Watford Band

The Watford Band have been invited to perform at the Saracens on Saturday 27th December.

This boxing day fixture will feature the battle of the giants with the Saracens tackling the hard men from London Irish. Being a local derby it is expected a full capacity crowd will be in attendance.

The Watford Band 10 piece group will be performing outside the ground from around 12 noon and then at half time. The programme of music will be predominantly of a christmas flavour but will also include some rugby favourites. They will also perform a shortened version of the March of the Charioteers from Ben Hur, which they hope will become the Saracens "signature" tune.

Sadly the band will not be playing at local supermarkets or the Harlequin as bands outside of Watford town have been given preference.

However, they are performing at Bushey Country Club (10th Dec), Mayors Carol Concert (18th Dec) and Christ Church Carol Concert (21st Dec).

While the football club is languishing in the Championship, one team from Watford is enjoying some success.

Watford Band, who were promoted to the third tier of the UK national brass band league tables in March, secured the runners-up prize at the Leicestershire Brass Band Associations contest this weekend.

Playing Stuart Pullin's Haydock Variations, they produced an excellent performance to beat off some tough competition to claim second place.
Conducted by their musical director, Richard Graves, the band's performance was described as “musical and well presented”.

Over 30 band members took part in the competition and the band came away with a grand shield and £150 in prize money.

2008 has been an extremely successful year for Richard Graves and the band. In March the band were awarded 5th place at the National Area Championships which gave them promotion to the third tier of the brass band movement. Richard Graves, musical director is now looking forward to 2009 when he will lead the band to greater heights. This is the first time in the band's history it has reached the third tier.

The Band presented a "Last Night at the Proms" concert in the Christ Church on 4th October.

The band were joined by the Watford Girls Grammar School junior choir and soprano soloist Katie Powis, a history teacher from the school.

The Kwamkono Hostel project in Tanzania is a place where disabled and old people find refuge. The young disabled children are given education and the Christ Church are a main sponsor for this project. Over £300 was raised for the hostel.

The concert itself started with the band giving a rouising performance of London Celebrations. This piece recalls many of the sites of London.
The girls performed several well known songs of which the final piece was "Fame" where it was obvious for all to see they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The finale of the concert commenced with soloist, Katie Powis, the girls choir , the Christ Church choir and the band giving an extremely sensitive performance of "Saving Private Ryan". This was followed by the usual last night renditions, with the concert coming to a resounding end with Land of Hope and Glory.

The next concert to be held at the Christ Church is on Saturday 9th May 2009. The band will be joined by the Hertfordshire Police Choir. The theme of the concert is "Around the World in 80 or so minutes". I am sure it will take longer than 80 minutes. Proceeds from the concert are for the Macmillan Cancer Trust.

What follows is an article by a member of the audience - he is a bit of a brass band fanatic:

It seems that the Watford Band is jinxed this year. Twice in the summer season they were double crossed by councils who should know better.

Firstly, in St. Neots, they were told not to play because the ground was waterlogged. Oh no, not again. When is somebody in St. Neots council (actually I think it is Huntingdonshire District) going to grow a brain cell?

This has become a recurring problem in St Neots. The park is so far below road level, and is atrocious at drying out. To quote Miles Davis, so what? There is a huge paved area near the shops just a few yards away from the park, and this paved area is at road level, and drains well. Can nobody understand that if the grass is waterlogged, it is quite possible for a band to play on the paved area?

Instead, a band loses revenue, and the fans have a wasted journey. What sense does it make?

Fortunately for me, I didn’t travel to St Neots on this date, although it was under consideration. I was not so lucky two months later when the prestige job in St. James’s Park was mercilessly cancelled again for preposterous “reasons”. St James’s Park was used for preparations for an event which is four years away. What??? Are the Royal Parks seriously trying to tell me that a practice of this type was organized at short notice? So short that music fans couldn’t have been told in advance that it was cancelled?

Even the Watford Band were apparently told at the last minute that they were not going to be playing in London. The Royal Parks should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for this disgraceful fiasco.

I found out less than half an hour before the event, when I read a board which had been put up in the park. Brilliant. Fortunately the money I had spent travelling to London was not totally wasted, as there was a performance of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (K622) and Requiem (K626) in St Martin In The Fields.

