As they prepare for their 40th
anniversary next year, Emsworth Concert Band end 2025 in
traditional style with two Christmas concerts.
On Saturday, December 13 they bring
the Magic of Christmas to Oaklands Catholic School, Stakes
Hill Road, Waterlooville at 7.30pm. The concert will feature
festive musical favourites along with popular selections
from stage and screen. Tickets £15 with 16s and under free.
Ticket price includes a glass of wine or soft drink.
Available from Bookends, 7 High Street, Emsworth and on
Eventbrite.com.
Then on Saturday, December 20 they
are in action with the Emsworth Concert Band Christmas
Concert at Hayling Island Community Centre, Station Road,
Hayling Island at 7pm, again festive musical favourites
along with popular selections from stage and screen. Tickets
£12 available from Eventbrite.com or Hayling Island
Community Centre. The centre bar will be open for drinks.
Band secretary Ian Smith loves
being part of it all: “It is a big ask and people have got
busy lives. We require people to commit the time but
everybody turns up and people really enjoy it. We all sit
down and the baton goes up and off we go. It is wonderful to
be playing in a large ensemble. I'm in the back row playing
the euphonium. We've got the clarinets and the woodwind and
we've got a good line with trumpets and trombones. It's a
good mix. It is about 40 of us in the band. I have been in
the band for about ten years and it really is just great to
make music. I bought myself a euphonium about 25 years ago
and I've been playing ever since. It is a challenge to read
all the little dots but it's great to be playing together.
You have to bring it home and you have to practise. You have
to work at you're doing but it's a really nice hobby and a
really nice way of spending time with other people.
“The Christmas concerts are very
much a tradition. First of all we want to make sure that the
audience and the band have a happy time but really it's
about working up to Christmas. I know that Christmas begins
in the middle of October for people working in the shops but
for us it's a gradual build-up and it's lovely to have
somewhere to go where you know that all your favourite
Christmas melodies will be played.
“We have got a really fantastic
selection this year. We've got Leroy Anderson's Christmas
Festival and also a piece called Christmas Classics. We're
also trying to find some new pieces. We've brought in some
pieces from across the pond including Secret Agent Santa.
And then we have a piece called Good Swing Wenceslas. It's
Good King Wenceslas as you would expect but it's quite
funky! And then we thought we would push the boat out a
little bit and push the band. We've got Shostakovich’s
Festive Overture. It's a lovely arrangement but it's quite
difficult so we thought that would be good to do. We have
also found Forrest Gump Suite and we've also got some Phil
Collins. And we're also doing Fairy Tale Of New York.”
“Local singer Emily Harkness will
certainly be singing with the band at Hayling and possibly
at Waterlooville. We have some great combined songs.”
Sussex world 5th December
