Manea Silver Band's annual general meeting will be held on Monday 20 January 2014 at 8.15pm at Manea Methodist Chapel. All are welcome.
Items will be the committee elections for the year, a decision on uniform jackets and the awarding of the Billy King Memorial Prize ("King of the Band"). We'll be rehearsing as usual before and after the meeting.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
2013 at MSB
As part of a mini-refresh of the MSB website, we've decided to make the conductor's blog into our official newsfeed for the website, so this should be the place to find out the latest news from the band, although do check out our Facebook group and page for all the latest gossip as well.
We've also performed as part of a massed Fenland area band at Ely Cathedral organised by our friends at Chatteris Town Band in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
We were saddened to hear of the passing of Stan Shadbolt in October. Stan, who was the principal cornet for Somersham Town Band deputised for almost every band in Cambridgeshire and was a familiar front row cornet at MSB concerts for as long as anybody can remember.
This cutting from a local newspaper shows Stan (second player from the left) playing with the junior players of Manea Band in 1951. Fast forward sixty years and this was Stan (far left) still playing with us at the Dickensian Market at Benwick in 2012.
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| Shaun indulges his James Bond fantasies at St Ives Waits in August |
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| Band on a bus, Manea Gala in July |
Since February we've had our first movie-concert-quiz night "A Night at the Movies" in Manea, park concerts in St Ives, Ely, Manea and Ramsey, three church services, two German nights, one bingo night and a musical tour of Manea on an open-top bus. That almost fits the words to "The 12 Days of Christmas".
Speaking of Christmas, we're currently in the middle of our Christmas carolling schedule - see our calendar to find out where you can hear us this festive season!
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| Ely Jubilee gardens August |
It's been a year of changes. We welcomed our new conductor Shaun Pope in February and some new faces have joined us, as well as some more familiar ones who have returned to the band. Our Chairman Nic Paine has decided to step down from this position at the next AGM, but we would like to thank him for his sterling contribution in shaping the direction of the band over the last few years and hope he will remain a keen friend and supporter.
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| Cambridge Daily News July 1951 |
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| Benwick Dickensian Market 2012 |
The memorable German evening at Ramsey Mereside in October was the last brass band concert Stan played at. He will be greatly missed.
We've still got our big end of year carol service at Manea to come and will be out and about in the area carolling right up to the big day; watch out for us at Chatteris Co-op, Ramsey Tesco and March Tesco in the next week.
Looking to the future, we have some exciting plans for concerts and events both in Manea and beyond for 2014, but as one of the Christmas pieces we've been performing says, "look to the future now, it's only just begun". Watch this space!
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| Manea light switch-on 2013 |
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
What Goes Around Comes Around.....
Well, thank you Robert for the introduction. As I'm blogging this at work and about to dash off to another dull meeting, I'll make this a quick one (you'll be glad to hear!).
A very short summary of my banding history (it's all in the title of this post really).....was a starter member of the re-formed Manea Silver Band wayyyy back in 1982 (baritone, then euphonium). Had a couple or three years conducting the band between David Wilson and Peter Cain (around the very early 1990s). At the same time, I started playing for Littleport Brass Band (whom I still play euphonium for). And, as of Monday 11 February 2013, am now proud to be the MD of Manea Silver Band. I'm a Manea lad through and through; and, despite living in various places around Cambridgeshire over the years, have always considered Manea as home.
Anyways, that 9am meeting is looming; so, look forward (?!?) to a slightly more 'bandy' blog post later. And if you're really lucky, I may even add in some appropriate pics And remember, practise little and often...makes a world of difference :-)
A very short summary of my banding history (it's all in the title of this post really).....was a starter member of the re-formed Manea Silver Band wayyyy back in 1982 (baritone, then euphonium). Had a couple or three years conducting the band between David Wilson and Peter Cain (around the very early 1990s). At the same time, I started playing for Littleport Brass Band (whom I still play euphonium for). And, as of Monday 11 February 2013, am now proud to be the MD of Manea Silver Band. I'm a Manea lad through and through; and, despite living in various places around Cambridgeshire over the years, have always considered Manea as home.
Anyways, that 9am meeting is looming; so, look forward (?!?) to a slightly more 'bandy' blog post later. And if you're really lucky, I may even add in some appropriate pics And remember, practise little and often...makes a world of difference :-)
Monday, 11 February 2013
Christmas, new year, new MD
A belated happy new year to all followers of Manea Silver Band. It's all been a bit quiet on the blog since October, which is the opposite of what the band has been up to!
Oktoberfest, the Harvest Festival and Remembrance Sunday all went very well and we suspect we played our largest programme of Christmas events for some years.
I always enjoy Christmas in brass bands, even if everyone eventually gets sick of Silent Night and Co. and starts asking for all the obscure carols in the book that nobody knows!
We started particularly early this year with the rather fun Dickensian-themed Benwick Christmas Market in November, where some of us went for the full urchin look, playing a selection of Victorian carols and selections from Oliver. Throughout December, we played for two church services, a mini-concert in Chatteris and went carolling in Manea, March and Wisbech.
