2nd Prize in the Oxford and District Brass Band Association Entertainment Contest, 2010
Hook Norton Brass Band is very proud to announce being awarded the 2nd prize in the ODDBA Entertainments contest held on the 26th September 2010.
Drawn to play second we awaited our call to go on stage whilst the City of Oxford Silver Band made their bid for the top spot. Having been drawn to play first last year we had been able to warm up with the National Anthem but this year it was straight into our 20 minute programme.
We began with 'Where Eagles Dare' which was an extremely effective opener, starting with only our two percussionists beating a snare drum rhythm until the band came in with a big burst of sound. Next was our solo item, an arrangement for baritone of 'Scarborough Fair' by local musician, Nigel Hall. Then swiftly into 'Ticket To Ride', 'The Ashokan Farewell' featuring our flugel player Dawn Jennings and then 'Sing, Sing, Sing' to finish. Each band is timed and marks are deducted for bands playing in excess of 20 minutes.
One of the prizes on the day is for the most entertaining band which to a large extent depends on what the particular adjudicator is looking for. This year we tried to make our choice of music as entertaining as possible and wowed the audience with each section of the band standing up and turning to play facing the audience at the end of 'Sing, Sing, Sing'. The adjudicators comments were very positive and recognized that we had good discipline especially in coming onto and off the stage however she was looking for the bands that were enjoying performing the most. This is obviously difficult when under the spotlight of a contest scenario but hopefully the more we do the more relaxed we will become.
The band felt they had performed well but with a strong field we were not sure whether we had done enough to get into the prizes. After the final two bands had played and the agonizing wait until the adjudicator had made up his mind had passed the results were announced. Interestingly there was in fact a tie for 2nd place since although Hook Norton Brass Band had been awarded one more point than the City of Oxford band by the adjudicator, our one point time penalty meant we drew for second place. Congratulations to the Witney Town Band who were then announced as the winning band in our section.
Having done our bit it was then time to relax and listen to some of the bands in the other sections who were all very impressive.
We were all extremely pleased with our result and we look forward to competing again next year. If you would like to hear these pieces again then I'm sure that a few if not all of them will make it into the programme of our forthcoming Autumn concert (see our Events Calendar for more details).
Copyright © 2006-11 Hook Norton Brass Band
Web design (Midlands) by Ferrer Consulting Ltd