Fete
Complet
On Saturday 25th June the
Training Band, ably assisted by several members of the Senior Band, entertained
the crowds at the Alderman Knight School Fete. The Band played inside due to
inclement weather but this did not prevent us and the keen supporters of
Alderman Knight School from having fun whilst raising funds for this special (in
every sense of the word) school. The Senior Band members were treated to the
delights and complexities of the Training Band programme; such as
The Muppet
Show,
Netherlands [from the Little Europe
Suite] (complete with bicycle bells), Handbags &
Gladrags,
The
Cathedral Suite, and of course
Here Comes
Bobby The Bear!
Proms
Magic
Tewkesbury experienced a spectacular sunny
summer day on Saturday 18 June, and that evening the Roses Theatre audience were
presented with an equally spectacular feast of entertainment! The hot muggy
atmosphere and a lengthy programme meant that the stamina of both the audience
and all of the performers was tested to the full. Thankfully no-one fainted or
suffered from heat exhaustion, but many tripped the sound fantastic in the
presence of world renowned euphonium soloist Steven Mead and Tewkesbury Town
Band.
The concert commenced in traditional fashion with a sparkling rendition of the William Rimmer march 'The Cossack'. Compere for the evening, David Hayward, provided a brief history lesson before the Band offered the audience a 'Ticket to Ride' on a steam train journey to Beatles era Liverpool.
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Our guest soloist for the evening, euphonium sorcerer Steven Mead, then took the stage for his first solo spot of the evening. His first offering was the Salvation Army classic, Erik Leidzen's 'Song of the Brother'; a technical tour de force that is also full of melody, and proved a piece that highlighted Steven's total control over his instrument! In true Proms spirit the next piece was J Hartmann's variations on 'Rule Britannia' featuring a dazzling display of technique, and an amazing array of "how does he play such nice notes so low, so high, so fast, so slow, so quiet?" moments. |
Our vocal soloist for the evening, Sue Black (soprano), had to follow this master class in brass playing. This she did with aplomb, and in her final item, the Waltz from Romeo & Juliet, gave a master class of her own in the art of vocal performance and dance!
The first half was bought to a conclusion with Peter Graham's arrangement of the 'Cry of the Celts' suite from the Lord of the Dance musical. The percussionists, supplemented by a couple of multi-talented Band members (Angie Shepherd and Jonathan Allan), created the 'Nightmare' atmosphere that introduces the first movement of the Suite. The mood then mellowed to the mellifluous tone of Clive Miles on Solo Horn in 'Suil a Ruin'. The Band was then led in a 'Breakout' by two extremely talented young dancers from the Doherty Academy of Irish Dance, Tay Louise Allen and James Keating. Just watching their dazzling routine made the audience feel tired. The mood calmed down once more for the 'Lament' featuring the Band's euphonium section, Angie Shepherd and Adrian Jowett. The dancers returned to the stage to lead the Band to 'Victory'; the final movement of the Suite featuring the well known 'Lord of the Dance' theme. Where they found the energy to keep dancing on such a hot evening is a mystery; especially when the audience and compere requested an encore!!
There was a welcome interval before the Band returned to the stage for the rousing Last Night of the Proms part of the evening. The second half opened with the robust 'Rondeau' from Henry Purcell's 'Abedlazer'. The audience were then invited to sing along to several songs dating from the wartime period as the Band played a tribute to the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in the form of Darrol Barry's 'Keep Smiling Through'.
Steven Mead then returned to the stage to entertain the audience further with his immense ability on the euphonium. His first piece was the jolly rhythmic 'Varied Mood' by Ray Woodfield. This was followed by an arrangement by Richard Phillips of the beautiful Joy Webb song 'There Will be a God', which Steven dedicated tonight's performance to the memory of a recently deceased friend of the Band, Ian Jones. Steven's final piece of the evening was a run through the pyrotechnics of the ever popular 'Carnival of Venice' with many more of those "How does he do that?" moments. After rapturous applause Steven then proceeded to perform a party piece, that both allowed the Band a well earned rest and caused their jaws to drop to the stage in amazement at what he was doing....trombone glisses on a euphonium, tunes without the need to press valves, singing and playing, etc, etc!! You had to be there to fully comprehend how amazing it was!
| It was then time for the flag waving fun and the audience participation part of the evening. The Last Night of the Proms pieces that the audience had been waiting for: 'Radetsky March' (lots of clapping in time!), 'Jerusalem' (plenty of patriotic singing), 'Fantasia on British Sea Songs' (the hornpipe and more!), 'Rule Britannia' (Sue Black returned to the stage to lead the audience in the singing), and finally 'Pomp & Circumstance No 1' (otherwise known as Land of Hope & Glory). A great if hot evening that was enjoyed by all. |  |
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Sad
Farewells Adrian & Juliet joined the Band in 1994 and during this time, between them they have played Euphonium, Baritone, Tenor Horn and Trombone! They have also been dedicated committee members holding the positions of Chairman and Secretary to the Band. Adrian & Sue joined the Band in 1997/8 and have both held several positions in the Band including front row cornet, back row cornet, rep, soprano and flugel! Both were also committee members - Sue was Treasurer and Adrian was Chairman. We wish you all good luck for the future! |
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A Gliss and a Roll Achieves a Goal!
