2007 European Championships!

Yesterday I had the pleasure to take in the European Brass Band Championships. This competition is totally different than anything that I've seen so far. It is actually a week-long festival that is host to a solo competition as well. One member of our studio at the RNCM, Phillippe Schwartz, made it to the semi-final round. Way to go Phil - he was up against the best from all over Europe. Sadly enough, the Americans weren't allowed to compete.

Anyway, my buddy Aaron and I went down to Birmingham (like Alabama but said ) on the train which took about 90 minutes. I know that I've said this before - but, I think if the US had a better public transportation system we might not have so many cars on the road. I mean, this train system in Europe is great!

The festival started about 10am and lasted all day. We got to see some great bands and meet some new people. I got to meet some of the big-wigs at Buffet Crampon (owner of Besson musical instruments) and some other people throughout the industry. I must tell you about this one guy. There is a man from Austria who makes the best, I repeat - the best, mutes for low brass. I met him last year at the International Tuba/Euphonium Conference in Denver that I went to. Anyway, he makes the best mutes which you can check out here. So, I decide that I'm going to get a cup mute from him since he had a "show special" going on. He, the owner, is there with his wife - and between the two of them they speak about 10 words of English. Now, here I am with this mute trying to translate that I would pay for it now and pick it up later. Couple that with the fact that they were leaving early from the conference that day, it made for some really interesting hand gestures. Anyway, funny situation - American/German definite language barrier. Good mutes, though.

I was going to post some pictures for you all to look at, but I forgot my camera. I did, however, find a great write-up of the Championships, which you can see here. Also, there were some great pictures of the bands and the hall, here. I figured instead of stealing 4barsrest's pictures, that I would simply link you to them. So, check out the write-up and the pictures.

It was great hearing bands from all over Europe. The English bands were darker, the Austria/Swiss bands were let from the euphonium/baritone sound (which is the way it should be, right?), and every band had it's own color (or is that colour) to the sound that they produced. It was truly remarkable to get to hear all of those different bands in one place.

Anyway, that was my weekend. This week I am in preparation for 2 of my assessments by the head of the brass department. I have to be graded on my external competition SPS and also on our euphonium quartet, which hasn't met for a while. Oh well... at least we have another week!