A second successive year at the Nationals for TTB!

Sep 17, 2024

On Saturday 14th September 2024, the Band attended the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain for the second successive year.

This year’s test piece was ‘The Shipbuilders‘ by Peter Yorke.
With great musical imagery, it is written in four movements: Web of Steel; The Launching; All Hands at Work; Maiden Voyage – conjuring up the life in both the shipyards, and on sea.

Having won the 3rd Section regional final in March (in our first year as a promoted band), this was new territory, as we competed against the very best 3rd Section bands from right across the UK for the first time.

It was fantastic to be back at Cheltenham Racecourse once again, and we had a great weekend as a band family, which started on the Friday night with a final rehearsal, leading into the contest day itself on the Saturday.

The band were drawn to play last once again (no. 20), repeating the draw from last year and continuing the TTB tradition of tending to play late in the programme!
It’s a really long wait to play last… the draw was around 7:45am, and the band took to the stage after 2pm.

But we waited patiently (with the help of coffee!), and delivered a confident performance, achieving 12th place.

It’s fair to say that the journey to this point has been nothing short of remarkable for Thrapston Town Band. Lots of contest success… two successive regional final wins… two successive national finals… and most importantly, steady progress and musical improvement under our hard-working (and extremely patient) MD, Nathan Waterman.

The test piece for the 2025 Regional Finals has already been announced, and the band will be tackling ‘Arkansas‘, by Jacob de Haan.

Until then, it’s onward into a busy Autumn/Winter programme of concerts, Remembrance duties, the LBBA “Leicester” Contest, and of course… Christmas!

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Here is a write-up of our performance of ‘The Shipbuilders’ at the 2024 National Finals, written by the team at The British Bandsman:

Band 20 – Thrapston Town
Conductor – Nathan Waterman
 
A quiet start for Thrapston, evoking anticipation of a bigger sound, which is delivered in spades full when needed. Lovely shape to the phrases in the whole cornet section. Lovely tuning and balance in the last three chords of the movement.
A mellow and warming start to the second movement with a good middle section of the band. This band love to sparkle on their dynamics and radiate sound technique in the forte sections – no louder than lovely.
A determined and ambitious tempo for the third movement from Mr. Waterman. Lovely articulation throughout the band. Lovely ensemble in the unison sections. Baritones – you delivered what your conductor required.
The fourth movement is a fitting end to the 3rd Section here at Cheltenham. This melody will haunt me for weeks to come – lovely sensitive playing from the euphonium and principal cornet in your duet. I am already anticipating a scintillating dynamic splash of sound – yes there it is. Fantastic, classic brass band sound in your full dynamic. Well done band!
 
Credit/Source – The British Bandsman: