The band commenced their programme with the lively ‘Eye of thr Tiger’ from the Rocky movie series, an original hit for American rock group Survivor, written originally by Frank Sullivan & Jim Peterik and arranged by Rieks Van der Velde.
This was followed by the hauntingly beautiful ‘Scarlet Ribbons’, written by Jack Segal, arranged by Andy Duncan and performed beautifully by the band’s Principal Cornet, Susannah Downs, accompanied on piano by Ruth Glenn, the band’s Principal Tenor Horn player.
A complete change of tempo for the next piece - ‘African Funk’, which was arranged by Alan Fernie and was influenced by the music of the Brazz Brothers. This piece was originally written for Brass Band Aid and you can find out more about this by visiting www.brassbandaid.com.
It was to Norway we headed next, and the unusual ‘Lokk Fra Den Grone Oye’ - Cow Call from the Green Island to you and me! This piece was written by Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen in 1997, and features Tenor Horn, cowbells and singing band members! The piece reflects the sound of the cows being called in from the meadow.
To raise the tempo once again, the band’s next item was the well known ‘Kalinka’ arranged by Ray Woodfield.
Slowing things down once again, it was time for us to appreciate the magnificent playing of the band’s Principal Trombone, Ross Learmonth, who performed the wonderful ‘In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning’, written by Dave Mann & Bob Hilliard, and arranged by Alan Fernie.
The penultimate item featured the band’s Principal Euphonium Isla Cameron, who performed a piece composed specially for the band by Bruce Fraser entitled ‘Sun’. The piece has an African feel to it and it was originally written for Katrina Marzella, a previous principal euphonium player with the band.
‘Caravan’ by Duke Ellington, arranged by Steve Sykes brought the band’s programme to an end for the evening, and despite rapturous applause from the audience, Nigel was obviously intent on keeping the event on schedule and could not be encouraged to give an encore.
The band were invited to participate in Brass Band Day 2007, held at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow on Sunday 22nd April.
The day consisted of a series of one hour concerts beginning at 300pm with the Academy Brass conducted by Bryan Allen, and featuring guest soloist David Thornton, Principal Euphonium with the Black Dyke Band.
At 4:00pm there was a masterclass entitled ‘The Art of Accompanying the Soloist’, featuring James Gourlay with the Johnstone Band, conducted by Charles Keenan and again featuring David Thornton on Euphonium.
At 5:00pm it was the turn of Scotland’s All-Star female brass band, Girls Allowed, to perform their first public concert. This proved to be a very popular event and they played to a packed hall. Conducted by Raymond Tennant, they performed an excellent and packed programme of music - so packed that they played well beyond their allocated time to the consternation of both Nigel Boddice and Bryan Allen, who quickly dismissed the prospect of any encore!
At 6:00pm it was West Lothian Schools Brass Band’s turn to entertain a rather depleted audience under the direction, as always, of Nigel Boddice MBE. Perhaps this was an unfortunate time slot to have been allocated and the audience were more intent on finding sustenance rather than listening to a youth band. It was rather a disappointing turnout considering the supposed concentration of effort to try and encourage the younger generation to get involved in brass playing. However it was their loss and our gain as they missed an excellent performance.
The day continued at 7:00pm with a Masterclass by the Scottish Co-op Band conducted by Allan Ramsay, who gave an insight into the test piece for the forthcoming European Championships - Elgar Variations by Martin Ellerby.
Finally, an excellent day of Brass music was brought to a close with a Gala Concert at 8:00pm by The Kirkintilloch Band, conducted by our own Nigel Boddice MBE.
