Should music be a sport, as well as an art form?

Well, after another extended hiatus, I’m back again hacking at the keyboard! Following on from my last post, I guess the “Grit” is still there, but it’s been a real test of resolve and resilience to keep things ticking over!

So, back to the matter in hand. My latest musical project has seen me step up my workload on the conducting front – yes, more freelance work! A win in itself! At the start of the year (2026) I was asked to conduct the Tylorstown Band (based in the Rhondda Fach in South Wales) on a short-term basis, in their upcoming contest performance at the Welsh Open Championships held in February at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport. The partnership developed and before I knew it, the project was extended to include a St. David’s Day Concert followed by the Welsh Area Contest and then the Senior Cup competition, held at Birmingham’s wonderful Town Hall.

This package of 3 contests and 1 concert covered the best part of 3 months’ intensive work and involved preparation for a 20-minute own choice entertainment programme, 2 test-pieces (including Variations on “Was Lebet” by Andrew Wainwright and Ballet for Band by Joseph Horovitz), plus the concert programme.

Tylorstown Band are currently in the 1st Section (of 5 nationally) and have previously been the National Champion Band of Great Britain (2nd Section) 2010 and National Champion Band of Great Britain (1st Section) 2013, not to mention Welsh Champion Band titles as well. So no pressure or expectations of the conductor then!? Much!!!

For those not versed in the world of brass band competitions, it’s a serious business…..for the ones taking part, at least! Rivalry between the bands is intense and preparation is on an OCD-level, with each note and detail scrutinised with analytical obsession. This draws much amusement and bafflement (in equal measure) from many of my non-banding musician friends (or “Muggles” to quote Harry Potter), who profess to not understanding how people can enjoy such forensic examination of a musical piece!

As with any form of competition, there has to be an arbiter and a format of deciding the best in that event. Boxing has its panel of referees, Great British Bake Off has Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and likewise, brass band competitions also have their chosen adjudicators.

For the 3 contests that Tylorstown were involved in, the Welsh Area and Senior Cup were assessed by 2 adjudicators, sat “blind” in a tent and only able to hear the bands’ performances. This also adds a layer of impartiality to the proceedings, so that a “named” band or conductor doesn’t influence an adjudicator’s perception of the performance. The Welsh Open however, was adjudicated by one person, sat in the open and also able to view the performance.

To crystallise all that information into something a little easier to understand, here’s what each contest looked like:

Welsh Open Contest: (14 bands each performing a 20-minute own choice entertainment programme to 1 adjudicator sat in the open)

Welsh Area Contest: (6 bands each performing the same test-piece “Was Lebet” to 2 adjudicators sat in a closed tent)

Senior Cup Contest: (20 bands each performing the same test-piece “Ballet for Bandt” to 2 adjudicators sat in a closed tent)

Sorting the wheat from the chaff

Personally, on a day-to day basis, I struggle to choose between a Lamb Jalfrezi and a Chicken Tikka Masala, therefore to try and separate 20 back-to-back performances of Joseph Horovitz’s “Ballet for Band” would bring me out in a cold sweat! But this is no different than Paul and Prue having to decide the merits of 20 different pieces of Coffee and Walnut cake. Imagine then, having to try and compare and contrast between 14 completely random 20-minute musical programmes?

As a conductor, you’re trying to interpret what the adjudicators will be looking for musically i.e. is the playing in tune, together, note-perfect, are the soloists assured? But then we get to the subjective areas of tempo/speed – too fast/too slow, stylistic nuance, dynamics and effects – were they effective/overdone – balance of instruments/voicing. That’s all well and good when you have the piece to compare each band, but what about when everyone’s playing something totally different? What if the adjudicator doesn’t like your choice of piece, or worse still, the whole programme? Are they able to put the choice of programme to one side and just assess the quality of playing alone? Ask me to judge a “Best vegetable” competition and cucumber – the Devil’s work!!! – will come last, even if if it was the only entrant, so I appreciate how difficult the judge’s task is.

The final analysis

Music in competitions is pure Marmite! You either love it, or you hate it. As musicians, we do it, to raise the standards of performance to new levels, as without that focus and our obsessive pursuit of excellence, we wouldn’t achieve anywhere near the same musical output otherwise. The downside is that we are opening ourselves up to other people’s opinions and subjectivity. If 2 people trying 2 different pints of real ale in a pub can’t agree which is the best, then 20 brass bands can’t expect a scientifically accurate assessment of each performance and can only hope that their performance stood out, head and shoulders above the rest.

And what happened in the contests? Well, I must commend the Tylorstown Band, as they acquitted themselves superbly in each of the 3 contests (and concert) where 2 of the 3 contest performances were absolutely spot on, with a very solid performance in the other. As results go, it was a mixed bag really (Welsh Open 8th from 14 bands), Welsh Area (3rd from 6) and Senior Cup (17th from 20). Ultimately, as disappointing as some of the results were, music was the winner and we all collectively enjoyed the journey in preparing for each of the performances. Despite all of this, we come back for more and as I write, Tylorstown are looking ahead to their next competition in a weeks’ time. Wish us luck!