AGSB Swing Band

Swing Band

Glasgow 2011

For most people Friday lunchtime is the beginning of the wind down to the weekend ……..but not for the Music Department this particular lunchtime. It was the beginning of a very busy weekend at the National Concert Band Festival in Glasgow. The coach departed with 40 musicians (for the purpose of this article I have included the percussion department in this group), Mr. Myers, Miss DJ , Mrs. Bold and Neil Tips (more about him later). Excitement was mounting –had we packed everything? Would we get stuck in traffic? And would Alex Day's rucksack full of sweets last until Preston? After a few pleasurable hours on the coach with only one stop for the boys to refuel we were happily cruising through the one way system in Glasgow. Eventually we arrived at the hotel – I did feel sorry for anyone who had booked in for a weekend break as 40 teenage boys descended in the foyer, fortunately time was of the essence as we had booked a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet for the evening meal followed by a trip to the cinema. Breakfast was a short affair with only about half an hour to consume the extensive amount of calories that the boys seem to need to get them through till 10.30 and then it was off into the abyss of the Glasgow one way system yet again – how frustrating to see where you want to be but to have to go via Dundee to get there.

The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama is a huge building with many rehearsal rooms. The event was incredibly well organized with dressing rooms and warm up rooms being provided. First on the programme was Swing Band. They have worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks to reach a higher level of performance – at this stage it's not just enough to play the music written – there has to be another factor – some call it the X factor(!). They started with Spain – a catchy little number that involves the band clapping as well as playing, followed by Flight of the Foo Birds. By the time it came to Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Jazz musicians have a strange imagination when it comes to song titles) it was going incredibly well. The final piece was Jazz Police – this particular number is one of their favourites and they have worked especially hard to get this together accurately. At the end of the performance it was obvious that the boys had given it their all – they couldn't have played much better. No time to rest though as it was straight back to the room to prepare for concert band. For those of you not in the know concert band consists of a lot more players therefore more instruments to tune and more scope for error – the pressure of playing in a national competition didn't phase concert band at all – the first piece – Yorkshire Overture was a fantastic start to the programme with the boys pulling out all the stops, the next two pieces were once again great performances. At the end of the final piece the players stopped and before the clapping started, for a split second there was silence only to be broken by Mr. Myers giving a huge sigh. Once again the boys had performed their best so far – it was then we had to wait for the results. The time flew by fairly quickly – time for yet more food and group photos. It was quite scary how professional some of the boys appeared in front of the official photographer. Jack Powell was definitely man at C&A and Toby posed worryingly well with his triangle. Tom Green won the award for the best pose which also raised questions as to what he actually does in his spare time. Finally it was adjucation time – the Swing Band were up first – after the usual speech about how good everyone had played they finally came out with the words Altrincham Grammar School For Boys Swing Band (the length of the name was commented on) …………..Platinum! There was mild hysteria and whooping from those of us there – it was an incredible moment as we realized that Swing Band had won the top award. Mr. Myers was in shock for a brief moment but had to compose himself to wait for the concert band result and it was a gold! Absolutely brilliant as out of the two bands Concert Band had probably improved the most. Mr. Myers state of shock continued so much that he had to swiftly be taken to a nearby refreshment centre to be rehydrated.

In the words of that old fat furry cat – Bagpuss – and so their work was done…….

The journey home was one of jubilation and celebration with the odd snooze here and there. Thanks to all the parents who came up to Glasgow to support us and also to Mr. & Mrs. Gartside. To all the parents who support their son's musical activities throughout the year and a massive thanks to the boys who are a fabulous group of musicians and never cease to amaze us and finally to old Maestro Myers himself (or as he likes to be known now Platinum Man) He has worked tirelessly with both bands and has produced fantastic results!

Listen to recordings of our Platinum Award Swing Band and our Gold Award Concert Band from National Swing Band finals in Glasgow :

School Wind Band of the Year

1 Spain - Chick Corea