I am pleased to report that tonight’s vampire job in Watford’s Christ Church went ahead without any problems. At last, I got a chance to hear the Watford Band! I was looking forward to hearing them this year, as their new musical director is cornet virtuoso Richard Graves, who those of us in Northamptonshire remember with great fondness from his years with the Rushden Windmill Brass Band. I went to Burton Upon Trent to see a contest, and Rushden won it. I went to Leamington Spa to see a contest, and Rushden won it. Rushden were also among the most consistent performers in Abington Park for over a decade. Richard Graves did a terrific job at Rushden, and the Watford Band should have much to look forward to.

The current musical director of our local band, the Moulton 77 Brass Band, is Martyn France, and he came from the Watford Band. I was half expecting to see him turn up tonight, as his name is still listed on the website, as a bass trombone player. The Watford Band had a gap in the trombones, but Mr. France wasn’t there. I suspect he was still tired from his round the world trip the week before (see previous post if that doesn’t make sense to you!)

Actually, a round the world trip is probably quicker than a trip to Watford, as the railways are up to their antics again. Replacement buses (which are actually coaches but just as slow) do their tortoise impressions down to Milton Keynes, and then the trains take us the rest of the way. I dread to think what the return journey will be like.

At least the builders of the Christ Church have had the decency to build it very close to Watford Junction station. (In all honesty, they were probably built in the other order, but it was nice of them, anyway). One perennial accompanier of the summer season was with us again tonight – precipitation. This made it all the more irksome that the poster on the Church said the doors would not open until 7pm. Not good news. Also not good news is that there is no shelter or overhang anywhere near the Church.

After the fascinating study of the inside of a bus shelter, which was the only shelter available for some distance, I go back to the Church, and they admit me early! Good. I wonder if anyone from the Great Billing Church Fete was there! As one of the first in, I am able to grab a prime seat right at the front.

I said last week that the Christ Church in Northampton was probably so named because people kept coming through the door and exclaiming “Christ! It’s cold in here!”. Ditto the Christ Church in Watford, only even more so. The vicar actually told us that the heating would go on at 7pm, and it did! Very effective it was, too, and very welcome. The vicar was even good enough to allow me a cup of warming coffee before the event, which led to me putting a double donation in the box.

This is something I would like to see happen a lot more often. Refreshments are so often served at half time, but it is after your arduous journey and before the event starts that you are most in need of them. Two weeks ago in Towcester, it was a cold drink after a huge walk in summer heat that was needed. Tonight, the warm coffee was just what we needed coming in to the cold Church from the rain.

The Watford Band were going to be sharing the stage tonight with the Watford Girls Grammar School Choir, but the band were in action first with the march “Barnard Castle”. This one is often used to open sessions in the parks. The second piece was a “London Celebration” featuring many of the tunes from and about the capital city. I wonder if this came from Mr. Graves, as I remember hearing that a few times at Rushden events.

The Bass Section is rarely featured, especially in the parks, but here they were on “Forty Fathoms”. This was followed by an arrangement of “Bobby Shaftoe”, and then the choir gave the band a short rest. How encouraging it is to see young people at school involved in music.

The Watford Band were back with “Camptown Races”, often heard as one of three parts of and Appalachian Mountain Suite, but here performed alone. Harold Arlen’s “Over The Rainbow” is surely familiar to everyone, but here we heard Mr. Graves’ own arrangement, in a big band style. “The Wind Beneath My Wings” and “Pirates Of The Caribbean” finished the first set.

Breaks aren’t exactly exciting. One cup of tea and a couple of biscuits, and twenty minutes staring at a wall. That is what you get if you venture off the beaten track, and visit towns where nobody knows you!

The second set began with William Rimmer’s “Rule Britannia” overture, which I hadn’t heard for eight years until Ilkeston Brass brought it out this year. One of the great highlights of the evening came next, as Richard Graves showed his own virtuosity on a cornet solo, which is listed in the book as “Carikfurgus”, but is presumably “Carrickfergus” after the place in Ireland. Great to hear him playing again. I can still remember one of the rare times he took up the cornet just for one tune when Rushden were playing in Abington Park, and I am still sure it was him I saw playing principal cornet for Hemel Hempstead on that dull day August 19th last year in Leighton Buzzard. I will never know for sure. With my eyesight, or more accurately lack of it, I would have trouble recognizing anyone at any distance, but it looked like Mr. Graves, and it sounded like Mr. Graves.

The choir were back again for three more pieces, and then we came to the finale of the evening. The event had been billed as a “Last Night Of The Proms” event, as so many band events at this time of year are. Not really my scene, I wish the Last Night Of The Proms could be kept for the Albert Hall. Personally, I would much sooner pay money to hear a brass band playing serious brass band music, and be allowed to sit in silence and listen to it.

