News

Jedforest were placed a very pleasing 5th at the Scottish Open Shield contest (held in Perth). The Highest ranked 2nd section band.

Again Border Bands fail to make the podium. A trend we hope will not last too long.

Playing the very difficult Rhapsody in Brass for the 3rd time in as many years we were delighted with our own performance. Rhapsody in Brass has been a challenge for the band as it is not an easy choice of test piece stretching the band to its limits.
On our first performance of Rhapsody in Brass at the same competition 3 years ago we were heavily criticized for even attempting to play the piece at a lower section contest.

You could say we have taken a harder road but it has been very rewarding.

The whole band applauds the work and finishing touches in the weeks leading up to the contest by Cameron Mabon who also conducted us on the day.

The day after Cameron Mabon once again conducted our fine Junior band to a very successful result behind Loanhead Brass Roots in the youth championships. Our Junior band is consistently one of the finest in Scotland made up of enthusiastic players from the Jedburgh area. We are very proud of the talent it produces for such a small town.

Our efforts are now focused on the Scottish Regional contest early next year. We will be using a new rehearsal facility for this in the developing Misson Hall basement which we hope will offer superior feedback for our players. Our current bandhall space not satisfactory for the task as we grow in ability- proven by recent events.

Jedforest were placed a very dissapointing 9th at the entertainment contest (held in innerlethen).

We expected stiff competition this year and that is exactly what we got.

We were defending our title for musical quality which is completely different to the entertainment shield.

Unfortunately the main title was not retained by a border band this year.

This poor result is of course a wakeup call for the Jedforest band. A major reorganization has been discussed since spring 2007 to address our complacent rehearsals, we are obviously NOT on top form at the moment and the only way to improve is to realize our weaknesses and address them with hard work.

It has took this poor result to bring about the positive action under discussion for so many months now.

Local bands battle.

Local bands Jedforest, Selkirk and St.Ronans (innerlethen) enter the competition spirit.

Jedforest are in fighting form for the forthcoming Borders entertainment contest (held in innerlethen) and Scottish Shield contests (held in Perth) over the comming months.

We expect stiff competition this year from strong 1st section entries in the Borders entertainment contest and look forward to the challenge of the Scottish shield competition held in Perth where once again we are compeating against local competition. A great sign of the progression of border bands and tallent.

This year we are defending our title.

Last year we gained the highest marks for our technical and musical ability. There is also of course a trophy for 'entertainment' as there is also a trophy for 'deportment' ......(how smart you look).

We always aim for musical quality.

looking forward to defening our title...... 'The JIB'.

..

Dalmelington show consistency to claim Fife title. The Fife Charities Band Association Open Contest was held in Falkirk Town Hall on 14th October. The adjudicator was Kevin Wadsworth and the 19 bands played a march, hymn tune and testpiece of their own choice with an aggregate of points deciding the winners.

In this contest all sections compeat against each other including Championship bands.

Bon Accord were placed first in the march and hymn tune ctaegories with Broxburn the best test piece. However the consistency of Dalmellington in coming second in all three categories gave them overall victory.

Results:
1. Dalmellington (A. Hutchison) - 374pts
2. Cackmannan (P. Kiernan) - 366pts
3. Broxburn & Livingston (M. Marzella) - 365pts
4. Bon Accord Silver (J. Maines) - 364pts
5. Kingdom Brass (C. Anderson)- 352pts
6. Tullis Russell Mills (G. Lindsay) - 347pts
7. Dalkeith & Monktonhall (J. Chamberlain) - 344pts
8= Irvince & Dreghorn (D. McKeller) - 337pts
8= Tayport Instrumental (F. Culross) - 337pts
8= Croy (K. Blackwood) 337pts
11. Coalburn Silver (G. Bowman) - 333pts
12. Jedforest Instrumental (A. Fernie) 331pts
13. Bathgate Band (C. Farren) - 330pts
14. Barrhed Burgh (M. Ramsay) - 328pts
15. Lochgelly (T. Swainson) - 325pts
16. Buckhaven & Methil (R. McDonald) - 324pts
17. Bon Accord B Band (B. Wallace) - 316pts
18. Shotts St Patrick (A. Duncan) - 312pts
19. Dunfermline Town (D. Neil) - 307pts

