Brass Band Sections in Britain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are five main brass band sections in Great Britain: Championship, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The top bands are in the Championship section, and the bottom ones in the 4th section. Sometimes, a 'Youth Section' is also used, although this is not graded.
Contents |
[edit] Championship section
This is the section containing the very best bands in Great Britain, and (usually) the most famous. Bands such as Black Dyke, YBS Band, Grimethorpe and Leyland are placed in here. An elite few of these are professionals, however, not many bands can afford this.
The pieces played by or commissioned for this section are extremely difficult - using techniques such as complex time signatures; fast semiquaver runs and slow, quiet quartet interludes. Music composed for this section in recent years has included 'Eden' by John Pickard and 'Music of the Spheres' by Philip Sparke.
Many of the top Championship section bands contain well-known brass band figures, for example, Roger Webster (principal cornet of Grimethorpe Colliery Band) and Brett Baker (principal trombone of Black Dyke).
There are a range of different competitions for this section, from the Areas to the European Brass Band Championships.
[edit] 1st, 2nd and 3rd sections
The 1st section is the next section down from the Championship section and the section up from the 2nd section, and, although the contest music is not as challenging, it is still quite difficult to play. The degree of difficulty of the music used in competitions is progressively less for each section.
[edit] 4th section
This is the lowest section, and bands in here are usually more of a social group rather than a serious contesting band. They will still be average quality, but will most likely spend the majority of their time playing arrangements of pop tunes and showcasing any soloists that may be in the band.
[edit] Youth section
This section is only included for completion - youth bands are not usually registered and therefore don't really count as a section
The youth section isn't graded, and doesn't really exist as a concrete section. At some major competitions (e.g. Whit Friday and Pontins), there is a youth section prize awarded, but this is not common.
Youth bands suffer from some perennial problems - as players grow too old for the band and leave, the stregth of the band will wane then grow again. Also, as many youth band players are not fully-grown, they do not have the sound capacity of the adult bands; however, this is sometimes offset by their enthusiasm!
The very best three or four youth bands will be around the standard of top 1st section/lower Championship section bands, however, as already mentioned, their strength undulates. A youth band could sweep all before them in August then collapse in September as all the top players leave for university.
The main competitions for Youth Bands are the Action Medical Research Youth Entertainment Championships, the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain and the brass band section of Music for Youth.
[edit] Promotion/relegation
At the end of the "competing season", the top two bands from each section are promoted to the next section up, and the bottom two relegated to the section below. Several factors are used in determining who is promoted/relegated, and a band must perform consistently for two years, as the scores are aggregated over the previous two years. Therefore, a relegated band will usually have to spend at least two years in the section below before it can make its comeback.
There are some shortcuts; for example, a band winning the National Title for its section is automatically promoted for the following year.
[edit] Brass Band Rankings
Controversial rankings of the bands do exist at 4BarsRest and at Brass Band World, however many people distrust them. For a better understanding of this, it is advisable to read how each site compiles its rankings and then make your own judgement on whether to trust them.
