gordon Langford arrangement of the Frisian Air
'The Boy From Menaem'
which required a controlled performance in the boomy acoustic of the Town Hall
to get all the detail across.
After that we played a beautiful arrangement by Matt Kingston of the
Irish tune 'She Moved Through The Fair'
featuring a wonderfully atmospheric opening from Helen Walters and Will
Norman on cornet, and Helen Poole on flugel. Things then went up tempo
with the fantastically fun 'The Bare
Necessities' featuring George Cullwick as
out tuba soloist and numerous other wannabe soloists from around the
band. A special mention must go to Helen Poole who played a fantastic
jazzy interlude at the beginning from memory.
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We then provided the audience
with a little story in the form of the tale of Joshua and the Battle of
Jericho with William Himes' 'Jericho
Re-visited'. Guest conductor Monsignor
Fettucini (aka Robin Purser) took the baton whilst Nigel Morgan read the
narrative over the band's descriptive playing. We closed our programme
with a rapid romp through the Strauss polka 'Auf
de Jagd'.
Our playing earned us the
overall 1st Prize from adjudicator Mike Kilroy, and we also achieved 2nd
place in the Entertainment Section, from the entertainment panel of four
Phoenix Band followers, and 2nd prize in the soloists competition. Our
Congratulations go out to all the other participating bands for making a
great afternoon of music. The Senior Band are sad to be making our last
visit (for some time hopefully) to this Festival since we will no longer
be eligible to attend following our promotion to the Third Section.
However, we are hoping to continue our support of this Festival in the
future with the participation of our Training Band.
A big Thank You should also go to Rob
Folland of Cheltenham Silver Band who stepped in at short notice on Euphonium
due to the bereavement of our 2nd Euphonium players mother. Our thoughts are
also with Julia and her family.
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May
| Sunday 10th |
Phoenix Brass Band Festival,
Marlborough |
| Friday 22nd |
Training Band Concert, St John's
Church, Churchdown |
| Monday 25th |
Tewkesbury Abbey Fete [1:30-2pm and
2:30-3pm] |
| Sunday 31st |
Evesham Bandstand [2:30-4:30pm] |
June
Stroud Bandstand
On Sunday 28 June the Band made its
annual appearance at the bandstand in Stratford Park, Stroud. It was a warm
summer's day for once and the area near the park was busy with an antique bus
fair and model railway exhibition. The Band played a varied programme including
items such as 'The Boy From Menaem',
a tribute to Handel with the first movement from 'Music
for the Royal Fireworks', several solo items ('Trumpet
Triplets' featuring Helen Walters on cornet, 'Sunshine
of Your Smile' featuring Grace Windsor on cornet, 'The
Bare Necessities' featuring George Cullwick on Eb
Bass, 'Rusalka'
featuring Will Norman on cornet) and several light numbers 'A
Stroll in the Park', 'La
Cucaracha' and 'Rock
Around the Croc'.
A special mention must go to our guest players Rhydian
Griffiths on percussion and Tracey King on Soprano Cornet. A big thank you to
both and a bravery award to Tracey for taking on the Soprano solo feature in 'Once
Upon A Time in the West'.
Half Century!
On Saturday 27 June Helen and I
travelled to Oxford to celebrate the 50th birthday of former band member Martyn
Sudworth. As is requisite at an event such as this we had taken our instruments
along and joined in with a band of his family and friends for a brief birthday
concert.
School Fete Fun
On one of the warmest days this summer,
Saturday 27 June, the Training Band appeared at the John Moore School Fete
playing two half hour programmes of their favourite tunes for an appreciative
audience. The Fete was an excellent showcase for the various activities and
clubs that children in Tewkesbury and its surrounding area can get involved with
to constructively use their energy and enthusiasm. The Training Band also had a
stall advertising what we do and providing people with the opportunity to have a
go on an instrument. We look forward to meeting some of the many individuals who
had a go at our band room where they can begin their participation in a
fantastic and fulfilling life of music making. |
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A Cave and a Town Hall
One of the great things about being a
musician is the weird and wonderful contrast in locations that you get to
display your talents! On Saturday 20th Helen and I were invited to join
Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra as they gave a concert in the unusual
underground location of Clearwell Caves. This was a fantastic location for a
concert with one of the caves providing a natural amphitheatre. The concert
featured several pieces with a natural world theme and was kept to a maximum of
1 hour in duration due to the low temperature in the caves. |
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The first piece was Dvorak's 'In
Nature's Realm', an atmospheric piece of writing
reminiscent of Beethoven's Pastorale Symphony in places that really set the
scene for the concert. This was followed by three movements from Elgar's Wand of
Youth Suite No.2 'March',
'The Little Bells' and
'The Wild Bears'. The
best piece of writing for the brass section of the orchestra and for me the most
fascinating piece of the evening was 'Luna Nueva'
from the pen of Gloucestershire composer
Hayley
Savage. This piece captures the atmosphere of the rainforest and
featured the children's choir of Primrose Hill School in Lydney providing words
and rainforest effects with shakers, scrapers, etc. The concert concluded with
the famous 'Sorcerer's Apprentice'
by Dukas.
In contrast to this the following week Helen & I appeared
in Cheltenham Town Hall with the Lakeside Concert Band as part of the Not Youth
Makes Music concert! |
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St Catherine's Church Fete
On the afternoon of Saturday 20th June
the Training Band made what has become its annual appearance as entertainment at
St Catherine's Church Fete in Gloucester. The Band entertained the fete-goers as
they queued to gain entry to the event with a selection of their favourite tunes
and then played at two other times during the afternoon for the gathered crowds.
