My first experience of coming to Bradford about 14 years ago was for the Yorkshire area contest. After moving to Yorkshire, I found myself playing the trombone for Wetherby Silver Band, and the contest was the main event of our year. Perhaps I should explain -- the brass band world works along similar lines to football, with bands being placed in leagues, or sections, and points being earned at regional contests leading to promotions, demotions, and cup finals (the Nationals). Ever seen Brassed Off? Well in real life, the contest is held at St George's Hall in Bradford (not Piece Hall in Halifax), and yes, I've played at the Albert Hall in London! So the contest is A Big Deal, with rehearsals usually starting in earnest after Christmas -- a normal rehearsal schedule for a brass band is twice a week but in the run-up to the Areas in early March it can be as much as 5 or 6 rehearsals a week.
A contest day usually sees 2 or 3 sections competing, and each section begins with the draw. This is the point at which the order of play is decided -- there are many pet theories about which is the best position to draw, but everyone agrees that to be on first is A Bad Thing. Each band in a section has to play the same piece of music (the "test piece") to enable comparison, which is carried out by 2 adjudicators who spend the day in a small tent set up in the middle of the auditorium so that they don't know which band is playing (I'm not sure what they do for bathroom breaks!). The bands themselves will often hire a conference room in the Hilton or the Great Victoria to warm up and hang out in. Shortly before your turn, everyone heads down past the bins into the dressing rooms at St George's Hall, then, after a bit more waiting, you have your time on stage. There are no second chances, if someone plays a bum note you just have to ignore it and carry on, then it's all over for another year and you go to the bar to await the results. If you do well, you might get promoted to the next section or even get to play in the national finals. If you do badly you might get demoted. Contest day can be a mixture of extreme boredom and high drama.
As I mentioned, a day at the Areas can involve a lot of hanging around waiting, so the first time I came I ventured out on a wander around the city centre. I'm sorry to say I wasn't impressed. I remember walking up and down Broadway before giving up and heading back to the bar at St Georges Hall. Then there was the after-contest meal -- in order to find an eatery which didn't serve curry (it never ceases to amaze me that there are people who DON'T LIKE CURRY!) and could accommodate 20+ hungry bandsmen during the afternoon we had to march en masse to the Blue Sky near Little Germany. Which was nice enough, but there's always people who will moan about having to walk. Now, of course, the famished musician need only fall over the road to one of the offerings around Centenary Square, with the bonus of being able to admire the wonderful new fountains!
Now I live in Bradford but I no longer play in a brass band -- since having kids I no longer have the time to devote to it. Which is a shame, as Bradford is at the heart of Brass Banding in Yorkshire, and as Yorkshire has some of the best bands in the world it could be argued that Bradford is at the heart of world brass. Next weekend (3rd and 4th of March) Bradford city centre will be invaded by coachloads of men, women and children in brightly-coloured uniforms, come from all over Yorkshire to compete. They might only come here once a year, and the challenge for Bradford is to make them want to come back again and again, all year round. But if you would like to hear the world's top brass bands such as Brighouse and Rastrick, Grimethorpe Colliery and of course Bradford's own Black Dyke (or indeed your local community band) play their socks off, then make your way down to St George's Hall next weekend and you will find them, all in one place, right here in Bradford.
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