The British Bandsman
March Composition Contest
The British Bandsman March Composition Contest
The British Bandsman and Pennine Music have joined forces to bring you a new March Composition Contest.
So many bands people and supporters from across the world have visited Tameside and Saddleworth on Whit Friday to either listen to or take part in ‘The Greatest Free Show on Earth’, we all know that the contests cannot take place without the willing volunteers who step up year-after-year to keep this unique and outstanding contest going, so this composition contest is dedicated to them and the sub title of the winning piece will be ‘Dedicated to all the volunteers that make the Whit Friday March contests possible’
For every sale of the winning piece a £2 donation will be made to the Tameside and Saddleworth organising committees.
The judging panel:
Paul Hindmarsh - Since leaving Manchester’s BBC Radio 3 production team in 2006, Paul Hindmarsh he has been Artistic Director of the Royal Northern College of Music's annual Brass Band Festival, which he started as a BBC series in 1990. He has commissioned over 40 brass band works, some of which have become staples of the repertoire. At various times between 2006 and 2021 Paul served as Editor of Brass Band World, Features Editor of British Bandsman, Band Consultant for the leading UK publisher Faber Music and Chair of EBBA’s Music Commission. He has also published widely on British music and bands and has produced or curated acclaimed CDs, including most recently Vaughan Williams on Brass with Tredegar Band for Albion Records. www.paulhindmarsh.com
Michael Fowles – Widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of his generation Michael hails from the rich musical tradition of North Staffordshire and is an honours and post-graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and has been Musical Director of Foden’s Band since 2009. When it comes to Whit Friday Michael has an outstanding set of results with Foden’s over the last 10 years.
Aidan Smith – Founder and musical director of Chav Brass, who have grown to be a real highlight of the Saddleworth Contests capturing the fun element of the contest perfectly.
Aidan is a teacher and conductor based in Bergen, Norway and plays solo horn with Manger Musikklag having held similar positions with bands such as Leyland and the YBS band from his time in the UK.
The winning entry will receive a £300 1st prize, the March will be recorded by Foden’s Band who have very generously donated their fee for this project to the Tameside and Saddleworth organising committees which is a fantastic gesture, you couldn’t ask for a better ‘Whit Friday’ band to do the recording, such an outstanding set of results in Tameside for over a decade.
UPDATED: With over 80 registrations The British Bandsman and Pennine Music have taken the decision to split the entries into 2 categories.
Category 1 will be for a composition to be played by Champ/1st/2nd Section bands, Category 2 will be for a composition to be played by 3rd and 4th Section bands.
The 1st prize of £300 will be the same in each category and the winner of each category will be published by Pennine Music, a donation to the Whit Friday Organising Committees will be made for every sale of each winning march, so with 2 winning marches the donation will be bigger which is great news.
The closing date for entries is midnight (GMT) on Saturday 28th January with the winner being announced once the decision is made and Foden’s have recorded it. This is pencilled in for the end of February so it can be on sale from early March (had to be March didn’t it).
To register your interest in being part of this fantastic project and to download the brief please follow the link below, you can register for this project until Saturday 7th January, but please make sure you read the brief before you get started.
