On Friday 22nd November, Regent Brass headed up to Perth for the third time to compete at the Scottish Open Brass Band Championships. This year, the set work was the demanding “Contest Music” by Wilfred Heaton; a piece which was originally considered unplayable when first written!
After travelling up, the band gave the work a run-out at an open rehearsal hosted by the Tullis Russell Mills Band. This also saw the Tullis Russell Intermediate Band give an exciting performance of Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s “Dark Side of the Moon” ahead of their performance at the Scottish Challenge Shield. On this occasion, the evening was very relaxed and allowed for both bands to informally perform and rehearse their pieces before the big day.
At the contest itself, the band was competing against a number of highly-ranked ensembles in the fantastic setting of the Perth Concert Hall. Despite having had limited time to prepare, the band gave a very detailed and musical performance which they were very pleased with and drew a great deal of praise from a number of the audience. Unfortunately, not all three adjudicators agreed with this and despite receiving a creditable 9th place from Stephen Bulla, the band received a 15th and 16th placing from Jappie Dijkstra and Brett Baker respectively putting them in 14th place overall.
Whilst not the result we would have perhaps liked, the band once again had a wonderful time up in Scotland and really enjoyed the chance to perform at this prestigious contest once again.
We would also like to extend our thanks to Gavin Hall for helping us out at the contest, giving a fantastic performance as Principal Cornet.
