Stratford Concert Band Misc
Looking for a fun weekend??
A suggestion from Hannah. (Clarinet)
“As some of you may know Tom and I belong to a street band in Oxford. We rehearse for a couple of hours on a Tuesday night and play a very eclectic mix of township, reggae, funk, folk, eastern european and latin american music together, together with some more well known pieces like Ghostbusters! (we ain’t afraid of no ghosts!)
This year sees the first annual Street Band Gathering hosted by the Horns of Plenty and OCM, which hopes to bring together street bands and musicians from across the UK including Orkestra del Sol and hopefully the Ambling Band.
There will be a variety of discussions on building a street band network, sharing music and the whole worldwide culture of the street band with international speakers. Workshops will be held on everything from building a beautiful bottom end to leading and arranging for street bands, and no get together would be complete without a huge amount of honking around the streets! Oxford city centre won’t know what’s hit it!
If you’d like to come along and listen, or would like to know a little bit more about the world of street band please visit http://www.streetbandgathering.org.uk/
This raucous weekend takes place from 7th – 9th May, and will be a sight to see!”
Hannah.
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Submitted by David. (Trombone) with a little artistic licence by Steve. (Trumpet)
The Office of Standards in Music “Ofstic” carried out an inspection of a concert by the local symphony orchestra.
A diluted version of their report is shown below.
Efficiency in Music.
1 . For considerable periods, the four oboe players had nothing to do. The number of oboes should therefore be reduced and the work spread more evenly over the whole concert programme, thus eliminating the peaks and valleys of activity.
2. All twenty violins were playing identical notes. This would seem to be an unnecessary duplication, so the staff of this section should be cut drastically. If a greater volume of sound is required, it could be obtained by means of an electronic apparatus.
3. Obsolescence of equipment is another matter warranting further investigation. The inspector noted that the leading violinist’s instrument was several hundred years old. Now, if normal depreciation schedules had been applied, the value of this instrument would have been reduced to zero and the purchase of more modern equipment recommended long ago.
4 Much effort was absorbed in the playing of the demi-semiquavers, which seems to be an unnecessary refinement. It is recommended that all notes should be rounded up to the nearest semiquaver. If this were done, it would be possible to use trainees and lower grade operatives more extensively.
5. In many cases, the operators were using one hand to hold their instruments. The introduction of a fixture would free that hand for other work. Also, it was noted that excessive effort was being used by the players of wind instruments, whereas, one compressor could supply enough air for all the instruments and under more accurately controlled conditions.
6. Finally, there seems to be too much repetition of some of the musical passages. therefore, scores should be pruned to a considerable extent. No useful purpose is served by repeating on the horns something which has already been handled by the strings. It is estimated that, if all redundant passages were eliminated, the whole concert time of two hours could be reduced to twenty minutes and there would be no need for an intermission.
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My Life in the Band. by Matt Austin
Currently principal trumpet with Stratford Concert Band, I’ve come a long way since joining the band back in 1995. The band was known as SAWBA back then (Stratford upon Avon Wind Band Association) but the atmosphere and style of the band has remained much the same. As my first real wind band, I found that the weekly rehearsals and regular concerts did more to improve my playing than practicing alone ever could, and the sound of the band as we sailed through pieces such as the Liberty Bell, Jungle Book and classics such as Scarborough Fair made it so rewarding that I found myself really pushing to make sure my part was right.
With the exception of 4 years whilst at University and working in another part of the country, I have been very proud to play in my local wind band and hope that it will continue to flourish over the coming years. Personally I think being involved with something like this is an excellent way to build your confidence, and for children especially is a positive influence that will stand them in good stead later in life.
Over the years we’ve played at venues across Warwickshire with two formal concerts a year and a multitude of other events during the summer from village fetes in the South of the County to Concerts in the grounds of parks and formal gardens in Leamington and Coventry.
The general style of the band is quite informal and regular band socials make sure that everyone gets to know more than just the person sitting next to them. However, amidst all of this we manage to produce some really good music and have fun doing it.
Although these are just the thoughts of a trumpet player, I am sure that anyone else in the band would offer the same views and if you want to find out more, please contact June Farrow, on 01789 266124.