Fife Open Contest 2006 Results
After last years unfortunate absence the Lochgelly Band returned to the Fife Open contest at the weekend (14th October), which this year was rather confusingly held in Falkirk Town Hall. The contest also marked the return to the Scottish contesting stage for Gavin Lindsay after an eventful sojourn to New Zealand.
The band had chosen an ambitious programme and opened with the march “
Mephistopheles”. Rather than go at this full tilt as we have done in the past Gavin decided to take a slightly more relaxed tempo to allow the detail and clarity of the intricate cornet and euphonium parts to come out. This found favour with the adjudicator and the band were pleased with a third place finish in the march ahead of Fife champions Kingdom Brass.
Our hymn tune selection was the Howard Snell arrangement of “
Now Thank We All Our God”. This is a wonderful arrangement of the traditional hymn tune and really shows off the sound of a band. The band go the style and the dynamics about right and again found favour with the adjudicator with another third place finish in the hymn tune contest.
For their test piece selection the band opted to play one of Philip Sparkes earlier works with “
Endeavour”. This piece was named after the ship which carried Captain Cook on his famous voyage culminating in the discovery of Australia. The work is set in three interlinked parts and begins with a very atmospheric opening, "The Unknown Continent", played by muted basses and trombones. This leads into "The New Challenge" which describes the struggles of the early pioneers trying to settle the new land, before culminating in the joyous “Celebration” describing Australia today. The band produced a very effective opening but some slips in the bass section cost us dear. Fortunately the band recovered their poise and produced a fine, if not perfect, performance. The adjudicator obviously felt that we had recovered well enough to merit fifth place, which was just about right given the problems we had on stage. We were not to leave Falkirk without some silverware however as our solo horn player Fiona McAlpine won the prize for best horn player.
The band now need to maintain their concentration for the Scottish Challenge Shield contest in Glasgow in late November. The lapses of concentration which plagued us here will be ironed out in time for that contest.
The results of the Fife Charities Band Association Contest 2006
Open Contest
| Venue: | Falkirk Town Hall |
| Date: | 14th October 2006 |
| Adjudicator(s): | Steve Pritchard-Jones |
| Own Choice Testpiece |
| |
Band |
Conductor |
Section | Draw |
Pts |
| 1. |
Kingdom Brass |
Craig Anderson |
C | 13 |
191 |
| 2. |
Kirkintilloch Kelvin |
Ray Tennant |
C | 6 |
190 |
| 3. |
Clackmannan District |
Paul Kiernan |
1 | 12 |
189 |
| 4. |
St. Ronan's Silver |
Alex Knox |
2 | 11 |
188 |
| 5. |
Lochgelly |
Gavin Lindsay |
1 | 7 |
187 |
| 6. |
Croy |
Jim Anderson |
2 | 3 |
186 |
| 7. |
Shotts St. Patrick's Brass |
Brian Keachie |
2 | 4 |
185 |
| 8. |
Dalkeith & Monktonhall |
Jim Chamberlain |
2 | 5 |
184 |
| 9. |
Tullis Russell Mills |
Andrew Duncan |
3 | 1 |
183 |
| 10. |
Buckhaven & Methil |
Bob McDonald |
3 | 9 |
182 |
| 11. |
Coalburn Silver |
Gareth Bowman |
3 | 14 |
181 |
| 12. |
Queensferry Community Brass |
Jim Anderson |
4 | 8 |
180 |
| 13. |
Clydebank Burgh |
D. Hamilton |
2 | 10 |
179 |
| 14. |
Dunfermline Town |
David Neil |
3 | 3 |
178 |
Sectional Prizes
1st Section - Clackmannan District
2nd Section - St Ronan's
3rd Section - Tullis Russell Mills
4th Section - Queensferry Community Brass
Best Fife A Band - Kingdom Brass
Best Fife B Band - Tullis Russell Mills
Soloist Awards
Cornet - Soprano - Kingdom Brass
Horn - Lochgelly
Euphonium - Shotts St. Patricks Brass
Trombone - St Ronan's
Bass Section - Kirkintilloch Kelvin
Conductor - Kingdom Brass
Youngest Player Award - Dean Smith - Tullis Russell Mills
