Cornet player and brass tutor Mark Rodgers gives us an insight into the band world with his column, Brassed Off.
After yet another year of music making for our local bands, December is finally here.
This is the month some players have been looking forward to since the end of 2012 as Christmas spirit goes into overdrive. Apparently, some even prefer these few weeks to those running up to Whit Friday, which is something I personally cannot understand at all!
Other players see December as a chance to musically unwind, simply having to play some relatively easy (or should that be cheesy?) music, while everything else in life becomes hectic before the big day itself.
Whether seen as pleasurable and exciting or the chance to musically chill, there is no doubt this is by far the busiest month of the banding calendar. The job lists of previous months pale into insignificance, being made to look like barren deserts compared to the busy metropolis of the December schedule. The bands at Delph have even resorted to using a smaller font for the scribbles on our white board.
Bookings can appear from nowhere as organisations decide they would like ‘carols by a brass band’ at the last minute. If the band is free surely it would be contrary to the Spirit of the Season to turn them down, wouldn’t it?
The variety of engagements can be huge, ranging from a Christmas Lights switch on to a spectacularChristmas concert. That lady called Carol does seem to appear in the diary quite a lot though…
Several of these bookings will be on mid-week evenings and not even on our rehearsal nights. You can also include an average two to three appearances at the weekends. I do sympathise with the players that have demanding jobs, large families and mountains of Christmas shopping and preparations to handle. It must be really tough fitting all these commitments around band!
It’s not just the adults who become insanely busy either – younger players are suddenly faced with endless festive events at school and bookings with any other bands that they happen to be involved in. I presume they want to do all this though, as they are young and ‘Christmas is for the children’ after all.
If anyone comes across one of our local bands performing over the next few weeks, please spare some time to listen. On behalf of all the brass musicians of Saddleworth and the surrounding areas, I would like to pass on our best wishes of the season.
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