In Response to Alan Wycherley

It took some time for me to lift my jaw from the ground when I read this article on 4BarsRest, the brass band website.

Firstly, I must state that I highly respect Alan's excellent reputation as one of banding's leading sop players for such a long time. To still be playing the way that he does at his time of life is a most underrated achievement that I hope I will get close to achieving. Alan has done many sucessful performances at the Open and the Nationals. By contrast, I've played sop at the Open just once, and didn't have particularly good day. I'm playing rep cornet at tomorrow's contest, and I wish my fine friend Richard Evans the Best of British for his turn in the sop chair following his excellent performance at the Masters earlier this year. 

I sat next to Alan on the contest platform once. He was a borrowed player with Sovereign many years ago at the Leamington contest. We played Tristan Encounters, and he dealt with the difficult soprano cornet cadenza very will indeed. It was a pleasure to sit next to it and I learnt a lot about how to handle the pressure of contest day.

In Alan's interview, he states that soprano cornet parts have got higher over the last 30 years.

My initial response: Yes, that's right. And?

All band parts have got higher, faster, louder in line with composers' requests, and players' capabilities. Only a few years ago, test pieces were being written which were considered to be close to "impossible" (to quote Steven Mead's recent interview) - such pieces are dwarfted by some of the madness that we're seeing in our parts now. Nowadays, we're being pushed further, and that's a good thing. Without progress, banding will die, and without challenging parts, players will get bored and find something else to do with their talents. 

Alan also states that high notes such as Eb and E are more in line with repertoire written for the piccolo trumpet.

I've not seen many pieces of original piccolo trumpet repertoire which go above a G on the piccolo trumpet. Players like Allen Vizzuti or Jens Lindemann have written and ably perform solo and ensemble parts (listen to "All You Need is Love" on the Canadian Brass Beatles Album) which go up to high A on the Bb piccolo (the same pitch as a high E on the sop). The great Maurice André went up to A in his arrangements of the classical oboe concerti (try his recording of the Haydn Oboe Concerto in C) in his repertoire - he also went a 5th higher than this note on the Bb trumpet in his famous recording for French Radio of La Canari. A completely different style of music, yes, but he gets up there - loudly.

Other repertoire played on the picc that goes up to the register, such as Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, or the repertoire of FX Richter, Michael Haydn, JG Reutter and many others were written for the trumpet of the time - an instrument which is twice the length of the current trumpet, with no valves, wholes or step ladders to help the player get up there. Those pieces were written over 200 years ago, and very few present-day players (most notably Jean-Francois Madeuf) can play the Brandenburg without the holes and with a replica baroque mouthpiece. 

As banders, we are expected to be able to play Monteverdi, Mozart, Mahler, and Maynard Fergusson in the relevant style. Those bands who can't do this don't keep up and lose contests. Soprano cornet players, like all instrumentalists are expected to have a far broader tone palete than before. In our concert repertoire we are expected to sound like a trad jazz clarinet, an orchestral or big band trumpet, a coloratura soprano. We are also expected to use the traditional tone which rightly has its place in the right repertoire. This variety is what banding is, and often does very well, and it's a good thing.

Whilst E on the sop cornet is a tough note to get(especially to get it in tune), it's not beyond the realms of a modern first class cornet or trumpet player. The same note, and higher ones can be achieved with hard work and the right practise even on a Bb cornet. Mouthpiece changes can help, but can also affect the tone and the player and should be used carefully. A double high C can be played on a Bb cornet with a Denis Wick 2b mouthpiece, I know because I and a few other players can do it. That may not be useful in a banding context right now - but it probably will be in the future. I know of at least one sop player (Chris Bunn) who put in a high G at the end of a recent contest performance (Milton Keynes Entertainment contest), and I firmly believe that this will occur more and more in the coming years.

We're not only being pushed in terms of range. With regards to technique, cornet and especially sop cornet players are expected to trill on F and higher notes. Effective trilling on this notes can only be achieved by lip trilling. Players are regularly having to use this technique in all musical idioms (and therefore in the relvant style). I don't think that Alan was the only sop player at last year's Nationals who lip trilled the high A trill in the test piece - that player (Martin Britt) was sat behind me during the Desford performance. Each new test piece offers a new challenge, and we should welcome this, not hide from it, or worse still, complain about it.

In 2000, the British Bandsman surveyed some famous banders (composers, players and personalities) to find out what they would like to see happen in the new millenium. Peter Graham's comment, if I remember rightly was something on the lines of increased usage of percussion, and a broader higher register for all cornets. he cited the possibility of writing a high G for sop. Nine years on, we're nearly there. 

I too hope it happens, and when it does I hope Desford ask me to play sop that day!