Clueless in Competition - The Results!

Our compere for the evening was Tim Lihoreau, presenter of the Classic FM Breakfast Show. He began by welcoming the audience and reminding us that just a few days ago the Chinese celebrations were to welcome in the Year of the Goat. Tim introduced Steve Bingham who played a couple of pieces on the violin, Syrinx, originally for flute, and Owner of a Lonely Heart, originally for prog rock band. Both were superbly played and despite being a woodwinder have to say I did enjoy the Syrinx!

Tim Lihoreau expertly keeping the audience entertained

Then it was onto the competition. Leading my clarinet section in the Long-winded was a proud moment and the whole group played really well remembering most of the detail that had been rehearsed. I had a quick dash to the strings, and while the stage was reset Tim chatted freely to the audience with some interesting facts about Medecins Sans Frontiers, facts about the last two grade-One-A-Thons and anything else of interest. When the strings were ready we began. Again this went very well and there were no disasters or dodgy entries. It actually sounded rather good!

Smiles all round for the Strings

Then came the brass with their conductor Paul Garner. A fine trumpet player Paul could have probably had a career in any branch of the entertainment industry. The brass 'tuned' in what could have been a carefully staged skit as it sounded so awful but perhaps this was the real brass skill being displayed! There were some cracking moments in this most notably when the first trumpets had a rest and the second trumpets had to play a particularly high note. It was played with such force that the whole tone quality (and I use the word loosley) was changed dramatically. It was very amusing but to be fair it was very good as well! Another quick change and CWB were on for their Thames River Journey. Another great performance led by Viv and we left the stage leaving the audience to make their choices and post their ballot forms into the orange buckets by the exits.

Kirsty has a sneaky look to see how well the tubas are scoring

The second half began with a performance form Marie-Noelle Kendall on the piano then the GOAT Choir gave their first and last ever performance of She moved through the fair and Singin' in the Rain. Despite the trickiness of these they were solid performances. We later learnt that this was the highlight of the night for many audience members. (Thanea also pointed out afterwards that this was the most-complained-about item by the Goats!). Prime Brass then did their usual style of performance mixing humour with an incredibly high standard of performance. Guy Llewellyn was superb as usual as the soloist for Concerto de Cucaracha (special mention for Derek and his marvellous maracas in this one) and the whole group produced some fine sounds in two Gershwin numbers.

Prime Brass

It had been an entertaining evening so far but above all this was a night for fund-raising. Since January we have been reminded that the main aim is to raise as much money as possible for MSF and we had a talk from Chris Pesket from the charity who told the audience a great deal about the work that goes on in many parts fo the world. Funds raised do not just go on treatment but on prevention as well so vaccinations can be provided to prevent outbreaks of common diseases such as malaria. He also told personal stories about how he had treated someone who was very ill and to have then seen her a few days later, well on the way to recovery and thanking him. One of the things I have been impressed with is the way in which most of the money goes straight back into the charity. The figures he gave were 3% admin, about 8% on fundraising with the rest going straight to where it was needed. He said it is still carfeully controlled and his travel and accomodation are always at the budget end.

Finally it was time for a great many thank yous and the results. The top four fundraisers were announced, one of whom was Kirsty. In the individual sections third place went to the trombones, second place to the oboes (!) while the winners were the cellos. Finally the main ensembles were announced with Long-Winded third, Highly-Strung in second place with Brassed Off the winners! We played our final piece Altogether Now and the audience popped their paper bags at nearly the right time. I saw Jess and her mum Margaret on the way out and they siad how much they had enjoyed it. Jess also sent me a few photos so many thanks to her!

In the end the winning didn't matter (and I'm not just saying that!) as we had already raised £23,000 for MSF. This will continue to rise as the justgiving pages will be open until 22 April. Many players are going onto take their Grade 1 exams with a few looking at higher grades just to progress a little more. My grade 6 is a little way off but this is my own challenge and I will continue to dedicate practise sessions to anyone who sponsors me over the next few weeks. I already have a little queue so will get back to my practise this week and I look forward to hearing how others are getting on!