21st March 2009 :: Lytham Solo & Quartet Brass Festival

Members of the band recently took part in a new Solo & Quartet Brass Festival in Lytham, Lancashire. A completely new venture for the band, we entered a total of four quartets and 3 soloists. Given that there were 8 quartets entered, this was an excellent contribution to the Festival.
As few had ever played in a quartet before it gave the opportunity to show off the talents of supporting players, when usually it would be principal players who take the limelight.
The four quartets attended many extra practises (on top of usual band practises and concerts!) and were pushed to their limits. Such was the commitment and enthusiasm of the players, they even stayed behind at ten o'clock at night after band to rehearse their pieces with Fiona Rolfe who, for the competition, would be 'wagging the stick'.
We played a variety of quartets, from 'Golden Oldies' such as "How Dear Is My Native Vale", (featuring Ken, Keith, Emma and Alan); stamina-testing and technically demanding pieces such as "Divertimento" by Philip Sparke, (featuring Jason, Emma, Carl and Alan) to rarely performed and beautiful pieces such as "Quartet for Brass" by Peter Kneale, (featuring Andy, Mel, Annette and David). A new cornet quartet specially composed for us was "Illustrations for Cornets" by Simon Kerwin, and we were delighted to be awarded 2nd place with it's premier performance! (Players were Andy, Colin, Rory and Fiona). Thanks to Andy and Colin of Fodens Band who helped us at short notice when players had to fulfil work commitments.
Congratulations to Alan, Fiona and Rory (our youngest member at 14) who stood up and performed solos - stage fright and nerves threatened to take hold, but players can be very proud of their performances. Alan is no stranger to playing solos at concerts - what a beautiful sound!
Such is the enthusiasm of those who took part in the Festival, we intend to take part in more Quartet competitions! This will hopefully be an important influence in helping revive a sadly-dying part of brass band heritage. It has also be suggested that Kevin Birch, our talented Composer-in-Residence, writes some quartets for us! Watch this space
-- Fiona Rolfe