Youngest Player Trophy: Fraser Stewart 
- Bon Accord B Band

March Contest: Bon Accord Silver
Hymn Tune Contest: Bon Accord Silver
4th Section Winners: Buckhaven and Methil
3rd Section Winners: Irvine and Dreghorn 
jointly with Tayport Instrumental

2nd Section Winners: Tullis Russell Mills Band
1st Section Winners: Clackmannan Band
Best Fife B Band: Tayport Instrumental
Best Fife A Band: Clackmannan Band

Individual Prizes:
Best Cornet: Clackmannan Band
Best Horn: Croy
Best Euphonium: Croy
Best Trombone: Bon Accord
Best Basses: Broxburn and Livingstone

Jedforest staged a most memorable concert as part of the Borders Festival of Brass in conjunction with our home grown stars Abbey Brass.
Our guest Soloist Steve Sykes delighting the audience with a fine display of higher level techniques such as multiphonics and circular breathing playing with the accompaniment of the JIB. A hugely likable man the town of Jedburgh were honored, entertained and charmed by Steves charisma.
Abbey Brass displayed our up and coming soloists with the accompaniment of the JIB's highly tallented bandmaster Cameron Mabon on piano whilst collectively we are once again proud to say our youth band is in extremely good form.

It is wonderful that the Borders Festival of Brass can attract top names such as Steve Sykes with other bands in the area also staging popular concerts featuring guest soloists of equal stature.

Jedforest players also guested with the St.Boswells band during the festival. The St.Boswells band respected for its spirit and determination, A band with a fine history and traditional community values.

Of course the festival also provided expert workshops for all up and coming brass players which are reported to have once again being a huge success.

We would once again like to thank Steve Sykes for all the good work he has done throughout the Borderlands during his visit.

Our Horn section has grown in power over recent months. We would like to congratulate the section for their recent good form and teamwork.

2nd horn player Adrienne Smith is especially worthy of congratulations as she has more than risen to the challenge of our increasingly complex repertoire. Adrienne has certainly surpased our expectations as a player who only started brass tuition 4 years ago !

We were pleased to see Nicola Currie (former solo horn) rejoin the horn section with the amazing Hamish McRichie taking on the Solo Horn responsibilities. Hamish returned to the world of Brass having spent his early days within the Championship section. This year has seen Hamish perform some amazing technical solo work with the band.

Well done team !

The JIB make it 6 wins in 6 consecutive years at one of Scotland’s most popular annual brass band events. Brass in the Park.

Although we may have scared away some opposition ? being the only 2nd section band entered we were assured the 2nd section trophy. However our good form was recognized as we managed to beat 1st section band Bathgate to place 4th overall behind the 3 championship section entrants.

A stepping stone to 7 in a row ?

Our Junior band Abbey Brass also took the 4th section title with solid performances throughout the day.

Special note goes to Langholm Town band who we were delighted to see at the event after many years. We congratulate them on their fine result in the novice development section where Langholm Junior Band collected a gold prize and a brand new cornet provided by Yamaha for best instrumentalist - Trombone of Langholm Juniors.

The JIB are delighted to welcome one of the finest players in the world

as a guest soloist for our upcoming concert.

Most of our concerts are extreemly well attended so as usual secure a ticket ASAP to avoid dissapointment.

Our concert will take place on Saturday 22nd September at Jedburgh town hall. If you can not secure a ticket in time why not sample the St. Ronans concert held on the same night with guest soloist Steven Mead. Many events are being staged throughout our reigion as part of the Borders Festival of Brass which takes place between 31 August to 20 October.

Our concert will also feature our very own Brass in the park champs 'Best 4th Section band' Abbey Brass.

More about Steve Sykes

His musical roots are firmly based in Yorkshire brass bands beginning with Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band. In 1978 he accepted an invitation by Elgar Howarth to join the famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band as Principal Tuba and Soloist. With Grimethorpe he performed as soloist throughout Europe and Australia. During this period Steve was awarded the prestigious title of ‘Granada Television Soloist of the Year’.

Because of an ever-increasing demand for Steve’s talent both as soloist, conductor and clinician, he now works as a freelance musician appearing in the USA, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia and is a firm favourite with players and audiences alike.

Many compositions for solo tuba and orchestra/band have been inspired by, dedicated to and premiered by him, including major works by Ellerby, Golland and Brand. One of the busiest soloists in the U.K, forthcoming engagements will see him performing in Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada and, of course, Europe.

