Not Quite Silky Smooth at Area Contest

Mon 27 Mar 2017

February 26th saw Silk Band compete in the 1st Section of the North West Regional Brass Band Championships.

An early start - rehearsing in Blackpool by 7.45am - was followed by an early performance with the band drawn No.2 and on stage before 10 o'clock! It wasn't to be the band's day though, as although they performed well, the players knew they had left their best performance of 'Land Of The Long White Cloud - Aotearoa' by Philip Sparke back in the band room. Even so a result of 11th Place out of 13 seemed a little harsh and obviously a higher place would have been preferred.

However, we are still in the 1st Section and will be competing again next year, to prove that we are a force to be reckoned with on the contesting stage. Onwards and upwards!

Rochdale Contest 2016

Thu 27 Oct 2016

Last Sunday, the band performed in the Rochdale NWBBA Contest with the piece 'Vitae Eternam' by Paul Lovatt-Cooper.

The band came off stage very pleased with how we had played, however, in the boomy acoustics of Rochdale Town Hall, the results didn't go our way and adjudicator Alan Morrison placed the band in 6th place.

To listen to our performance, please follow the link below.

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Silk Brass!

Wed 03 Aug 2016

The band has just returned from a magnificent, week long tour of Lermoos and the surrounding area in the Tirol region of Austria. Thanks to the hard work of the band committee and numerous friends of the band who live over in Lermoos, the band was able to put on six concerts, including formal evening concerts and performances on some of peaks of the many mountains in the area, including the first performance ever by a brass band on top of the Zugspitze mountain - at just short of 10000 feet above sea level the views were breathtaking and many of the players found their breath was also taken by the high altitude while trying to play their instruments!.

We must say a huge thanks to the generous Austrian hospitality from our many old and new friends that we have made on this tour and hope that we will be able to return in the not too distant future.

Itinerary:
Saturday 23 July - Band flies to Munich - Coach from Munich to Lermoos
Sunday 24 July - Taking part in the Lermoos RC Church Mass
Monday 25 July - Lunchtime Concert at the Tirolerhaus up the Ehrwalder Alm mountain, Evening Concert in Ehrwald
Tuesday 26 July - Evening Concert at the music school in Lermoos
Wednesday 27 July - Lunchtime Concert at the top of the Zugspitze mountain
Thursday 28 July - Lunchtime Concert at the Grubighutte on the Grubigstein mountain
Friday 29 July - Free day
Saturday 30 July - Coach from Lermoos to Munich, Flight from Munich to Manchester

A few photos of the week can be found in the gallery here.

Whit Friday - Lees & Springhead 1st Section Champions

Wed 25 May 2016

Friday 20th May saw Silk Brass and well over 100 hundred other brass bands to take to the streets of Tameside and Saddleworth in the traditional Whit Friday March Contests.

This year the band did a mixture of contests in both the Saddleworth and Tameside areas. We performed our road march "Marching With Alford" and contest march "Ravenswood" at seven venues - we would have liked to have done more, but due to the large number of bands travelling through the Saddleworth venues, queues for each of the venues were rather long and we had to wait nearly an hour at places before we could play - although it did mean we could soak in the fantastic atmosphere and watch other bands as well.

Over the evening we performed at Tame Valley (Duckinfield), Mossley, Grotton, Lees & Springhead, Greenfield, Delph & Denton, and we were very please to hear that we came 15th out of 80 bands at Delph and won the Best 1st Section Band prize at Lees & Springhead as well as their coveted Best Deportment Prize.

It truly is the 'Greatest Free Show on Earth', and we look forward to Friday 9th June 2017 when we can do it all again!

Click on the Youtube link below to watch our performance of 'Ravenswood' at the Grotton Contest.

Silk Shows 1st Section Credentials

Fri 11 Mar 2016

At the end of February, Silk Brass competed in the North West Regional Brass Band Championships at Blackpool's Winter Gardens. After last year's 4th place in the 2nd Section, the band was promoted and this year we competed in the 1st Section for the first time since 2013.

The band are pleased to say that our performance of Edward Gregson's "Essay" led the adjudicators to award us 8th place out of 14, putting us firmly in the middle to the 1st Section rankings proving that our promotion to the 1st Section was definitely deserved.

Look out for more contest results later in the year as we try to build and improve on this position and start aiming for prizes within this difficult section.

Silk Retains Bolsover Title

Mon 05 Oct 2015

Yesterday Silk Brass competed at the Bolsover Entertainment Contest. Facing stiff competition the band were playing to retain the title of 2nd Section Champions.

Our programme was as follows:

Another Openin', Another Show - arr. S. Roberts
Myfanwy - arr. A. Horn
Swingtime Relegion - B. Gott
You Are My Love - arr. W. Hargreaves
(Soprano Cornet Soloist - John Worth)
March from the Pines of Rome - arr. H. Snell

The adjudicator Simone Rebello was thrilled with the band's performance awarding the band 93 points, 3 points ahead of the second placed band. In her notes she said, "A classy, polished programme, beautifully presented in every sense of the word. Hugely enjoyable - Thank you."

This makes it a hat trick for the band at this contest. It is three years in row that Silk Brass has left Bolsover with a 1st Prize trophy.

Well done to all involved.