Ipswich School Music Competition 2009
It was quite the year of surprises at this year’s Music Competition. The first class was the Piano and Guitar, on Tuesday 24th February. The Advanced Piano was won by Sam, whilst Dave took away the Advanced Guitar cup – no real surprises there, as both did their pieces justice at the Winners’ Concert (I was not in attendance that night).
The following day was the turn of Composition and Ensembles. Composition was a very full class this year, with a tough decision to be made by the adjudicator. It could have gone to any of the competitiors, and I was very impressed, in particular, with Oli’s Toccata on a French Theme, Sebastian’s Five Short Pieces and Sam’s Milton’s Lullaby. In the end Sebastian was named as the winner, another worthy choice. The Ensembles was great fun to be part of, as Sam and I played a two-piano arrangement of Bernstein’s West Side Story: Symphonic Dances. Although I felt that it went very well, the prize went to the Saxophone Ensemble, for the second year running, with Irving Berlin’s Let’s Face the Music and Dance. It was great to see the joy on director Don Jenkins’ face.
The next class took place on Friday, Woodwind and Percussion. I was not in attendance that night, but Sam won Advanced Percussion with an excellent vibraphone piece, whilst Laura gave a winning performance on the Saxophone for Advanced Woodwind.
Monday 2nd March was the date of the first competition that I was entering seriously, the Organ class. I competed with Phil and Oli, and all of us gave a good performance. In the end, I was given the cup, but it really could have gone to anybody. Prior to that class in the Chapel, Grace had won Advanced Strings in Great School.
The following day saw the Brass and Singing Competitions, and I was competing with Mark and Adam in Advanced Brass. The adjudicator had already made it clear in his comments in the Intermediate Brass competition that he felt that brass instruments should give a singing tone. This meant that Adam was instantly at a disadvantage, as he was performing a lively jazz number. This was the performance of the class, but I felt that, due to the previous comments, this style of piece was unlikely to win. Mark was up next, and he performed Sandström’s Sång til Lotta exquisitely. I was sure, even before I performed that this was the winning performance, with plenty of singing tone as the adjudicator had requested. I then performed, and played appallingly, at the end of every phrase notes failed to speak, and my top C completely dried up at the end. I was very close to storming out of Great School, but luckily I didn’t, as the adjudicator opted to give me the Advanced Brass Cup. I think that Mark should perhaps have won, and Adam gave a great performance too, but was disadvantaged by the adjudicator’s preferences. Next year’s competition should be excellent. Following this, both Advanced Singing classes featured performances of the highest calibre. All the performers in the Classical section could have won, but the cup deservedly went to Ellie for an absolutely stunning performance – well deserved against stiff competition. Imogen won the Light cup, for her show-stealing performance of a fantastic song.
So there we have it – the Music Competition of 2009. The Winners’ Concert showed just how well represented the competitions were this year, and there were some great talking points, with sometimes the unexpected winning. 2010 has a lot to live up to!