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We would like to announce that our multi-talented
percussionist, Pete Strawson, has earned a place at Salford University to
study Music. Congratulations from all at Tewkesbury Town Band, and
Tewkesbury Town Training Band!
We shall be sad (but also happy!) to see such a valuable member of the Tewkesbury Town Band community leave us. Pete has provided the rhythm to the Band's playing since January 2002, and received generous praise from the adjudicator, Mike Kilroy, in his aural notes to our success at the Phoenix Festival of Brass. Pete has also been a keen member of the Training Band where he has learned to play the trombone (achieving Grade 1 late last year!), and where he has proved an invaluable resource to tutor a young prodigy, Will Duff. We wish Pete well and hope to
see him regularly in the future.
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Training Band are out
again! | ||
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 We even had time to have a go at milking a cow! |
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June
| Saturday 11th | St. Catherine's Church Fete, Gloucester - Training Band |
| Friday 17th | Rehearsal with Steven Mead |
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Saturday 18th |
Brass Plays the Proms Concert, Roses
Theatre, Tewkesbury [7:30pm] |
| Saturday 25th | Alderman Knight School Fete |
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Summer
is here! Spring Bank Holiday fun! |
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A glorious sunny day saw one of our biggest audience's at Evesham Park. The crowd were provided to some excellent solo playing during the afternoon featuring Martin Musto on cornet with a rendition of 'Georgia on My Mind', Angie Shepherd on euphonium playing 'Blaydon Races', Clive Miles on tenor horn playing 'If', and the heavy mob (Jonathan Allan and Andy Shepherd) on EEb Basses with the duet 'Tuba Polka'. The programme also provided a few taster items from our forthcoming Summer Proms programme....see you there on 18 June! Bank Holiday Monday saw us
sharing centre stage with the Punch & Judy Show, the Tae Kwon Do club, Bric
a Brac and numerous other fund-raising stalls at the Tewkesbury Abbey Fete.
The sun continued to shine and the Abbey raised plenty of funds! |
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Innsworth Junior School Fete The Training Band (Intermediate Band) entertained the crowds at the Innsworth Junior School fete on Saturday 21st May 2005. The Band played favourites such as Scooby Doo, The Muppet Show, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Star Wars and Dr Who amongst other pieces to add to the atmosphere of the fete. We were due to play two slots but following our break for much needed burgers, our second slot was cut short by the wonderful British fete weather - rain! The Band enjoy the day though and it looked like most of the fete-goers did too! Thanks go to our super-sub for the day, senior band MD Nigel Morgan who picked up a Euphonium to strengthen the ranks as we were a little light on that day! It was great to get to tell my Dad what to do!! Well done everyone! |
BOOM!
The latest division of
Tewkesbury Town Band has been formed in the shape of BOOM! [Band Of Older
Members!] The Band is formed from the adults in the Training Band. It allows us
to give them a chance of some extra tuition as well as giving them an
opportunity to play without their children laughing at/with them! BOOM!
rehearses most Monday evenings from 8pm in the
Bandroom.
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The Crowe's are flying the nest! Sadly, I write of the departure of our Flugel and Soprano players, Neil and Sarah Crowe. Neil and Sarah have decided that Tewkesbury Band isn't for them anymore and they are returning to their previous Band, Lydmet Lydney in the Forest of Dean. This is of course a promotion for them to the First Section so we wish them well in this. They have been great members of the Band, both being on the committee and their son David is learning to play the Tenor Horn in our Training Band. Luckily, this means that we'll still see them around and they will remain friends of the Band. Good luck for the future! |
Brass Plays the Proms
The Band is busy preparing for our
Proms concert on Saturday 18th June in the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury. The
concert is set to be a spectacular event featuring the one and only, Tewkesbury
Town Band! and world famous Euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead. There might be one
or two surprises in store as well! (my lips are sealed!!). If you haven't got
your tickets yet then get down to the Roses Box Office now (or phone 01684
295074) so that you don't miss out!!
Welcome Jenny!
After finally getting around to putting Jenny's surname on the members page we
thought that it was about time to officially welcome Jenny Whitfield into
the Band! Jenny has been coming along to practise for a number of weeks now and
is strengthening our fantastic horn section. It seems that Jenny will be a great
asset to the Band as a player and as a friendly new band member. Welcome to
Tewkesbury Town Band!
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Inaugural GYBB course Here at Tewkesbury Town Band we are pleased to support the new County Brass Band that has been set up by the new Head of Brass, Steve Legge. We are proud that one of our members, Oliver Moss, was selected to be a part of the GYBB. He had a fantastic weekend playing Repiano Cornet in pieces such as 'Men of Harlech', 'Theme from Shaft', and Peter Graham's 'Haselmere Suite'. They were joined on the course by professional tutors Nigel Seaman and Paul Denegry as well as guest soloist and tutor Chris Thomas (Solo trom with Cory's!). It is hoped that there will be more weekend courses for the GYBB and next year they might even make it to Manchester to the National Youth Band Championships. |
May
| Sunday 8th | Longford Village Hall - 60th Anniversary of VE Day Celebrations - SADLY THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED |
| Saturday 21st | Innsworth Junior School Fete - Training Band [12:15pm] |
| Sunday 29th | Abbey Park Bandstand, Evesham [2:30pm-4:30pm] |
| Monday 30th | Tewkesbury Abbey Fete |
