Kian Gadsby
The University of Nottingham finished 4th and won Best March in the Shield section of the UniBrass Championships.
UoN UniBrass Programme:
1 – March: The Red Shield, H.C. Goffin
2 – Be My Love, Ray Farr (Euphonium solo by Sam Hill)
3 – To Boldly Go, Peter Graham
4 – Sing Sing Sing, Dan Price
The band travelled down to Cardiff to compete in the National Championships, showing off all of their hard work with a 20 minute programme. Hopes were high for an improvement on last years 4th place following an impressive performance in a rehearsal concert earlier in the week.
Conductors Pawel Nieweglowski and Becky Brundrett-Hall created an enthralling programme that had the audience in raptures. They told the tale of The Nottingham Knight, Sir Brass-a-lot (played by Euphonium soloist Sam Hills) who was the local jousting champion, and the most feared knight in the land.
The first piece of music played was the march, March: The Red Shield by H.C. Goffin. The piece had all the style and flair that the best brass bands offer, and captured the dramatic and fearsome nature of Sir Brass-a-lot’s victories in the Great Jousting Tourney.
After claiming his title of Champion, the knight spotted princess Kiera (Kieran Robson, 1st Horn) in the crowd, and waited behind to try to impress her in her tower. Sir Brass-a-lot wooed her with the piece Be My Love by Ray Far.
This piece was a euphonium solo, played by Sam Hill. His beautiful tone, and impressive knight costume and shield, captivated the audience, sending them into thunderous applause.
Jealous of the adulation Sir Brass-a-lot received, his opponents, who had discovered the newly blossoming romance, decided to kidnap the Princess and took her deep into Sherwood Forest. Sir Brass-a-lot had to ride into battle yet again to save his beloved.
Encapsulating this, the band then performed To Boldly Go by Peter Graham. This piece of music was full of exciting and mysterious moments, conveying the danger the couple were in.
The piece culminated in a triumphant manner, as Sir Brass-a-lot defeated his opponents yet again and returned with the Princess. Upon his return they married, and looked forward to living happily ever after.
The performance ended with the lively piece Sing Sing Sing by Dan Price. Starring solos from Jester and First Trombone player Jacob Tivey, as well as percussionists Chris Lloyd (Bongos) and Sam Vickers (Drum kit), this piece had a very lively atmosphere.
The audience, and crucially the judges, were wowed for the amazing dancing skills of Sir Brass-a-lot and his bride, and the rest of the band played party poppers and celebrated the newlyweds. The choreography of the Trombone section was incredible; the band demonstrated their technical skills by standing and facing the audience at points throughout the piece.
After the performance had concluded, conductor Pawel was particularly coy about his expectations, but said he was ‘happy,’ and that the band had ‘played well.’
The judges clearly agreed, as they scored us with 89/100 for musicality and 47/50 for entertainment. This saw us finish in 4th place overall, only one point behind second.
This year represented progress on last year’s position, however, as we won the prize for best march, as well as finishing second in the rankings for entertainment. The judges were particularly impressed by the energy and liveliness of the band, calling the performance ‘fun’ in their notes.
The band will have more concert opportunities throughout the academic year, and they look forward to competing again next year.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of @ucaslexander via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @uon_brassband via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of @unibrass via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
