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Aylesbury Concert Band once again provided music for the Mayor’s Remembrance Service at St Mary’s Church, Aylesbury on 7th November, together with the Aylesbury Consort of Voices and St Mary’s Church Choir. The service was led by the Rector, Fr. Doug Zimmerman, with readings by members of the congregation, hymns and prayers, and music from the Band and the choirs.

As the Mayoral party processed into the church the Band played Nimrod by Edward Elgar. Following the welcome and bidding prayers from Fr. Zimmerman, the Aylesbury Consort of Voices sang Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd. During the service they also sang Abendlied by Josef Rheinberger and part of Un soir de Neige by Francis Poulenc. The church choir contributed by singing Crossing the Bar by Hubert Parry, and the Band was responsible for accompanying the hymns, and also played The Sun will Rise Again by Philip Sparke. At the end of the service the band played Ammerland by Jacob de Haan as an epilogue.

Music is a vital part of solemn occasions such as this, and we are pleased to be able to make our contribution to the community in this way.

This is the blog of Aylesbury Band. Here you can read news about concerts and other events involving the Band. You can add your own comments to the articles, and read other people’s comments, by following the ‘comments’ link at the end of each article. Also, on the front page you can find links to older news stories in the column on the right.

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On 3rd October the Band travelled to Dr Challoner’s High School for Girls in Little Chalfont for a joint concert with the Lemon Tuesday ladies choir from Rickmansworth. Joint concerts are a good way of adding variety to the programme for both groups.

As this was our first concert together, we didn’t risk combining to perform a work for choir and band, instead the choir performed some of their own pieces in each half of the concert. Some of the pieces the band played were familiar from recent concerts such as the Vale Park Proms, but Little Chalfont is far enough away from Aylesbury that few of the audience would have heard them before. So, the concert opened with Strike up the Band and the first half included Broadway Showstoppers by Warren Barker, and New York by Nigel Hess. However, there were some new items, such as Jubilee Overture by Philip Sparke, Black and White Rag, and two movements from Puszta. This is a set of four pieces in Hungarian gypsy style written by the Dutch composer Jan Van der Roost. The choir sung two pieces in the first half, The Rose by Amanda McBroom, and Day by Day fromGodspell.

The second half of the concert included Bones in the Store, a novelty arrangement by Rob Wiffin of The Quartermaster’s Store for trombones and tuba. The choir sang Lean on Me, It was almost like a song, and Something Inside So Strong, and the sax. section were featured in In the Miller Mood. Again, by popular request, the concert ended with a “Proms” finale: Jerusalem, Fantasia on British Sea Songs, and Land of Hope and Glory.

The audience wasn’t as big as we would have liked, which was a shame, as we were treated to some fine singing by the choir. However I’m sure there will be more occasions in the future for us to come together to make music.

Sadly this was the last concert Duncan Stubbs will be able to conduct this year due to pressure of work with the RAF, so leading the Christmas season will fall to deputy conductor Robert Wicks, starting as soon as 29th November at Waddesdon Manor.

The Proms concert in Vale Park, Aylesbury, is the Band’s most important event of the year, and it took place this year on 5th September. Because Duncan Stubbs had been away during August directing the Massed Bands of the Royal Air Force at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the responsibility for conducting the concert fell upon deputy conductor Robert Wicks. Fortunately Duncan was able to be present on the day to act as compère so that Robert didn’t have to worry about that as well.

The good news this year is that the weather was dry. The bad news is that a strong, gusty wind was blowing which made the evening unpleasantly cold for band and audience alike. Music has to be clipped to music stands, and the wind makes page turns difficult. However, despite the chill a crowd of around 800 people heard the band open the concert with Strike Up the Band, followed by Festive Overture by Alfred Reed. Once again the band was joined by singers Jill Neenan and Richard Stark, Jill sang Wishing You Were Somehow Here again, and Richard sang Music of the Night by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Later they joined the band to sing some of the numbers in a medley from the musical Les Miserables.

Other highlights from the concert included Broadway Showstoppers, arranged by Warren Barker, the trumpet feature Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and In the Miller Mood, music by Glen Miller, naturally featuring the sax section. Last but not least, the concert wouldn’t be a “Proms” concert without the traditional finale, Jerusalem, Fantasia on British Sea Songs, and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March no 1, where the audience joined in enthusiastically singing Land of Hope and Glory.

In a thank you speech at the end, the organiser, councillor Ray Ghent, said he thought the band had played better than ever, and it was the best Vale Park Proms concert yet. Next year will be the tenth such concert, and he has plans to make it even bigger and better.

Two weeks later the weather could not have been more different. A lovely September day, warm and sunny with no wind, was the perfect setting for Monks Risborough Church fête in the rectory garden. The band provided just 45 minutes of music chosen from the pieces we have been playing this year, and the crowd seemed to be enjoying it, applauding from time to time. At one point a Spitfire aircraft doing a flying display for a private party nearby threatened to drown the music, but needless to say, the band played on!

Back in February the Band’s development weekend at Knuston Hall was cancelled at the last minute because of bad weather, much to everyone’s disappointment. As a consolation we organised a Development Day on 4th July at Ellesborough village hall, Butler’s Cross. Once again we were honoured to welcome Rob Wiffin as guest conductor, assisted by Music Director Duncan Stubbs. The day provided an opportunity for some intensive work on music harder and more advanced than our usual repertoire, including Invictus by Philip Sparke, and Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed. The point of the day was to stretch the Band, and Rob Wiffin certainly did that, setting off at the marked tempo whether we could play it or not – nothing like being chucked in the deep end! However, with Rob and Duncan’s expert instruction we came close to a passable performance when we played a concert to ourselves at the end of the day. The whole day was quite exhilarating, and undoubtedly achieved the aim of helping the Band improve.

The following Saturday, 11th July, dawned grey and showery, but brightened up in the afternoon in time for Fairford Leys Summer Fair. Members of the Band squeezed onto the bandstand to provide music for the occasion, in between the children’s fancy dress competition and sessions of entertainment for the children. The proceedings were enlivened this year by the pigeons nesting in the roof, who expressed their opinion of the band in the way only pigeons can, much to the chagrin of the 3rd clarinets and saxophones underneath! Fortunately most of their efforts succeeded only in hitting the music on the stand, maybe they just wanted to add extra notes?

That was our last performance of the season, summer holidays mean that a lot of the Band members are away during late July and August. The next engagement is the Vale Park Proms on 5th September.