Over 250 players, supporters and brass enthusiasts joined together at the Newstead Centre on Sunday, February 27th, for the ‘Midland Area Test Piece Festival’ when five of the North Midland area’s prize winning brass bands performed the five pieces of music set for the regional qualifying rounds of the 2011 National Brass Band Championships.Hosts Newstead Brass under musical director Duncan Beckley played the championship set piece, ‘Paganini Variations’ and were joined by Hathern (David Newman, section 1, ‘Carnival Romain’), Shirebrook (Mark Wilcockson, section 2, ‘Resurgam’), Long Eaton (Sharon Stansfield, section 3, ‘A Little Night Music’) and Whitwell (Lynden Cooper, section 4, ‘Prelude, Song and Dance’). Each band also played a hymn tune setting of its own choice.
Experienced adjudicator John Roberts listened to all the performances and gave feedback to the bands and audience on what he had heard. He complemented all the bands, conductors and soloists on the standard of playing achieved, indicating that they should all do well at the forthcoming Midlands Championships in Bedworth on March 12th and 13th. He also gave advice on further improvements each band could make in the remaining two weeks of rehearsals and announced his ‘best soloist’ of the night as Jayne Jones, principal euphonium of the Shirebrook Band.
A Newstead band spokesperson said, “Our thanks to the trustees and staff of the Newstead Centre for helping to make this possible, the bands and conductors for their preparation and participation and all those who came along to listen, including many who may never have heard brass band contest music before. Good luck to all the participating bands at the ‘area’.”
