Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships Off to a Flying Start at Perth
Published in Band News on 2013-11-19 by Empty Chairs
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The first day of the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships, presented by The Scottish Brass Band Association on Sunday 17th November was heralded a great success with 19 youth groups participating across the three sections – Development, Percussion and Open Senior. A positively buzzing atmosphere in the Perth Concert Hall foyer was mirrored by an enthusiastic audience offering their support to the many young performers throughout the day.
Prior to the awards ceremonies, adjudicators Nigel Boddice and Craig Anderson offered the young players valuable advice on playing technique and musicianship, and commented on the wonderful sounds and variety of performances they had both been given the opportunity to enjoy across all the sections. Craig was also very supportive of the Percussion Section – a new section introduced by SBBA last year - which he felt played a very positive role in encouraging this ever growing element of a brass band’s instrumentation.
Music was in abundance throughout the day as impromptu performances offered another feast of music in the concert hall’s foyer. All visiting bands and ensembles were offered another opportunity to perform in public by providing ad hoc mini concerts in the cafe area. Originally introduced at last year’s event, the initiative was once again warmly received by those listening and participating, as a great way for the groups to make the most of their time at Perth, offering players another performance opportunity to enjoy.
Congratulations are offered to all the players and their conductors for their obvious hard work in preparing their competition programmes, and each should take immense pride in the bronze, silver or gold awards they received. Special congratulations are also offered to the section prize-winners who unquestionably impressed the judges with their performances, securing them the award of the championship titles in each section, including:
Development Section
Campbeltown Junior Brass – Runners Up (conducted by Katrina Barr)
Arbroath Instrumental Youth Band – Winners (conducted by Ann Ness)
Percussion Section
Kingdom Percussion Academy – Winners (conducted by Lynsey Paterson)
Open Senior Section
Dalmellington Junior Band – Winners (conducted by Ian Taylor)
Tullis Russell Youth Band – Runners Up (conducted by Alan Douglas)
Full results for these sections of the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships are available on the SBBA website at www.sbba.org.uk.
SBBA is now looking forward to presenting the remaining events of the Scottish Festival of Brass 2013, which include The Scottish Challenge Cup (own choice and welcoming 4 bands), The Scottish Challenge Shield (own choice and welcoming 7 bands) and the Scottish Open (Set Work: Contest Music and welcoming 18 bands) on Saturday 23rd November, whilst Sunday 24th November sees Day 2 of the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships which is attracting 29 bands