Tasmanian State Solo & Party Competitions

[Zandit75]

Way down under Downunder, Tasmania is holding it's annual State Solo & Party Competitions in Launceston this weekend.
On the Saturday, most of the sections belong to Concert Band soloists and ensembles, except for the Quartet and Ensemble sections.
I am part of a quartet of two Troms, a Eupho, and a Baritone, and we are playing "A Song for Japan".
I don't have really high hopes for this, as we have not been able to rehearse as much as we would have liked together due to us being spread around the state, even though we are all members of the same brass band.
On the Sunday, we see the Brass sections getting the whole day to themselves. My section, Open Bass Trombone, is the last section to play prior to the lunch break, and if all goes well, the Champion of Champions section starts at 3.30pm that afternoon.
With the exception of the Nationals Solo comp at Easter, it's been about 15yrs since I last competed in a solo comp, and the majority of the time, I've had the Bass Trom section to myself. This year could be a little different, as last year there were three entries.
I'll be playing "Apres Une Lecture de Goldoni" written by Alain Margoni, which was the National Solo Test Piece.
Due to a shake up in the Tasmanian Bands League this year, the committee was not in a position to select test pieces for each section this year, so we were asked to select our own choices, as long as it was of a suitable grade 6-8 AMEB standard(Australian Music Examinations Board).
Hopefully I can overcome my nerves that I experienced at Nationals, and keep a moist mouth which suddenly went dry on me as soon as I stepped up onto the stage!
Thanks for reading, and wish me luck!

[BGuttman]

Good luck, Gee-tar man!

I'll try to send positive thoughts from the other side of the world.

Only thing Tasmanian I have ever seen is a Tasmanian Devil in a Melbourne zoo. Nasty little critter!

[Zandit75]

Good luck, Gee-tar man!

I'll try to send positive thoughts from the other side of the world.

Only thing Tasmanian I have ever seen is a Tasmanian Devil in a Melbourne zoo. Nasty little critter!

Haha, definitely not something you want chewing on your hand! They supposedly have a greater bite pressure than a Great White Shark!!
Apparently their name came as a result of early settlers hearing their screams during the night, and they thought the Devil was coming for them!

[Zandit75]

Update #1, Day 1 completed, and our quartet came third. While we only had a full rehearsal just prior to the start of the section, we had some pitching issues initially due to an improper warmup prior to playing. We made our way from the rehearsal room down to the room being used for the competition, but they were in different sections of the complex, so part of this was outside. It was a cool day, and we thought we would have a few minutes to blow through our instruments prior to playing, but we were ushered straight onto stage when we arrived. That happens, and I'll be aware of it today when I'm heading there for my solo.
Unfortunately, I'm the only one in the section this year. I heard that some of the other players pulled out because of the own choice of our music. One I talked to believes we should all be on a level playing field with similar times to work up the piece, which I do understand, but still disappointing that I have to wait for next year to see how I stack up against the other players.
Being the only entrant is still not a guarantee that I will win, I've experienced that event many years ago!!
There were two of us entered many years ago, but neither of us had put in the work required, and our performances were very sub par. The adjudicator decided to not award either of us first place, and neither of us were allowed to compete in the Champion of Champions!
I'm very confident that that will not happen today, but anything can happen on the day!

[BGuttman]

Is this up on BrassBanned?

Good luck on the solo.

[Zandit75]

Unfortunately not BGuttman, at least I don't believe so anyway.
Thanks for the well wishes, most appreciated.
Here's a photo of our quartet just prior to heading in yesterday!

[Zandit75]

Update #2!!
Received first place in my section! Nice little medallion to go on the shelf!


I believe I played it better than my earlier attempt at the Nationals this year, so I was very happy with that. One section there was a little slip up between me and the accompanist, but that sorted itself out after a couple of bars.
Unfortunately the same could not be said later in the day when I played the same piece in the Champion of Champions section.
I mis-pitched the first phrase, completely stuffing things up, but was able to gather that up for the second section. Got out of whack even worse than before with the accompanist during the slow section of the piece, but finished strong through the last half of the piece.
Even though points were not awarded for CoC's, I have no doubt that I finished last. No one else had such major snafu's as me, so I'm a little down on myself for that.
A tenor horn player from the Mainland won the overall Champion of Champions trophy, which means everyone needs to pick up their game for next year. It would have been a very tough choice for the adjudicators.
Thanks for following!