A privilege to play at Regent’s Park Bandstand

This year, the band was very fortunate to have been selected to play at Regent’s Park Bandstand, an honour bestowed on only 45 or so bands and groups each year!

© Andrew Potter photography: www.andrewpotterphotography.co.uk

Our performance was scheduled for the Bank Holiday Monday on 29 August, and we were very much looking forward to our first trip out of the county since before the pandemic.

Our day started at Queens Park Infant Academy, where we normally rehearse on a Thursday evening. It was all hands on deck to get all of our kit – chairs, two timpanis, a bass drum, music stands, some of the larger wind instruments, and other miscellaneous equipment – out of the school and onto the coach. Thankfully, the coach driver, Andy, had some very good “Tetris” skills, so after squeezing it all in, we set off for London.

The vibe on the coach was mixed, with some people excited for the day ahead, and a few sleepy heads who still hadn’t quite woken up, even though it was after 10am (to be fair, though, it WAS a Bank Holiday)! After a couple of stops to pick up more of our members en-route (and a quick “comfort break”), and despite some slow traffic on the M3 (standard!), we arrived at 2.30pm – just enough time to unload the coach, set up in the Bandstand, and get changed in the nearby gardener’s hut!

Setting up the bandstand

I say “in” the Bandstand… there were 55 of us playing, which is a few more than the bandstand can accommodate! We seated the “back” of the band (percussion, brass, and basses) in the stand, and the rest of us set up in front. Such a change in seating arrangements can feel and sound really different to us, but we had practised with the bandstand layout at our previous rehearsal, so we knew what to expect (thanks Sue and Nick for working out the seating plan)!

© Andrew Potter photography: www.andrewpotterphotography.co.uk

So that he could be seen by everyone in the band, Simon, our conductor, had to stand on a specially-modified podium – elevated thanks to our resident fixer and maker of things, Andrew, and his skills with a hacksaw and some scaffolding tube! As a result of a series of summer heatwaves, the grass around the stand was parched and a bit uneven, which made the podium a little wobbly, but Simon managed to find his balance as the band took their seats.

Having enjoyed an earlier performance by Regent Community Brass, a sizeable crowd was eagerly waiting on picnic blankets and hired deckchairs for their afternoon entertainment to begin. The band looked out to see where friends and family had set up camp, and the committee members spotted a few faces they had seen during their recce of the venue a few weeks earlier. It seemed we had some regular Bandstand attendees to impress!

A Dropkick Murphys tune to kick off

We kicked off with a punchy piece by Celtic punk band, the Dropkick Murphys – I’m Shipping Up To Boston – which got the audience clapping in time and warmed them up for an action-packed programme! This included dramatic film scores such as Danny Elfman’s Batman and Klaus Badelt’s Pirates of the Caribbean, selections from musical favourites such as Les Mis, the Wizard of Oz, and Mary Poppins, and some old and new pop classics from Tom Jones and Adele.

We also had some concert band classics such as the Sea Songs, Yorkshire Overture, and The Saint’s Hallelujah. I could go on… in fact, I will: more movie magic with The Great Escape, Titanic’s Irish Party in Third Class, and Great Movie Marches; musical and theatre themes with Moulin Rouge and Breezin’ Down Broadway; and lively pasodoble Amparito Roca, to get us all ready for Strictly season!

To show off the band’s ability to change the mood, Simon had also programmed some slower pieces. We had the emotional arrangement of a traditional Scottish folk song, Samuel Hazo’s Mountain Thyme, and a serene solo, beautifully played by oboist Ruth, Shepherd’s Song.

Getting the audience moving and shaking

© Andrew Potter photography: www.andrewpotterphotography.co.uk

It wasn’t just the band members who got to show off their talents, though – we brought with us a box of shakers and bells to hand out to the audience so that they could help us play Henry Mancini’s It Had Better Be Tonight. Around 20 participants took up the challenge and they certainly brought some samba style, and lots of smiles – thank you guys!

To round up our fabulous two-hour programme, we played a final classic march, John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, featuring an impressive solo from piccolo player Kerry. The reaction from the audience matched the vibe amongst the band – we’d all had a great time, and it was smiles all round – especially from conductor Simon. He had managed to keep his balance throughout the performance, despite the wind’s best efforts to knock him off his podium!

The gusts did, however, manage to get hold of his scores, turning his pages ahead of schedule (NOT helpful!), and even blowing the music off his stand completely at one point! Nevertheless, the performance was a great success, and the band was buzzing as friends, family, and other audience members came to tell us how much they enjoyed it.

Time for celebrating before we headed home

It was time to pack up and get our equipment back to the coach, before enjoying some free time in the park. We’d all brought a packed tea, and a biiiiig cake, as we had some birthdays to celebrate – Bev’s birthday the following day, and it was Bandmaster Nick’s ?0th(!!) birthday the previous week too! So we gathered on the deckchairs in the park to eat, sing Happy Birthday, and mingle. As 7 o’clock rolled round, it was time to wander back to the coach for the journey home.

Enjoying some chill-out time before heading home

Arriving back at the school at around 10.30pm, we’d been out for a nice, round 12 hours, but we still had one task left… an epic team effort got all of the equipment off the coach and back into the school in no time at all. It was time to say our goodnights, and we all headed home having played some fabulous music and made some great memories.

But there’s no time to rest; our tour to Falmouth, where we’re playing with local choir “Local Vocalz”, is just six weeks away, so it’s straight back to rehearsals in preparation for our next performance!

By Kirsten on clarinet