Wardle High School Youth Band become National Champions 2013

Wardle High School Youth Band

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Wardle High School showed off their musical talent on Sunday 14 April, at the National Youth Brass Band Championship, held at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Wardle High School Intermediate Band, Wardle High School Youth Band and Wardle Junior Blast Band played in the three different sections. They left with many achievements, notably the Youth Band achieved first place and became the National Champions 2013.

In line with the National Young Brass Band Championships progressive nature, they continued the system of grading performances and awarding a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Merit certificate to each band. The adjudicators assessed each performance on its musical merit, interpretation and technical accuracy.

Wardle High Intermediate Band performed first in the Junior Band Section with adjudicators David Horsfield and Sarah Groake-Booth. The band was invited to play a varied programme of not more than 15 minutes of music. The programme had to include at least one piece of music composed for brass band. Conducted by Lee Rigg, the band achieved a gold award and came in third place out of twelve bands, winning a Glass Trophy and Certificate of Achievement. They played five pieces of music including Death or Glory and Clog Dance. They received excellent comments from both adjudicators with Sarah commenting, ‘An entertaining programme. Well done.’ David also commented, ‘An impressive opening.’

Second to perform was Wardle High School Youth Band, who performed in the Intermediate section. Adjudicators for the section were Mark Wilkinson and Owen Farr.

Each band was required to play a 20 minute programme, including the performance of the test piece, The Prizewinners by Philip Sparke.

The Youth Band played four pieces of music, including Great Little Army and Just as I Am, as well as the test piece, The Prizewinners, by Philip Sparke. They were particularly praised for their performance of the test piece, with Mark Wilkinson praising them for ‘good attention to detail.’ Owen Farr said the piece, ‘Brings a great show to a brilliant ending.’ Conducted by Lee Rigg, the band achieved a gold award and came in first place, making them the National Champions 2013! They were awarded the British Federation of Brass Bands Trophy, Banner and Certificate of Achievement.

Rochdale did incredibly well with Rochdale Borough Youth, conducted by Stuart Lingard, also achieving gold and coming in third place. Having two bands from the area in the top three out of the sixteen bands that performed, with bands coming from as far away as Cardiff, is a big achievement.

Wardle Junior Blast Band represented the school in the Beginners’ Band Section. The band is made up of 45 pupils from Smithy Bridge Primary School, St. James’ C.E. Primary School, St. Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, and Littleborough Community Primary School.

The adjudicators for the section were Paul Andrews and Movern Gilchrist.

The band was required to perform a 15 minute programme of their choice. Conducted by Lee Rigg, they played six pieces of music including Circus Parade and Snake, Rattle and Roll.

Out of seven bands they were awarded a glass trophy for the Band Showing Most Potential. They also received great comments from both adjudicators: Movern Gilchrist commented: ‘An entertaining programme that really got the audience going. Thank you!’; Paul Andrews said: ‘A vibrant and exciting, larger than life performance.’

Janet Emsley, Director of Performing Arts, said, ‘We had an enjoyable day’s music making with the students, as always, being well behaved. All the practice and hard work paid off in getting three good results. When we go to Spain in July, we will be going as National Champions!’

As well as being a strong performing academic school Wardle High School has a strong tradition in the performing arts, but particularly in brass band music. The school has several groups and bands and they also support local primary schools.