I had always been meaning to try some of the lesser-played pieces from the red Salvation Army carol book and although rehearsals showed why some of them aren't played very regularly, I was pleased to add the not-bad versions of The Christmas Song and Holst's arrangement of Personent Hodie to our Christmas music repertoire, in addition to a few others that (being a bit of a Christmas carol geek) I rather suspect only I really liked!
Particular highlights to note were Linda and Nigel's rather haunting duet version of "Who is He?", an American carol I must admit I didn't know at all, and was all the better for being a spontaneous interpretation. Joseph, one of our Junior Band stars, also had his solo debut with his performance of Mary's Boy Child. We were also lucky to have a full complement of trombones to play Philip Sparke's lovely arrangement of White Christmas that I've been wanting to try for years. We played this as our final piece at the Manea carol service at St Nicholas's church, which rounded the season off spendidly. We didn't get a white Christmas though.
During the Christmas break, we advertised for a new musical director and I'm very pleased to announce that Shaun Pope has been elected to this position at today's AGM. So, this is my last post as caretaker conductor and watch this space for Shaun's new MD blog...
Oktoberfest, the Harvest Festival and Remembrance Sunday all went very well and we suspect we played our largest programme of Christmas events for some years.
I always enjoy Christmas in brass bands, even if everyone eventually gets sick of Silent Night and Co. and starts asking for all the obscure carols in the book that nobody knows!
I had always been meaning to try some of the lesser-played pieces from the red Salvation Army carol book and although rehearsals showed why some of them aren't played very regularly, I was pleased to add the not-bad versions of The Christmas Song and Holst's arrangement of Personent Hodie to our Christmas music repertoire, in addition to a few others that (being a bit of a Christmas carol geek) I rather suspect only I really liked!
Particular highlights to note were Linda and Nigel's rather haunting duet version of "Who is He?", an American carol I must admit I didn't know at all, and was all the better for being a spontaneous interpretation. Joseph, one of our Junior Band stars, also had his solo debut with his performance of Mary's Boy Child. We were also lucky to have a full complement of trombones to play Philip Sparke's lovely arrangement of White Christmas that I've been wanting to try for years. We played this as our final piece at the Manea carol service at St Nicholas's church, which rounded the season off spendidly. We didn't get a white Christmas though.
During the Christmas break, we advertised for a new musical director and I'm very pleased to announce that Shaun Pope has been elected to this position at today's AGM. So, this is my last post as caretaker conductor and watch this space for Shaun's new MD blog...
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
October is upon us!
We had a productive practice on Monday night, split between our two forthcoming October events; Oktoberfest at the Rose & Crown on 20th and the Manea Methodist church Harvest Festival on the 21st.
If you missed Oktoberfest last year, this year promises to be bigger and better, so if you like German beer, German oom-pah music, German dress, German sausages or just fancy a good evening at the pub, be there!
From a practice point of view, the music isn't as easy to play as it seems. A lot of the music in our "German folders" was arranged for the band by David Wilson, who reformed the band in the 1980s. Therefore, it's one of those things that everyone assumes they know because it's been around so long.
However, we've discovered on previous occasions that it's a little more intricate than we may have assumed, so we're having a proper look through the folders beforehand to find out what works and what doesn't, and we now have a fairly good selection of waltzes, polkas and marches prepared. This should also give us to practice the actions to some of them - if you want to see those, 20th October, Manea Rose & Crown!
If that's not quite your cup of tea, all is now safely gathered in at Manea, and we're playing at the annual Harvest Festival on the 21st October at the Methodist Chapel. In addition to the hymns, we're playing a little selection of pieces for the congregation.
One of them, an arrangement of Joyce Eilers Bacak's Irish Blessing is a particular favourite of mine. The band haven't played it for many years, but when we got it out of our library a few months ago, I was really impressed by how the whole band came together and made an excellent job of it first time through. The opening is a lovely quartet, which really suits our band.
We've recently started to encourage our junior band players to come along to the start of the senior band rehearsal, and this piece, being within an acceptable note range and tempo for our less experienced players, has allowed them to join in with at the start of the rehearsals with something that's both challenging, but not overly intimidating. It works really well, so I do hope you can come along and hear us play it on the 21st.
If you missed Oktoberfest last year, this year promises to be bigger and better, so if you like German beer, German oom-pah music, German dress, German sausages or just fancy a good evening at the pub, be there!
From a practice point of view, the music isn't as easy to play as it seems. A lot of the music in our "German folders" was arranged for the band by David Wilson, who reformed the band in the 1980s. Therefore, it's one of those things that everyone assumes they know because it's been around so long.
However, we've discovered on previous occasions that it's a little more intricate than we may have assumed, so we're having a proper look through the folders beforehand to find out what works and what doesn't, and we now have a fairly good selection of waltzes, polkas and marches prepared. This should also give us to practice the actions to some of them - if you want to see those, 20th October, Manea Rose & Crown!
If that's not quite your cup of tea, all is now safely gathered in at Manea, and we're playing at the annual Harvest Festival on the 21st October at the Methodist Chapel. In addition to the hymns, we're playing a little selection of pieces for the congregation.
