Last night we had our cornet sectional rehearsal for the contest. It worked out very well; Martyn took us as a group altogether for the first 15 minutes and worked on the section producing the same rounded sound throughout and good legato. Kenny our 2nd trombone player arrived and as he’s the MD at Ware Brass, he took the back row and worked on some specifics with them whilst Martyn worked on some specifics with the front row and sop. All in all a good session for about 45 minutes.

We had a great rehearsal on Partita as a band; it really does seem as though things are beginning to gel, particularly the difficult rythmns in the lower brass in movement III. I think the biggest think we need to work on now is the very end of the piece as to my ears it’s a bit ragged and too loud in the places where it should be quite quiet. I suspect the trouble lies in the fact that the band is pretty tired by that stage and so things are a bit harder to control.