Steve has been directing Championship section bands since the age of 22 -among his professional conducting appointments have been famous ensembles such as CWS (Co-op) (Glasgow) and SunLife (Stanshawe). He has directed bands at the National Finals, British Open, All England Masters and European Championships and, of course, has many commercial recordings and national radio broadcasts to his name.

Steve works with many bands throughout the year, these include BAYV (Cory), Leyland, Fairey, Tredegar, BTM etc.

He regularly appears as an adjudicator at leading music festivals throughout Britain, North America, Norway and Switzerland. As a measure of his standing in the brass band movement he was recently invited to adjudicate at the National Brass Band Finals in London’s Royal Albert Hall and in March 2001 Steve adjudicated at the Yorkshire Regional Championships - regarded by many has the hottest seat in brass band adjudication! Steve is included in the British Federation of Bands’ list of approved adjudicators.

Steve has appeared as guest artist with many famous ensembles including the U.S. Army Orchestra, HM Royal Marines, the Norwegian Navy Band, the Netherlands Brass Ensemble, the Canadian Air Force Band, Chicago Staff Band and UNC Symphonic Wind Ensemble. He has performed as soloist at the world renowned Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic (Chicago) – sharing the stage with jazz greats Bill Watrous and Arturo Sandoval. In 2002 he presented a solo recital in London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall.

The JIB are delighted to be able to offer Peter Holmes the Bass Trombone position. Peter has been training as a Trombone player for some time within the Borders and we respect the fine foundation he has attained within neighboring bands.
A sure sign of the quality of tuition throughout the Borderlands Peter displays superb technique and quality of tone.

We hope his move will advance both the JIB and Peters own aspirations as a Trombonist as well as been respectfully seen as a timely opportunity for the young player to gain experience on a Bass Trombone seat.

The JIB have been featured on the respected Brasscast site. Brasscast has certainly grown in popularity since its early days. With so many worthy bands around the world now keen to be seen on the Brasscast website we were delighted to have been approached by the creators. Compilations from our most recent CD's JOY and JINGS are spotlighted with a sample from every single tune from JINGS spun into an entertaining brass band mix, a first for Brasscast ! and we were very pleased to be able to offer Brasscast our unique brass mixes.

Visit Brasscast HERE

The JIB take a trip to Louden Castle theme park to entertain and enjoy. News had reached Ayrshire of the highly entertaining JIB band. When we are not trying to win contests we have a unparalleled portfolio of foot tapping modern favorites. No stuffy old marches for this Venue !

The fun seekers were appreciative of the performance which must have come as a shock to most. Many don't expect to hear a brass band playing modern tunes with such flair.

In return we enjoyed the wide range of rides Louden Park had to offer from tiny tot merry go rounds to the most extreme corkscrewing rollercoasters.

Extreme Brass Banding

Following the ever popular JIB's spring concert to launch the Jedburgh musical calendar we see the return of Kaleidoscope.

The annual Jedburgh kaleidoscope music festival was held this year in the Jedforest Instrumental Band parkland centered around our new bandstand. A varied selection of music and styles entertained the audience on Saturday the 26th. The weather was also Kaleidoscopic with the bandstand providing welcome shelter for artists and audience alike.

Kaleidoscope presents the opportunity each year for local tallent to showcase new skills whilst gaining performance experience in a very relaxed atmosphere. Organizer Andy McBain said:-
"We have been delighted by the response this year, the event has been a huge success with the bandstand ideally situated within its own park/festival grounds in the shadow of the historic Abbey. We are already taking contact numbers from acts interested in next years kaleidoscope music festival which will no doubt grow in popularity"

The event opened with 'Trash' Jedburgh's own urban rythem ouitfit belting out a fine percussive specacle on colourful custom barrels.

Other acts included 'Splat' featuring Hayley MacAfee on Guitar and vocals. produced a powerful set reminiscent of the early punk attitude of 77.

Hayley started her musical career playing baritone with the JIB.

The 'Shanghigh Killers' impressed with their unique techno thrash fueled indi rock

'Katie forbes and jenny miller' thrilled the crowd with tight vocal harmony and skillful musicianship, although the rest of their band could not make it the duet was stunning.

JIB members Andy and John formed part of a Jazz/Folk outfit alongside Kevin Hanlon, Garry Forrest, Jemma and Jeff Bernard.

