SBBA Scottish Youth Championships 2008

It was a very chilly Sunday in Perth on the 29th November when the cream of Scottish Youth Brass Bands gathered to compete for the 2008 SBBA Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships. The premier section was contested by Aberdeen City Youth Band conducted by Eric Kidd, Carnoustie & District Youth Brass conducted by Michael Robertson and West Lothian Schools Brass Band conducted, as ever, by Nigel Boddice MBE.

The Youth Contests are held alongside the Besson Scottish Open Brass Band Championship, the Scottish Challenge Shield and the Scottish Challenge Cup which had already taken place on the Saturday, with the Scottish Co-op Band taking the Open honours ahead of Kirkintilloch and Whitburn Bands.

But that was Saturday, and this was a completely different, but equally seriously contested, challenge for the premier section bands who were required to perform an own choice programme not exceeding 25 minutes. The adjudicators were Lynda Nicholson, Les Neish and James Smith.

Aberdeen City Youth were drawn number one, and they were confident of giving the title holders a run for their money, with some highly acclaimed players in their band including Richard Kidd on euphonium and Scott Forest on soprano cornet. However, although the band played a varied programme, they were painfully loud at times, and the rapid tempo of their final item, Vitae Aeternum, ruined one of my favourite pieces, making it seem like they were in a hurry to get off the stage (or were in danger of over-running their 25 minute time allowance?).

Next on stage were Carnoustie & District Youth, who had oddly enough entered in both the Senior Section, which had taken place earlier in the day, and the Premier Section. Those of us who had heard their excellent earlier efforts in the Senior Section (which they won by quite some margin) were disappointed (and bored!) by the fact that their Premier Section performance was identical to the programme which they had played earlier. Obviously the adjudicators (two of whom had been adjudicating the Senior Section) thoughts were similar, as they put the band in third place, although they did give them a Gold Award.

The final band to play was West Lothian Schools Brass Band, the current title holders. They took to the stage resplendent in their new lilac shirts and matching tartan waistcoats. The combination of a varied programme and an entertaining delivery bode well for the bands attempt to retain their Scottish Youth Championship title and make it a four in a row. The band kicked off their title defence in fine form with ‘The Olympic Spirit’, the 1998 Olympic Theme written by John Williams and arranged by Steve Sykes. This was followed by a solo feature, “I Himmelen (In Heaven)”, which is a traditional Norwegian hymn tune treated to a sensitive and imaginative arrangement by Svein Giske which was performed beautifully by the band’s Principal Cornet, Susannah Downs. Livening things up again, it was time for Soul Bossa Nova of Austin Powers fame, written by Quincy Jones and arranged for brass band by Andy Duncan. Next, it was time to hear from another of the band’s fine soloists - the magnificent playing of the band’s Principal Trombone, Ross Learmonth, who performed the wonderful ‘Carrick Fergus’, arranged by Stephen Roberts. Picking up the tempo once again, the penultimate item in the band’s programme was the lively Malaguena.. The finale was something else! The band had commissioned a new arrangement of a the traditional “Loch Lomond” in the ‘Runrig’ style complete with audience participation including waving and clapping in time with the music (most of the time!) and ending with the sound of the bagpipes to conclude a

very rousing, St Andrews Day masterpiece! The audience gave the band a magnificent round of applause, including a standing ovation, such was the emotion stirred by the performance.

After all the bands had played, the stage was reset for the announcement of the results, the audience were given a sneak preview of a DVD featuring the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland on tour in Japan in July 2008.

Then came the results ceremony. All three premier section bands were awarded Gold Awards. The SBBA Executive Trophy was awarded to the runners-up, Aberdeen City Youth Band. With the tension in the room at breaking point, a huge cheer went up when West Lothian Schools Brass Band were confirmed in first place, retaining their Scottish Youth Championship title for the fourth consecutive year, taking home the David Hughes Memorial Trophy, a commemorative banner and a commemorative medal for each band member..

The celebrations by the band members had to be seen to be believed but some of the band including the winning MD Nigel Boddice had left earlier to catch the train back to Glasgow, so they missed the celebrations which included a rousing chorus of “There’s Only One Nigel Boddice!”. Congratulations to both band members and MD on another excellent performance.