Great weekend, and ONE more day.

It was an absolutely fantastic weekend! I headed up to Gateshead, which is about 2.5 hrs north of Manchester near New Castle for the Brass in Concert brass band competition. We were supposed to have 5 people from the RNCM come up, but staring at the clock at 6:15a, it was only myself and Cyril - a great euphonium player from Switzerland. Oh well - - - they all missed out.

The train ride up to New Castle was not too bad. I am still trying to wrap my head around the train system here. Apparently you can get a reserved seat on the train, but I have yet to find out where I go to do that. So, you just have these boarding cards that are good on any train, in any route to your destination. It seems a bit complicated, but actually is quite easy.

Once we got to New Castle, we had to take a quick taxi across the river (still not sure which river it was, but trying to find out). The Sage is the venue for the concert, and it was amazing. We got there about 10:30a and found our seats. The hall was pretty full, but not packed - so there was a little room to spread out. If you are wondering, there seems to be two kinds of brass band competitions. One is where there is a 'test-piece', which is usually something very difficult meant to "test" each of the bands. You will have exposed solos, loud and soft playing, all of the things that are "difficult." Anyway, the other is an entertainment-based competition. In this competition each band had approximately 25 minutes to perform a program. The judges were not screened (unlike the test-piece competition, where they were), and the general idea of the competition was to present something that was not only musical but enjoyable to listen to and watch. Bands had all different interpretations during the day, but two really stood out.

The Brighouse and Rastrick (sp?) band came out on top, with Grimethorpe (the band my teacher was conducting) coming in only 2 points behind them. The big surprise of the day came from the Brass Band of Central Florida who placed 4th. The reason being, is that they won the entertainment portion of the scorecard, and placed 7th in music. They were entertaining, albeit not exactly the idea of a true British-style brass band.

All-in-all it was a very enjoyable day. The pictures on this post are of the hall, and of the surroundings during the day. The concert went until almost 7:30p, since there were 12 bands, each band getting a half-hour to perform. So, I wasn't able to take too many pictures, but enjoy the views.

And, only one more day until my Mary gets here. It has been a while since we have been able to spend some time together, and I am really looking forward to it. It has been a great semester so far, but I am definitely missing a few things. Mostly my parents, my family, a "real-person" sized shower, and a washer/dryer that I only have to share with my parents. Oh well, small price to pay for living over here!