Bon-Accord defends Northern Counties title
The Bon-Accord Silver Band successfully defended its title in an exciting but emotional Northern Counties Open Contest.
A strong entry of 14 bands kept the audience at the Loch Leven Community Campus in Kinross entertained the audience on Saturday May 23, with a real mixture of approaches to the 20 minute entertainment programme format on offer.
Adjudicator Nigel Boddice MBE said there had been something to offer in the playing of every band on the day, adding that he had come away "inspired". In the end however, he had no doubts about his winners, as the reigning champions finished the day three points clear of their rivals, despite being one of two bands to incur a one point time penalty.
Setting an impressive standard from the number four slot, Bon-Accord opened its programme with Howard Snell's vibrant Postcard From Mexico, before creating a great Scandinavian atmosphere with Mark Boyd starring in the tricky Stephen Roberts arrangement of trombone solo BombiBone BrassBit.
The band drew praise for its "cultured sound" in the hauntingly beautiful Andy Scott number Hymn to Barossa, before the Fugue from Philip Sparke's Graduation Day closed a performance summed up by the adjudicator as being full of "very disciplined playing" from a "classy ensemble, technically and musically".
Local rivals Granite City Brass again completed an Aberdonian top two, with conductor Bruce Wallace's innovatively themed set both delighting and challenging the audience. Opening with Bill Geldard's New Orleans-inspired arrangement of Just A Closer Walk With Thee, the band then featured the first of the day's prizewinners, with Alan Haggart's bravura performance of Live and Let Die deservedly earning the Best Soprano award. A crowd-pleasing Dem Bones showcased the trombone section, delighting the audience with two dancers dressed as skeletons before Callum Booth impressed on Alan Morrison's arrangement of trumpet solo The Green Hornet, complete in blonde wig and Kill Bill catsuit. The show closed with Bruce Wallace's one-off brass band arrangement of American composer John Paulson's unique and idiosyncratic wind band piece Epinicion, a choice described by the adjudicator as "brave music-making".
Rounding off the podium positions and taking the Best Non-NCBBA Band trophy back south to Ayrshire were Gary Williams and a delighted Dunaskin Doon. Performing the entire set standing up, the band's dynamic programme really caught both the eye and ears of Nigel Boddice, who awarded Dunaskin Doon the Most Entertaining Performance prize. Opening with Sam and the Womp's punchy pop number Bom Bom, Dunaskin continued by featuring the day's Best Soloist prize winner, xylophonist Marion Hutchison. Her performance of Happy Mallets was all the more impressive given that much of it was played from memory, following the music stand's decision to relieve itself of her music midway through. This was followed, appropriately, by the classic march Honest Toil before the band featured principal cornet Lorna Dunn and flugel player Wendy Williams, duetting on The Impossible Dream.
Rounding off the set with Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, there was more joy to follow as the band also took home the Best Percussion section trophy, as well as the Best Second Section award; an impressive haul for a band not long ago on the verge of extinction, and enough to suggest that the good times may well be on the way back in Ayrshire.
Below the top three was a real dogfight for the Best First Section prize, with Coalburn Silver just pipping its rivals to fourth spot. Tayport Instrumental picked up the Best Third Section trophy, while surely the most poignant moment of the day was provided with Dysart Colliery's well-earned Fourth Section victory. Dysart closed its set with the sad announcement that the empty seat in its front row during the performance had been as a tribute to one of its planned guests, a popular local player who had tragically passed away suddenly two days before the contest.
The warm applause with which its trophy award was greeted said much about a day where music really took a second place, with the usual petty contesting rivalries put aside and the true spirit of the brass banding family in Scotland coming admirably to the fore.
Results
1) Bon-Accord Silver (Steve Malcolm) Draw 4 - 195pts*
2) Granite City Brass (Bruce Wallace) Draw 14 - 192
3) Dunaskin Doon (Gary Williams) Draw 7 - 191
4) Coalburn Silver (Gareth Bowman) Draw 8 - 188
5) Bathgate (Anne Crookston) Draw 9 - 187
6) Tullis Russell Mills (Paul Drury) Draw 1 - 186
7) Shotts St Patrick's (Kenny Letham) Draw 11 - 184*
8) Dysart Colliery (Bruce Fraser) Draw 5 - 179
=9) Bon-Accord Silver ‘B' (Jennifer Cook) Draw 13 - 178
=9) Queensferry Community (James Anderson) Draw 6 - 178
11) Perthshire Brass (George D. Annan) Draw 12 - 177
12) Tullis Russell Intermediate (Steven Craig) Draw 10 - 176
13) Tayport Instrumental (Frank Culross) Draw 2 - 175
14) Forfar Instrumental (Terence Jackson) Draw 3 - 174
Best 1st section: Coalburn Silver
Best 2nd section: Dunaskin Doon
Best 3rd section: Tayport Instrumental
Best 4th section: Dysart Colliery
Best NCBBA Member Band: Bon-Accord Silver
Best Non-NCBBA Band: Dunaskin Doon
Most entertaining programme: Dunaskin Doon
Best percussion: Dunaskin Doon
Best soprano: Alan Haggart, Granite City Brass
Best soloist: Marion Hutchison, Dunaskin Doon
Winning conductor: Steve Malcolm, Bon Accord Silver Most Entertaining Programme - Granite City Brass
Best percussion: Bon-Accord Silver
Best soprano: Mark James, Bon-Accord Silver
Best soloist: Richard Kidd, Bon-Accord Silver
Winning conductor: Steven Malcolm, Bon-Accord Silver
