News:
88th Spring Festival Contest Senior Cup
This weekend (9th-11th May), the band travelled down south to compete in the annual Senior Cup competition in Blackpool. The test piece for the competition was Martin Ellerbys “Elgar Variations”.
The band was drawn to play number 15 in the proceedings from a field of 20 bands. The band played extremely well and the performance was described by 4barsrest.com as being “An enjoyable one for us”. After a short wait, it was revealed that the band achieved 10th place out of 19 bands. Although the band felt slightly disappointed not to of gained a better result, the 10th place meant that the band has secured a place in the Senior Cup competition for next year. The good placing also meant that the band was the highest placed Scottish band at the Spring Festival Competition for the 2nd year in a row.
FULL RESULTS
150th Anniversary – Boness Slow Melody Contest
As part of their 150th Anniversary celebrations, both Boness and Carriden and Unison Kinneil Bands have joined forces to stage a slow melody contest, to be held on Sunday 15th June. The contests will be adjudicated by Allan Ramsay and Alastair Orr; official accompanist will be Alan Hastie.
Start time approx 10am, to be confirmed nearer the time of contest.
The venue for the contest is: The Lesser Hall, Boness Recreation Centre, Gauze Road, Bo’ness EH51 9QB
The contest will comprise of a junior slow melody contest for players aged 17 years and under and a senior contest open to anyone. Entries to both contests will be limited to 25 soloists and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Entry fees for the contest are £3 for juniors and £6 for seniors.
The junior slow melody contest will have prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed soloists overall, plus prizes for the best 12 years and under and best 14 years and under.
The senior slow melody contest will have prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed soloists overall, plus a prize for the best soloist over 40 years.
Entry forms will be sent out to band secretaries or can be downloaded from the link below.
Closing date for entries will be 31st May 2008
27th April 2008 – Bill Shaw Slow Melody Contest – Lochgelly
The annual Bill Shaw Memorial Contest was held in Lodge Minto in Lochgelly on Sunday, and Kinneil Band sent two of its most promising players out to compete at the contest. Lauren Robb (Cornet) represented the band in the senior contest while Christopher Hamilton (Horn) represented the band in the junior contest.
In the junior contest Christopher played from a number five draw. The piece he chose to play was “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square”. This was an extremely well chosen piece which requires exceptional stamina and sound control, and this suits Christopher’s playing style. Christopher performed the piece near perfect and the packed audience gave him a warm round of applause as he finished the solo. Although Christopher wasn’t named in the top two, his point’s total of 90, ensured he finished well inside the top five. Christopher’s performance earned him significant praise from the day’s adjudicator, Jim Chamberlin, with a final comment summing up his playing as ‘beautiful and mature’.
Meanwhile, in the seniors contest, Lauren Robb chose to give a recital of Jules Massenets composition of “Meditation from Thias”. This tremendously challenging piece has claimed many a casualty during countless performances of this beautifully scored music. Lauren unfortunately pulled disc number one from the hat, so had to play first on stage to a hall packed full. This didn’t affect Lauren’s performance and she played this piece exquisitely, showing fantastic range and technique during her recital. Lauren gained a very credible 93 points giving her Fourth place overall in the contest.
After the hugely successful annual concert and the high placings at the contest this week, success is booming at Kinneil. Congratulations from all the band on your success Christopher and Lauren.
Lauren and Christopher after the contest
19th April 2008 – Annual Conert- Bo’ness Town Hall
The sun was shining beautifully, to greet the near sell-out audience at Bo’ness Town Hall for Kinneil Band’s 150th Year Annual Concert on Saturday night(19th April). As many of you know the band is celebrating its 150th birthday this year and during the bands history it has prided itself on producing top quality musicians. The most famous name of all to have been produced at Kinneil, is the cornet virtuoso Phillip McCann, who started his cornet playing career at Kinneil Band. Phillip is widely regarded as the greatest cornet player of all time. For such an important event in the bands calendar, the band had to ask our great friend, Phillip McCann, to perform at our special 150 Year Annual Concert.
