JUDGING OF BAND CONTESTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 408, 18 April 1947, Page 18

JUDGING OF BAND CONTESTS

Sir-I was more than interested to read the article on Band Contests sand Broadcasting. With 25 years’ experience behind me, both in broadcasting and recording, I would say without hesitation that band contests will never be judged on the recordings of ‘competing bands. There are many reasons for this, In the first place as Mr. Dutton says, the human side of a band-contest is its great attraction. For one to meet a man with whom one played in a band 50 years ago, as I did at Wanganui, gives a spice to band contesting that nothing else can. But before going on to the next point let me say that the NZBS did a better job than they imagined when they made recordings of each band’s performance. I have heard on aff sides that the general public, quite apart from the band-minded, have been delighted with the playing of these recordings over the various stations, But to the bandsman there is a deeper reason to appreciate the action of the NZBS than merely enjoying the recordings. From an educational point of view they are worth twelve months’ rehearsing and I would strongly advise all bands to make arrangements with their loval stations--which I am advised can be done-and listen to their respective recordings, ‘But to return to the question of adjudicating from recordings. There must be a lack of fidelity in any recording. Why should we submit to being judged by something which is incapable of revealing the finer points of the perfoxmance? Then there is the technical side, or monitoring, during the making of a record. I again agree with Mr. Dutton. I had a similar experience many years ago at 3YA when I was conductor of Derry’s Military Band. The flute was playing a cadenza and the technician at the panel evidently thought it too soft so he "opened it up" and just as he had done so the band came in with a fortissimo shot-note! There is another factor which must be understood. It is this, Acetate records wear rapidly and if the greatest care is

not given to them every time they are used they soon lose the detail that is so essential in any performance and become "muddy." It is this aspect that may affect some of the bands when they hear their performance after six months around the circuit. I think the main point, however, has been missed. The recording is a check on the adjudication. I defy any man to hear everything that happens as a band is playing. One’s mind can only grasp so much at a time. Some will absorb more than others, but in the main that statement is correct. If an adjudicator had the opportunity of hearing the recordings of bands played-back as he checked his notes it would, I think, be a very valuable help to him. The recordings would be played back in the order in which they were made, so the judge would know them only by the numbers of the "draw." Whatever comes out of it, I am quite satisfied that recording each performance will, in the future, play a very important part in the adjudication of a band contest.

H. GLADSTONE

HILL

(Plimmerton),