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BYBA Concert Band Championships 2006 Report by Lizi Killick Warwick Girls Warwick girls started their performance with 'A Tribute to Elvis Presley' arranged by Thijs Oud. Throughout this piece there was a strong sound from the whole band with many dynamic changes involved, a lovely baritone solo played by Emma with the tune being taken over by the trumpet section. The piece increased in tempo during this section and ended on a high. The next part of this piece started with a baritone sax solo leading into a lovely sounding trumpet duet in 'I Can't Help Falling In Love With You'. The piece culminated in the whole band playing the final chord. The pace then slowed things down with 'Somewhere, Over the Rainbow' arranged by Jerry Brubaker, and featuring the bands 2 flute players Gemma and Maddy. The tune was played with emotion and enhanced well by use of dynamics and cymbal rolls from the percussion section. Warwick Girls finished their performance with 'Queen in Concert' arranged by Jay Bocock. The band got the whole audience involved in clapping along to 'We Will Rock You', followed by 'Bohemian Rhapsody' with saxophones taking the initial tune, ending with a trumpet solo from Tash with accompanying gong. The arrangement changed time signature giving it a different feel and then returning to the original time. This lead nicely into a short rendition of 'Another One Bites the Dust' followed straight on with 'We are the Champions' ending with the full band playing with a strong melody. All Warwick Girls performances were re-arranged for their band by Barbara Leach. Trinity Show Band Trinity started their performance with 'Bandology' arranged by Eric Osterling. This included the whole band playing together with loud and quiet sections using a wide range of dynamic interest. The show continued with the well known theme from 'Rocky'; arranged by Robert W. Lowden, and containing with a lot of dynamic use giving a variety of feels to the piece. The trumpets lead the main theme with woodwind echoing their phrases. The percussion were used well during this arrangement. The next tune to be heard from this band was 'Have You Met Miss Jones' arranged by Neil Wright. The woodwind held the main tune throughout this piece which contained a lot of whole band playing moving into a Jazz section with a large crescendo ending. Trinity ended their showcase with 'I Write the Songs' arranged by Steve Jorden. This featured their trumpet soloist Hannah Lishman. The percussion supported the band well throughout this piece with good use of cymbals to emphasise the dynamics used throughout the band. This piece had a swing feel to it during the middle then returning into a straight tempo with a diminuendo throughout the band to end their performance for today. Royal British Legion Band, Romford (RBL) RBL Romford started of their showcase with "Wahhery for Woodwinds" arranged by Harold L Walters. This started off with a lovely brass and percussion entry leading into woodwind. The soloists through this piece included: Flute soloist - Sue Chaterway, Soprano Sax - Jade Chambers, Clarinet - Cristal Swanell, Alto Sax - Natalie Gordon, and Baritone Sax - Laura Sammons. All the solos were played well and were followed by a woodwind theme with echoing brass parts, ending with a full band crescendo. The programme continued with the well known tune 'Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You' arranged by Jan Van Kraeydonck. This piece swapped from section to section using the whole band to its full potential. The trombones where featured during this piece and the players were: Ryan Martin, Paul Gould and Andy Tyler. Next on their programme was "Marvin Hamlisch Showcase" arranged by Warren Barker. This arrangement consisted of 4 obvious tunes, one of which is the well known 'Nobody Does It Better' featuring Sax soloist Natalie Gordon. All these tunes were played with a wide range of dynamics and tempo's. The arrangement also included a trumpet solo played by Joanne Claeys. RBL Romford finished their performance with "Lord of the Dance" arranged by Richard Saucedo. This featured their piccolo soloist Sue Chaterway. Starting with a very slow solo and gradually speeding up ending with the whole band playing. The piece ended with a faster section again featuring the piccolo soloist. The percussion did a lot of work throughout this piece helping maintain the fast tempo and rhythms. Romford Drum and Trumpet Corps (Romford DTC) Romford DTC opened with "Blaze Away" arranged by Holzmann. This included their first soloist - Sarah Bill on Piccolo. There were a lot of dynamic interests in this piece going from loud to suddenly soft section and back again, and ending with the cornet section and woodwind section holding the main tune. Romford DTC then continued their show with "Pirates of the Caribbean" arranged by Badelt. This started with the lower brass holding the tune which soon passed onto the woodwind. The tempo then slowed down with a different feel to the piece with woodwinds very much in control. It then speeded back up into the main theme tune passing through the instrument sections of the band. Slowing down again and this time featuring flute soloist Samantha Pervis the ending built to a full band crescendo and large cymbal crash. Romford DTC then featured their flugal soloist, Kirsty Smith in "Marianne" arranged by Hopla. This piece was the slowest of the 4 and gave Kirsty a chance to shine; it included tricky sections with lots of flugal runs whilst the woodwind held the main tune and ended with a soft flugal tune. The last piece we heard from Romford DTC was "Quarter" arranged by Hopla, featuring sax soloist Lydia Stringer. This was a good entertainer ending with each section standing up in turn. Phoenix Coventry Phoenix started their show with "Magnificent 7" arranged by Kevin Pocock, starting on mellophones, gradually building and ending with the whole band except percussion. This was followed by Disney's "Epcot Firework Display" arranged by Andy Cartwright featuring mellophone soloist - Gemma Durham, trumpet soloist - Felicia Galloway and baritone soloist - Rebecca Gilbert. Next we heard "Hard Days Night" arranged by Tim Gardner. This piece passed its tune from section to section using the whole band to develop the main tune and ended with a faster tune and crescendo. The next tune was "Robin Hood" arranged by Kevin Pocock which started with the lower brass only playing the tune gradually building up adding mellophones and then trumpets again ending with a group crescendo. For their 5th tune we heard "Canon" arranged by Andy Cartwright. This gave all sections the chance to shine with the tune being passed around, which included runs from the mellophone section and a crescendo to the end. Next we heard the well known tune 'My Girl' arranged by Jubal Drum and Trumpet Corps, featuring mellophone soloist Gemma Durham. This piece had a good use of dynamics to emphasis the harmonies being used. The next piece was the first time we heard the percussion being used with tenor section solo's in a rendition of 'Help' arranged by Tim Gardner which also featured Trumpet soloist Chelsie McClean. Phoenix Coventry then slowed things down with the well known tune "Concerto D'Aranjuez" arranged by Andy Cartwright featuring flugal soloist Felicia Galloway and Baritone Soloist Rebecca Gilbert. This contained lovely harmonies throughout. Finally we heard 'River Dance' arranged Tony Hendle & Dave Stones. This piece included a percussion feature midway through it. This used a wide range of dynamics and the tune passed from section to section. It ended with a faster tempo and whole band crescendo. Final results: 1st place with 83 points - Royal British Legion Band, Romford Soloist award went to Sue Chaterway from Royal British Legion Band, Romford with 44.5 |