The band moved onto stage and set up in an unusual fashion: the trombones stood at the back of the stage and the front row cornets started the night standing where in the trombones usually sit. The back row cornets also took a standing position, while the rest of the band waited for our conductor, Keith Johnston, to arrive on stage after receiving a warm welcome from compare Douglas Sneddon. With the altered formation, the band kicked off of the evenings proceedings with John Williams “Olympic Fanfare and Theme”. From the first note the audience realised that they were in for a treat as the sound and playing standard of the band was astonishing. The formation allowed the orchestral scoring of the first number to be portrayed fully. As the first item came to a close, the roof of the 18th century Town Hall nearly crumbled with the rapturous applause that greeted the band from the delighted audience. The band kept the up-tempo mood of the concert going with another powerful performance of “Softly Softly”. The band then reverted to its usual formation and proceeded to play the festival march – “The Great Revival”, from the pen of Canadian composer, Bill Gordon. The first solo performed by Phillip McCann was “Miss Blue Bonnet”. The audience were astonished with the lyrical and stunning sound which has made Phillips name so famous. The mood of the programme then shifted to a light hearted performance of “I Will Follow Him” which featured the bands trombone section. “Maori Hymn” was next on the programme for the band; this pensive piece was composed by former conductor Paul Drury for the band in 2005. Phillip McCann then reappeared to wow the audience one final time before the interval and played “The Londonderry Air” and “Nessun Dorma”. Again the roof was raised by the audience for the appreciation of perfection in playing from Phillip. To round of the first half, Eric Balls “The Kingdom Triumphant” brought the first half of the cracking concert to an end.
The interval gave the audience a chance to partake in some refreshments and gave the band members lips a well earned break. The second half was opened with Goff Richards thrilling “James Bond Collection” which included some famous Bond theme such as Goldfinger, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. Phillip McCann returned to the stage once again to perform a recital of “Willow Echoes” which can only be described as being ‘outstanding’. Kenneth Downies “In Perfect Peace” allowed the audience to reflect upon the evenings proceedings with some elegant soft playing, but the band next number was the hilarious and upbeat number: “Soul Bossa Nova” from Andrew Duncan. This piece was made famous by the motion picture Austin Powers which was first screened 1997. Phillip McCann’s final spot for the evening saw him perform “Share my Yoke” and “You Raise Me Up”. These two pieces went down so well that Phillip was persuaded to end his solo slot by playing the “Post Horn Gallop” to a delighted Bo’ness Town Hall. Phillip then joined the ranks of the band to play Kinneil Bands signature march “Kinneil Colliery”. To end the evening’s fantastic celebration of music the band concluded with Peter Grahams “Cossack Wedding Dance”. The Town Hall audience could be heard cheering before the final note was played and everybody went home absolutely delighted.
The band had several guests whom we would like to thank for making the evening a huge success- Caroline Munro (Principal Cornet), Tom Eadie (1st Horn) , Patrick Connolly(Percussion) and Andrea Casey(Flugel Horn). Particular thanks are extended to Andrea who stepped in on the day of the concert to come to the rescue of the band. Our thanks also goes to Keith Johnston for conducting the band and also to Phillip McCann for his wonderful solos on the evening. The band would also like to take this opportunity to thank every member of the audience for making this concert one of the best ever, the band couldn’t survive without your support.
The band has decided to move its annual concert from October to April. This year’s annual concert will take place on Saturday 19th April Bo’ness Town at 7:30pm. Tickets are priced at £6. (£5 for friends of Kinneil Band members)
2008 sees the band celebrate its 150th birthday and there are many events to mark this fantastic achievement. This concert will kick start the celebrations and the band has invited our great friend, the world famous cornet virtuoso Phillip Mc Cann to perform at the annual concert on Saturday. The band would love to get this important year of to a bang so please come along and support the band at this event.
Phillip McCann
March 9th 2008 - Scottish Area Championships, Rothes Halls, Glenrothes.
Under the auspices of Fife Council SBBA took the area championships to the Kingdom of Fife. The test piece for the day was Festival Music by Eric Ball. The last time this piece was selected for the Scottish Area Championships was in 1967, when the band won their last Championship title.
All the omens were looking positive for Kinneil, but unfortunately the band suffered a significant blow when our solo euphonium player, Ian Campbell, was admitted to hospital on the Friday preceding the contest, which was on the Sunday. As Ian was recovering the band took to the stage (with a substitute solo euphonium player, Alan Cameron, who plays for Newmills and Galston) in a determined frame of mind. The band gave an admirable performance on stage and their 5th place was well deserved.
This top half result secures the band’s place in the Scottish Championship section for another year and will hopefully ensure Championship status for the whole decade of the 2000’s. Ian is now out of hospital and back playing with the band after making a full recovery. The band would like to thank Alan Cameron for his fantastic assistance in the contest.
Cornish youth in Easter practice
Garry Cutt leads the Cornwall Youth Band in their demanding Easter Course.Newtown enjoy the craic in Dublin
The Newtown Band has just come back from an enjoyable weekend in Dublin - and not for the rugby either!