Audience participation is a pain in the backside. When I go to the Wigmore Hall to listen to Mozart’s String Quartets they don’t make me get a violin out and add my own screeching noise to the wonderful music on offer. Still, if it gets the people through the door and the money into the band’s funds, I suppose that is really what matters. I just wish the brass band world had festivals, as so many other forms of music do, where you could hear serious music played by many different bands over many different hours. Similar to the summer jazz festivals.

Bands In The Park events are excellent entertainment, but the organizers insist on light, “popular” pieces being played. By the time you have heard “Love Changes Everything” and “Singing In The Rain” for the nine millionth time each season, they do tend to lose their shine a bit.

Contests are not great for the spectator. They give you a chance to hear a lot of bands you may not have heard before, but you will only hear a couple of different pieces played all day.

Anyway, back to tonight. “Hymn To The Fallen” came first, and in an appropriate setting. This church actually has a war memorial in its own yard. I’m sure it will come as no surprise to hear that the other pieces were “Fantasy On British Sea Songs”, “Jerusalem”, and “Pomp And Circumstance March No.1”

The Watford Band delivered a fine performance tonight, certainly well worth the considerable expense and the long journey. I wish I had heard this band in St James’s Park, as I believe they would have done the event more than justice. As it is, I expect them to have a fine future under Mr. Graves.

I also give the Watford Band huge credit for having a training band and bringing on the players of the future. This is what we need to see. It is, actually, one of the few places where I could get to on band nights, if they were short of a geriatric cornet player. The problem is the huge expense of travel. If I saved that amount up for three months I could buy my own instrument out of that.

Living in the Black Hole Of Northampton is not exactly fun, as there are no bands. The only band that is within any reasonable distance is Moulton 77, and they have no training band. They really should get one, as they seem to be short of players, but that is another story.

I have often wondered whether it would be possible to start up a training band in Northampton, even though there is no full band, with a view to feeding the county’s other bands. Surely there must be people somewhere in a town of 200,000 people who want to play music?

The journey home is long and boring, and with two changes on what is supposed to be a direct route. I won’t bore you with the details. I can’t get home before 1am, so it is a good job there is nothing tomorrow other than Sunday Bandstand on the radio (see the Phoenix FM page for details).

Thank you, Watford Band, for extending my season for another week. From now until next May my life will be spent looking at the same four walls and living on recordings. (For God’s sake somebody start a bloody band in Northampton!) Not a pleasant prospect, although I’ve got plenty of recorded music to sort through.

I have no idea when the next post will be, as there are no forthcoming events. I will try to get a programme of Christmas events on to the site as soon as I can.

2 of the bands members have successfully completed their latest grade examinations with flying colours. Both achieved a Distinction on their respective instruments.

Jamie Chandler, 12, plays Euphonium in the band and gained his award at Grade 6. Jamie has been with the band for nearly 4 years and he gained near perfect score for sight reading which his parents put down his membership of the band. The band carry out about 15 performances during the spring and summer season and select each programme from around 70 pieces which have been well rehearsed during the year.

Corin Frankel who is a little older than Jamie is a perfect example of "its never too late"!!! Corin started to play the cornet less than 2 years ago at the age of 35. She has been well taught by the band's Solo Euphonium Sally Franklin. Corin gained a merit at grade 4 and she is 3rd cornet in the band.

She qualified as a doctor from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School ( now part of Imperial) in 1994 but changed career about 5 years later to the much more civilised world of landscape gardening. This switch has given her more time and freedom to explore the more practical and creative things she has always loved, particularly music. As well as cornet she is currently learning percussion, adopting the motto of an 80+ friend who says you are never too old to learn!

Well done to both of them.

The Watford Band joined forces with Watford Grammar School for Girls to perform the Last Night of the Proms concert on Wenesday 2nd July. The concert was aimed at raising money for the Samaritans.

Performances ranged from Junior choir wowing the audience with hits from Fame and Hunchback of Notre Dame, to 3 Heads of Department playing a Donizetti concerto. There were a number of solo and ensemble pieces and all were very well received by the packed auditorium.

The second half featured Henry Lindsay, Tuba, performing Bass in the Ballroom. Henry was a Brass finalist at the BBC Young Musician of the Year. This was followed by a performance of a Henry Wood Fantasy on British Sea Songs which was enthuastically received by the audience, especially the rendition of the "Sailor's Hornpipe" which required 2 encores to satisfy the audiences rousing applause. The concert finale was led by Katy Powis, soprano, leading the band and audience in the rousing choruses of Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem.

It is hoped to make this an annual event, so watch the bands program page for the 2009 date.