Brass Band Sections in Britain

There are five main brass band sections in Great Britain: Championship, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The top bands are in the Championship section, and the bottom ones in the 4th section. Sometimes, a 'Youth Section' is also used, although this is not graded.

Championship section

This is the section containing the very best bands in Great Britain, and (usually) the most famous. Bands such as Black Dyke and Grimethorpe, are placed in here. An elite few of these have professional players but mostly semi-professional playersFact|date=July 2007.

The pieces played by or commissioned for this section are extremely difficult - using techniques such as complex time signatures; fast semiquaver runs and slow, quiet quartet interludes. Music composed for this section in recent years has included 'Eden' by John Pickard and 'Music of the Spheres' by Philip Sparke.

Many of the top Championship section bands contain well-known brass band figures, for example, Roger Webster (principal cornet of Grimethorpe Colliery Band) and Brett Baker (principal trombone of Black Dyke).

There are a range of different competitions for this section, from the Regional Qualifying Contests ('Areas') to the European Brass Band Championships.

1st, 2nd and 3rd sections

The 1st section is the next section down from the Championship section and the section up from the 2nd section, and, although the contest music is not as challenging, it is still quite difficult to play. The degree of difficulty of the music used in competitions is progressively less for each section. It would be fair comment, however, to claim that individual players in the 1st section can match the virtuosity of Championship section players, and the gap between the two sections is always hotly contested, as indeed it is between second and first section. Very often the only reason for a band from the top of one section not successfully migrating up to the next section lies in their interpretation of a Test Piece at a contest, where their fate lies in the hands of an adjudicator. The adjudicator sits, enclosed and unable to see the bands as they play, and then judges them on various points, one of which is interpretation. In the past, deportment was one of the judgeable factors, but this is no longer part of Contest judgement. On many occasions success or failure will turn on very small matters, and this closeness increases, the higher up the sections one goes.It would not be exaggeration to say that many of the players at the top are truly virtuoso musicians, but outside the genre are seldom well known. All are amateurs, in that players pay for the privilege of being allowed to play with a band, and every player knows that if his or her musicianship is not up to standard, there are other musicians after their 'seat', that is, their place in the band, so that even within an individual band, player rivalry exists.

4th section

This is the lowest section, and bands in here are sometimes more of a social group rather than a serious contesting band. They will still be average quality, but will usually spend some of their time playing arrangements of pop tunes and showcasing any soloists who may be in the band. This is of value to them when performing paid jobs, such as parks jobs, where tunes which are popular are preferred.Most 4th section bands try to move up the ranks to third section, and set themselves musical tasks to enable them to improve. These tend to include the simpler marches, and old test pieces. The marches and other compositions of the great Welsh composer and Conductor, T. J. Powell, remain constant favourites. One of the principal reasons for the decline into fourth section status lies in the difficulties of recruiting new players. In the past, when Britain had extensive heavy industries, these would sponsor brass bands, who would then bear their name, for example, the once-great Melin Griffith Band of Cardiff was adopted by Excelsior Rope Works, when the Melingriffith Works closed down, and became the Excelsior Rope Works Band. The decline in industrial sponsorship removed the financial backing which supported such vital items as a practice room, uniforms, instruments, stands, chairs and music, which taken together cost far more than a subscription band can ever afford, yet, with very few exceptions, these bands have been struggling to get by, supported only by the members' subscriptions, the occasional sponsored concerts and playing Christmas carols. Not infrequently, practice rooms become unavailable, adding still more to the pressure to disband, and many bands have disappeared or amalgamated over recent years. A further problem is that players of ability would normally rather play in a band which stretches them, so the lower down the ratings a band is, the harder it becomes to recruit good players, and this has a snowball effect.

Youth section

"This section is only included for completion - youth bands are not usually registered and therefore don't really count as a section"

The youth section isn't graded, and doesn't really exist as a concrete section. At some major competitions (e.g. Whit Friday and Pontins), there is a youth section prize awarded, but this is not common.

Youth bands suffer from some perennial problems - as players grow too old for the band and leave, the strength of the band will wane then grow again. Also, as many youth band players are not fully-grown, they do not have the sound capacity of the adult bands; however, this is sometimes offset by their enthusiasm!

The very best three or four youth bands will be around the standard of top 1st section/lower Championship section bands, however, as already mentioned, their strength undulates. A youth band could sweep all before them in August then collapse in September as all the top players leave for university.

The main competitions for Youth Bands are the Action Medical Research Youth Entertainment Championships, the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain and the brass band section of Music for Youth.

The National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain

The National Brass Band Championships are spilt into two parts. The first is the Area contest where bands across all sections do battle with the aim of qualifying for the National Finals.

The contest is run as a yearly event, with the Area contests usually take place in March and second part of the competition - The finals taking place the following September/October.

Each section is assigned its own 'Test-Piece'. These are usually announced at the Lower Section finals in the September (or sometimes even before).

After the qualifying bands have been decided the set-works for the Finals are announced in early-June.

There are eight 'Areas' - West of England, London & Southern Counties, Midlands, Wales, North West, Yorkshire, North of England and Scotland.

The Section 1-4 finals have recently been held at Harrogate International Centre and the Championship Section Finals are held in the Royal Albert Hall, London.

British Contesting Year

January - Butlins Mineworkers Brass Band Championships

February - Local Association contests

March - Regional Qualifying Contests

April - National Youth Brass Band Contest

May - European Championships, Spring Festival (Grand Shield, Senior Trophy, Senior Cup), All England Masters

June - Whit Friday Marches

July - English Nationals

September - British Open, Lower Section National Finals

October - Championship Section National Finals

November - Pontins Brass Band Championships, Scottish Open, Local Association Contests

Promotion/relegation

At the end of the "competing season", the top two bands from each section are promoted to the next section up, and the bottom two relegated to the section below. Several factors are used in determining who is promoted/relegated, and a band must perform consistently for three years, as the scores are aggregated over the previous two years. Therefore, a relegated band will usually have to spend at least two years in the section below before it can make its comeback.

There are some shortcuts; for example, a band winning the National Title for its section is automatically promoted for the following year.

Brass Band Rankings

Controversial rankings of the bands do exist at [http://www.4barsrest.com/rankings 4BarsRest] and at [http://www.brassbandworld.com Brass Band World] , however many people distrust them. For a better understanding of this, it is advisable to read how each site compiles its rankings and then make your own judgement on whether to trust them. Often it is the band who has competed in the most competitions that wins. However, some competitions give more points than others, so this also affects who has the number one spot.