Despite many trips to UniBrass and Whit Friday, 2024-25 was the first year I began to attend the key contests that form the backbone of the banding calendar. It all started when my band Lancaster University won the shield award at UniBrass 2024 in Warwick. In turn, this led to us being invited up to be the Brass in Concert reception band in November 2024. I'm ashamed to say it now given how impactful the event is but it was my first time hearing of BIC (other than the pen...) but I will allow myself some slack given I am a first generation bander trained in a north west non-contesting band. I have to say however that looking back it was well worth the slow cross rail train up to the toon and that it has started a chain reaction which is still in full effect.
Tyne Bridge and the Glasshouse (Sage) the night before BIC.
Night mode.
Trip sponsored by Go North East.
After arriving to the Glasshouse (previously The Sage) our band played a set covering our Pendle Witch Trail theme which we had taken to Warwick. This time with new members and the cheeky addition of my brother on Euphonium despite him not ever being a Lancaster student or ever competing in UniBrass. Sorry contest control...
ULMS Brass Band in the atrium.
ULMS Brass Band performing.
Check out the performance here!
The rest of the day was spent in the hall very close to the contest action. Had it not been down to my bad planning I would have even had my predictions to compare to the results but alas for lack of a pen the data was lost... A good time was had all the same although it did become a loud day given we were booked in row B opposite the soprano players. Though this was definitely more than fine with me given I have been playing soprano myself that morning. Proof of our being there was even captured with my brother being caught in a cooperation band selfie.
Plenty of brass fish in the sea. But they didn't cast the net very far.
The fish.
Little did he know that within a year’s time he would be on the very same stage with that very band!
The Glasshouse proved an incredible venue and I was very much inspired by the variety of sets. My highlight was Paul Richard's controlled performance of "Beyond the Veil" by Thibaut Bruniaux which was carefully accompanied by the creative percussion section on a host of interesting items from slinkies to "sound tubes", which piqued my interest as a physicist. Though I was also completely drawn in by Richard Poole's performance of "Blowin' In The Wind" arranged by John Barber. Cory also gave a stellar winning set complete with, the now very topical, turned backs to the audience while they performed the gorgeous "Around the Campfire" by Philip Harper in their set around the "The Magnificent Seven".
From Newcastle I headed to the brass big apple, Blackpool, for The North West Areas. Starting early I managed to thumb a lift to the rainy seaside with some of the university players who are members of Pilling Band. After the draw and listening to their rehearsal in a strange part theatre part antiques Aladdin's cave we headed to the Winter Gardens.
Walking into the main hall under the domed glass ceiling was a real treat though slightly dizzying given you have to dodge the known brass world having a yearly catch up. Even stranger still is to find a moment of peace inside a Spanish Galleon. Luckily finding the bar did mean I was heading the right direction to watch the 3rd section bands clash inside of the Spanish Hall.
Entering I was greeted by Band 2 (Trinity Girls) and the opening of Arkansas by Jacob de Haan. This was my first chance to hear a set test piece contest so I settled myself and made amends for my forgotten notepad in Newcastle by writing far too much. The hall while acoustically strange (being flat and long), is very inspiring with ornate scenes of coastal towers and villas. Despite these I kept my jacket on throughout and found myself rewarded when rain began falling on me through the glass ceiling. Despite the slightly wet notepad I still had a great time given the light and narrative set work and I soon found myself at band 10 going for a break.
The Spanish Hall in the Winter Gardens Theatre.
Post lunch I realised the draw blessed me with an excellent double act of Fodens directly followed by Leyland performing Diversions by Derek Bourgeois so I made my way to the Opera House. With both bands getting later draws (8th 9th) and knowing Fodens' track record of winning the then last 8 (now 9 2014-20, 2022-25) North West Areas I expected a great performance and they definitely delivered. The impactful opening directly into bustling main theme variations made such a change compared to Arkansas especially given the abstract/lack of specified subject matter. I was spoilt to hear the piece for the first time played by the winning band, but even despite my lack of comparison I could tell their controlled drop in dynamics into multiple exposed soloists meant they were on for great things.
The apex of Fodens' rendition however came in the form of their expert blending of a single lyrical line in the second movement moving seamlessly from flugel to principal cornet followed by Soprano. The hand off between Mark Wilkinson and Richard Poole was so indistinguishable in tone and was no doubt the product of their long tenure playing together in the same band since 2002. This long lasting understanding in their playing was further highlighted when compared to the same passing of the tune completed by the excellent Andrew Lofthouse and Lewis Barton who are both superb but have only had a year of playing under the same baton. Both renditions were excellent with the judges later commenting that of all the bands only two or three truly hit the mark.
A good band must have been playing for the atrium to be this empty. Maybe the bar just opened...
Championship section stage (The Opera House).
Speaking of judges lets see how I did compared to the only ears that mattered those of Nicholas Garman and Paul Norley.
Real judge placing vs my prediction.
Clearly I was never going to be on the money after missing 6 bands... But at least you can see that we're singing from the same hymn sheet.
Plotting my ranking against the judges own and the case where you agree with the judges (y=x) allows for some comparison. Both the judges predictions and mine have a similar symmetry along the agreement line suggesting that although individual bands are placed differently there is similarity to the overall shape of our placings even if we disagree for specific bands. My rankings are however far below the agreement line due to the fact I only ranked the bands I watched giving them positions 1 to 8 missing. This fails to reflect there could be other bands placed between them. To try and show this more clearly you can imagine I could space the bands I did see evenly between 1 and 14. This is equivalent to scaling my own scores by the number of bands I saw multiplied by the total number of competitors eg* 14/8. This does lead to some tricky "positions" such as 1.75th place being my winner but let's do the maths first and ask questions later...
Rescaled placings.
Residual between the judges and my prediction.
Clearly overall the numbers are more reasonably distributed around the agreement line now, though there are still plenty of bands that I have placed far from the judges ranking too. Still not too bad for a first attempt, but just like with playing music I'll stick to the day job...
Both events were inspiring however I am thankful that I was able to attend them in the order I did. Despite the glitz, polished sets and full audiences of BIC the drizzly day in Blackpool also offered plenty of allure even if the surroundings felt like a time capsule. The Winter Gardens lack of amenities is however not the main culprit when it comes to the numbers who attend. This is however only the case as the current audience is from a very small pot of brass banders themselves who want to listen to bands at an event ran by banders. This is in sharp contrast to the very commercial enterprise that is BIC which focuses more heavily on who they attract to the event and what their event offers. Despite some dilapidation in places, the chance to experience the Areas and their deep historical connections with their venues makes the trip worthwhile. This is also something that cannot be easily recreated in shiny new locations and venues especially when they change their name so often... The North West Areas experience is therefore something that should be enjoyed while it is still alive and kicking. Especially given the current rational focus within banding on survival which was highlighted this year passed by the decision to move the spring festival to Birmingham and out of Blackpool.
While these events serve different purposes and have unique battles to fight to ensure their futures, both share an excellent energy spanning from their dedicated volunteers and the bands they serve year round. I thoroughly recommend attendance at both and personally cannot wait to return year on year. No matter which coast you go to you cannot go wrong with a trip to the seaside to hear some great music.