We played some original works for brass band such as James
Pendleton's 'Castles of Scotland Suite'
as well as a selection of popular tunes arranged for band, 'Grace
Kelly', 'Kung Fu
Fighting', 'I Don't
Feel Like Dancing' and 'Scooby
Doo'. There was plenty of time for the Training
Band members to look around the stalls, eat ice creams and buy plants!
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A whistle down
the wind!
Our Annual Proms concert took place at
the Roses Theatre on Saturday 13th June and this year it featured one of the
Worlds greatest whistler's, David Morris. David had previously starred with many
a musical ensemble from top brass bands to orchestras from around the world. So
on 13th June it was his chance to appear with Tewkesbury Town Band and wow the
Tewkesbury audience with his talents. |
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We opened our concert with the traditional Frisian Air, 'The
Boy From Menaem', arranged by Gordon Langford.
Little is known about the story of the boy but the music provides an upbeat
concert opener with a fanfare introduction followed by a jovial tune that passes
around the band before reaching a rousing conclusion. We followed this with the
fast Strauss polka 'Auf der Jagd'
which had the audience in a whirl as they went off to the hunt! Matters then
took a more romantic turn as William Norman beautifully played the cornet solo 'Rusalka's
Song to the Moon' by Dvorak bringing tears to the
eyes of those more emotional members of the audience.
William was then joined by his front row colleagues, Helen
Walters and Robin Purser for the jazzy 'Tijuana
Holiday' by Derek New. A piece that keeps all of
the band on their toes. Some hauntingly beautiful soprano playing was featured
in the exquisitely descriptive theme from 'Once
Upon A Time in the West' by Ennio Morricone
arranged for brass band by Andrew Duncan. This was followed by some great solo
saucepan playing by our Chairman, Mark Windsor, in another arrangement by Andrew
Duncan of three popular Welsh tunes (Sosban Fach, David of the White Rock, and
Watching the Wheat) into a great piece entitled 'Welsh
Echoes'.
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After that build up it was then time for the star act that
everyone had been waiting for.....their curiosity could now be answered. David
Morris took the stage to expertly whistle his way through three tricky tunes
with our accompaniment highlighting his skill and the variety of styles that he
can whistle in. He opened with the fast and furious triple tonguing (triple
whistling?) item 'Trumpet Triplets'
by Henry Round. This was followed by the popular slow melody, 'Londonderry
Air', before he stunned the audience with his
rendition of the 'Post Horn Galop'.
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The Band then concluded the first half of the concert with
the delightful Irish folk melody 'She Moved Through
The Fair' expertly arranged by Matt Kingston
featuring some wonderful cornet and flugel playing, and the Handel tribute 'Hallelujah'
from Messiah arranged by Philip Sparke. |
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The second half of the concert opened with another item to
mark the 250th anniversary of Handel's death, the 'Music
for the Royal Fireworks' suite arranged by Denis
Wright. We then led the audience on 'A Stroll In
the Park' before being re-joined by our guest
soloist for his second selection of whistling favourites! He opened with Sousa's
'Stars and Stripes Forever',
before showing off his ability to hold a good slow melody with 'The
Sunshine of Your Smile' and concluded with the fast
and furious Monti's 'Czardas'. |
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The concert was then brought to a rousing conclusion with
the Last Night of the Proms favourites, 'Fantasia
on British Sea Songs', 'Pomp
and Circumstance no. 1' and 'Jerusalem'
with the audience being led in their flag waving and singing by our very own
multi-talented, Helen Poole, star singer and flugel player! A big thank you goes
out to Robert Morgan of Lydbrook Band who helped us out on cornet and our good
friend Dan Slater who played 2nd Baritone.
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Band Social - Bandroom Pig Roast
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On Saturday 6th June the Band had a pig
roast social event kindly organised by Linda Lee at her house. Unfortunately the
weather proved pretty awful on the day so we rapidly re-arranged the venue to
being at our new Band Room. Around 65 or so of the Band's members, parents and
supporters enjoyed a fun afternoon and evening sampling some great food and
enjoying a light-hearted concert by the combined members of the Beginner,
Intermediate and Senior Bands of the Tewkesbury Town Band organisation.
The concert featured one of our youngest players at the
age of 7, Ben Stock, from the Beginner Band on percussion and one of the oldest
members of our Band at the age of 74, Keith Rose, also on percussion. It really
goes to show the universal language of music and how it touches all generations.
We played a selection of pieces from the repertoires of all three bands and
everyone had a go even if they didn't know all the notes!
After the concert we enjoyed a delightful spread of
snacks, cakes and pork sandwiches! Thanks to all the organisers of the event for
their hard work.
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June
| Saturday 6th |
Band Social, Pig Roast - members, friends
and family of all three Tewkesbury bands are welcome! |
| Saturday 13th |
Proms Concert, Roses
Theatre, Tewkesbury [7:30pm] - Featuring special guest soloist David
Morris, World Champion Whistler
Box office: (01684) 295074 |
| Saturday 20th |
St Catherine's Church Fete, Gloucester
- Training Band |
| Saturday 27th |
John Moore School Fete,
Tewkesbury
- Training Band |
| Sunday 28th |
Stroud Bandstand [2:30-4:30pm] |
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Copyright © 2008 Melbo Productions. All rights reserved.
Revised:
November 01, 2009