One of them, an arrangement of Joyce Eilers Bacak's Irish Blessing is a particular favourite of mine. The band haven't played it for many years, but when we got it out of our library a few months ago, I was really impressed by how the whole band came together and made an excellent job of it first time through. The opening is a lovely quartet, which really suits our band.
We've recently started to encourage our junior band players to come along to the start of the senior band rehearsal, and this piece, being within an acceptable note range and tempo for our less experienced players, has allowed them to join in with at the start of the rehearsals with something that's both challenging, but not overly intimidating. It works really well, so I do hope you can come along and hear us play it on the 21st.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Website posted!
Well, well, well, the Manea Silver Band website is up and running! As you may have noticed, our website URL is now www.maneasilverband.co.uk, so don't forget to update your bookmarks.
Coming soon: the completed photo page and proper links to our MSB Facebook group, which is gaining a bit of a following thanks to the efforts of our principal cornet player Rhiannon. Until I work out how to insert a "like" button to the website, do pop along to http://www.facebook.com/groups/142923215740520/ and if you like us feel free to join the group for all the latest MSB news.
Incidentally, it's well worth a look through the historical photographs on our Facebook page - some of them are rather interesting; the earliest dated one is 1905, but some of the undated ones may be even older. They were unearthed by several supporters of MSB who kindly lent us some of these items for our April relaunch concert. It's great to have this sort of history behind us and to have the artefacts to go with it.
As you may have spotted on our "about" page, we also have a lovely new uniform which was premiered at the Relaunch concert. Our next event is Manea Gala on the 14th July. If you want to see us try to play while riding on the top deck of a bus, be there!
Coming soon: the completed photo page and proper links to our MSB Facebook group, which is gaining a bit of a following thanks to the efforts of our principal cornet player Rhiannon. Until I work out how to insert a "like" button to the website, do pop along to http://www.facebook.com/groups/142923215740520/ and if you like us feel free to join the group for all the latest MSB news.
Incidentally, it's well worth a look through the historical photographs on our Facebook page - some of them are rather interesting; the earliest dated one is 1905, but some of the undated ones may be even older. They were unearthed by several supporters of MSB who kindly lent us some of these items for our April relaunch concert. It's great to have this sort of history behind us and to have the artefacts to go with it.
As you may have spotted on our "about" page, we also have a lovely new uniform which was premiered at the Relaunch concert. Our next event is Manea Gala on the 14th July. If you want to see us try to play while riding on the top deck of a bus, be there!
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Rehearsal Monday 19th March
A positive start after a rocky few weeks! Conductors blog has gone a little to the wayside since i've moved out of the village and turned my life upside down, but here we are, back on form and a solid rehearsal to show for it.
The band coped well with my insisting on stopping and starting hymn tunes for the first 20 minutes but I had taken to heart what the 2nd section adjudicator said at Sundays regional contest... "the rest of you back to the bandroom for more hymn tune practise". The balance, sound quality and dare I say tuning improved greatly in the first half an hour.
Emerald Skies was a little shaky tonight. So many interlocking quavers that need to match up... SUBDIVIDE SUBDIVIDE SUBDIVIDE! ...and Forte sounds, although improving can still sound pinched and aggressive. Lots of long notes and relaxed breathing practise required.
We did lots of work on Zambezi by Derek Broadbent which shows lots of potential but all of the band need to be careful on those little tricksty quaver rests. Still, a good Afro-Cuban feel was achieved in the end. Niki was right, Cuba IS in the Caribbean, just off of Jamaica... but it is very close to South America! ...and they do have pineapples there. I googled it.
Finally, very impressed with our run through of Harry Potter, the note bashing has obviously paid off and there were far more correct accidentals, time changes and articulations going in.
5 rehearsals left until the big relaunch concert... wow, where has the time gone.
Be good, learn lots.
The Boss
The band coped well with my insisting on stopping and starting hymn tunes for the first 20 minutes but I had taken to heart what the 2nd section adjudicator said at Sundays regional contest... "the rest of you back to the bandroom for more hymn tune practise". The balance, sound quality and dare I say tuning improved greatly in the first half an hour.
Emerald Skies was a little shaky tonight. So many interlocking quavers that need to match up... SUBDIVIDE SUBDIVIDE SUBDIVIDE! ...and Forte sounds, although improving can still sound pinched and aggressive. Lots of long notes and relaxed breathing practise required.
We did lots of work on Zambezi by Derek Broadbent which shows lots of potential but all of the band need to be careful on those little tricksty quaver rests. Still, a good Afro-Cuban feel was achieved in the end. Niki was right, Cuba IS in the Caribbean, just off of Jamaica... but it is very close to South America! ...and they do have pineapples there. I googled it.
Finally, very impressed with our run through of Harry Potter, the note bashing has obviously paid off and there were far more correct accidentals, time changes and articulations going in.
5 rehearsals left until the big relaunch concert... wow, where has the time gone.
Be good, learn lots.
The Boss
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