News

Following the Douglas Civic Service on Sunday 19th June, the Mayor held a reception in the Council Chamber of Douglas Town Hall at which he thanked his guests for attending and the Archdeacon, the mayor’s chaplain, the choir of St George’s Church and the Douglas Town Band for ensuring a memorable Civic Sunday for the borough.

The last week in February 2011 has marked two important milestones in the history of the Island’s longest established brass band. We performed for the first time in the 2nd Section of the National Brass Band Championships Regional Contest in Blackpool and for the last time under the baton of our Musical Advisor Mr. Gordon Higginbottom.

Gordon has been working with the band since 1996 and has continued to visit the band annually from his home in Spain following his official retirement some years ago. His inspirational teaching and guidance have seen the band rise from the 4th section in 1997 to its promotion to 2nd section last year with two appearances at the National Finals on the way, at the most recent of which gaining 4th prize.

Gordon Higginbottom is well known in brass band circles, having played with most of the top British brass bands and been Principal Horn with the James Shepherd Versatile Brass for 17 years. Internationally he has toured as a player, soloist, tutor, adjudicator and lecturer in every imaginable country around the world.

It has always been an immense privilege and pleasure for the band to work with Gordon as he has polished its performance for the contest each year following detailed preparation by the bands Musical Director Mr. Ken Mitchell. This year has been no exception as the band has faced its toughest challenge to date. The test was Eric Ball’s “Resurgam”, which is revered as one of the finest pieces in the brass band repertoire and with its deeply spiritual message, is written in the hearts and minds of brass band musicians the world over.

It was first used as the set work for the British Open Contest in 1950, when the composer’s band was beaten into 4th place by the famous Fairey Band under Harry Mortimer. The Latin title of the piece is translated “I Shall Rise Again” and to its opening motif can be set words of the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God”. Later sections of the piece explore the themes of death, judgement and resurrection, including quotes from the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) of the mediaeval requiem mass, cascading chromatics evoking turmoil and bitter conflict and a mysterious incessant knocking until all is finally resolved in a return to the original theme of hope and a finale of quiet amens.

Gordon Higginbottom also has a particularly poignant association with this piece as he played it at the memorial service following the Munich Air disaster in 1958 when 8 Manchester United footballers were killed.

The past week has been immensely rewarding musically and an emotional experience for Douglas Town Band. An open rehearsal in the Villa Marina Arcade before the band set off for Blackpool was attended by many of the band's supporters who were thrilled by the sound. The band played superbly and even though the contest result did not reflect this the lessons learnt in rehearsing this tremendous piece of music under Gordon's expert direction will undoubtedly have further improved the band's ability to bring the joy of melody to the ears of its audiences.

At the final rehearsal Gordon was presented with some mementoes of his time with Douglas Town Band as a token of the band's heartfelt affection and appreciation for all he has done.

Now the Christmas decs are down and put away for another year it's back to the bandroom for some serious work on the testpiece for Blackpool with one night off for the band's AGM

The Christmas carol season is once more with us. As usual we started with the switching on of the Christmas lights and carol playing around the town. So many times we've played "snow had fallen, snow on snow" but this year it really did. Winter Wonderland temperatures brought their own challenges with the whole band's valves freezing solid for a time in Ballabrooie.

The Summer Day is over... After a successful Summer season of concerts in Douglas and Ramsey (even some outside!) the dark evenings are here and its back to work in the bandroom learning new music and increasing our standard still further. Baron Otto is still out and about though with his ever popular Oompah evenings...