The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy. On the 18th May Foden's travelled to Southampton where we performed a concert at the Simms Concert Hall in front of a capacity audience where I performed the first public performance of the 2nd Movt of Dr Meehan's 'Milestone.' After the concert we stayed over night before carrying out a coaching day with 80 eager musicians of various ages and abilities before being joined by the rest of Foden's who joined in with a performance of the various pieces worked on during the morning.
On Thursday the 9th May I attended Media City to be interviewed re the launch of the cd 'Milestone' as well as Fodens Band by Frank Renton for a broadcast on 'Listen to the Band' which will be aired on Wednesday 15th May at 9.30pm as well as a 2nd programme on Wednesday 5th June at 9.30pm
On Sunday 12th May Foden's appeared in a concert in Norwich at the conclusion of the East Anglian Brass Band Association contest. The concert was well run and attended and despite getting home at 3.30am (and then up for work at 6.30am) was very enjoyable as well as the coach trip to the concert and back
Pleased to read today in the Brass Band World that 'Milestone' has been awarded the 'BBW CD of the Month'
Richard Poole has kindly produced a Promotional Video for 'Milestone'
Last Sunday I adjudicated the Elland Band solo contest. The contest started at 10am and during the next 7 hours I enjoyed listening to over 60 competitors in various age groups including duets and quartets. The standard over all the sections was very good (especially in the younger classes). At times I had to remind myself that I was listening to musicians under the age of 11. The youngsters were all well prepared (well done teachers) and played with a musicality beyond their years. At the end of the day my comments across all the sections included the use of dynamics (could be used more) and also players giving them selves more time in the music. It was nice to hear a number of quartets and duets (again well prepared) and my comments surrounded the use of balance and ways to improve ensemble. A number of years ago my parents use to take me all over the country competiting in these types of contests and sadly over the years the numbers of these contest have dramatically reduced. Performing solos is extremely hard but the more you perform in public and from a young age the easier it gets to help control nerves and to get use to performing to an audience. Elland band must be congratulated on running such a well organised and supported contest which next year celebrates 25 years!!!!
Thank you for viewing my new website which has been launched to coincide with the release of my first solo cd 'Milestone'.