Your Views Wanted on The Purpose & Structure of Contesting

After the recent successful Brass Band Conference, held in Sale on 28 September, Brass Bands England (BBE) is to launch the first phase of its promised follow-up survey to find out the brass band community’s views on contesting.

The Conference, under the banner of Better Banding for All, hosted guest speaker Professor Edward Gregson, breakout sessions covering a variety of subjects and a panel discussion on the purpose and structure of brass band contests. During the debate, there were many views expressed, and in a final show of hands the delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour of investigating constructive changes in the structure of brass band contesting. To facilitate this, BBE intends to produce a report into band contesting in the UK, reflecting fully the views of all stakeholders in the banding community. Central to this report will be a comprehensive survey, to which everyone with an interest in brass banding will be invited to contribute.

In creating the survey, BBE would like to know the questions you would like us to ask on your behalf. Contest organisers will be invited to make submissions directly, but in order to make the project as comprehensive as possible we would also welcome the views of all interested members of the brass band public. The question being asked currently is, ‘On which aspects of contesting would you like to know the views of the brass band public?’

BBE Partnership and Development Manager, Dr Alex Parker, who is leading the project, told A4B: “As far as we are aware, this is the first time that all members of the banding community will have been asked what they think about contesting in such a comprehensive way, as well as looking for their solutions to some of the perceived problems facing bands. We will be applying academic rigour to the process of creating the report to make sure the report presents an unbiased reflection of the true feelings about contesting, and this starts with the process of creating the survey in the first place.”

To have your questions considered for the process, please send them by email to [email protected] by Saturday 14 December. All contributions will be treated confidentially and nothing will be specifically attributed to any person or organisation in the resulting survey.