'The Borris Band' a mature electric blues outfit treated us to rythem and Blues classics rounding off the afternoons entertainment.

Although it could be said that the we maintained our standards positioned in the top half of 2nd section we were also very dissapointed in our own performance.

Throughout the band our performance was plagued by nerves, splits and poor entries, so much so that some of us were sure we would be placed much lower, however the adjudicators were aware that the overall performance and approach to the piece did not merit too low a placemment with our MD Alan Fernie credited for his excellent interpretation by Mr Webster in our comments.

Our adjudicator comments also featured high acclaim for our soprano player, as did the 4BR retrospective:-

"Jedforest Instrumental under Alan Fernie opened solidly. We were highly impressed by the soprano cornet playing throughout and the young man on bass trombone produced some great sounds. Unfortunately some of the middle band sounds (horns/baris) were not always the best and intonation problems crept into the ‘Pavane'. Overall though we felt this wasn't far away from deserving a podium place."

Our man of the match could easily have been our soprano player David Lightbody however, the player who has probably overcome the most pressure having recently returned to the brass world and playing her first contest with the JIB is 3rd cornet Evelin Brown. Having spent more than a year in our training band improving her skills whilst helping out our younger members we feel that her composure in the notoriously imposing Caird Hall on her first outing was a worthy achievement.

It has been our policy for some years now to piece together a band from our local community drawing from our junior band to fill positions instead of looking further afield. We are aware that the organization is getting stronger year on year.

1. St. Ronan's Silver
2. Granite City Brass
3. Selkirk Silver
4. Tullis Russell Mills8
5. Jedforest Instrumental
6. Croy
7. Clydebank Burgh
8. Kilmarnock Concert Brass
9. Dalkeith & Monktonhall Colliery
10. Shotts St. Patrick's Brass
11. Annan Town (APD)

Scotland's best Euphonium
Player 2007

A group of Jedforest Instrumental players made their way to the Scottish Open solo and ensemble championships on Feb the 4th.
It is always a delight to see soloists compete at this (the very highest level). Entering the Open solo this year were JIB Principal euphonium Jo Mabon and solo cornet John Kirk.

Performing "Rhapsody for euphonium" Jo Made it past the qualifying rounds placed 3rd out of a field of 20 to compeat in the final as one of 6 elite requested to perform once more for the title.
Jo was awarded the John Stark trophy for best euphonium having been the only euphonium on the day to make the final.
Our best wishes for the overall winner Graham Fraser Eb Bass with the Whitburn band retaining his Besson Scottish Solo Championship title. Graham will now go on to represent Scotland at the European Solo Competition, to be held in Birmingham later this year.

The JIB also entered a mixed quartet (the only non Championship section entry). Whilst not at our best with some choppy moments we still managed to avoid the last spot out of a field of 5 with a very respectable championship quality performance.

JIB Quartet:-

Jo Mabon (euphonium)
Hamish McRichie (Tenor Horn)
David Sutherland (Cornet)
John Kirk (Cornet)

'Fairy' Good

Our other entry in the solo section John Kirk (now a veteran of this competition) performed the challenging piece "fairies of the waters" which as far as we are aware has no published piano part. We were stunned but also thrilled when we saw another instrumentalist, Principal euphonium with dalmellington band David McKellar had come up with the same idea creating his own accompaniment. Davids performance was however more complete gaining an extra 4 places.
You know how it is,.... you wait over 100 years for a piano part then two appear on the same day ! LOL

Good Results

We were please by the decisions from adjudicators Roger Webster and Lesley Howie, also very pleased that Mr Webster felt the need to point out that a minority of the audience may not have conducted themselves with the appropriate respect for some of the performances. There were childish OTT outbursts of support and offputting sighs and tuts that were obvious to performers, audience and adjudicators alike. As Mr Webster said "you know who you are"

A Grand day out

We congratulate the SBBA for a very well run event. We found the venue delightful to play in and everyone involved both entrants and officials very pleasant and supportive. We look forward to returning next year.

Carnival

As of 12th of January The J.I.B. has started rehersal of the regional test piece 'Carnival'. First impressions ??????
We like it !
A vintage piece full of interesting and most 'musical' moments,
We look forward to performing our version of 'Carnival' at the forthcoming regional grading competition this year to be held at the lavish Caird hall in Dundee.