A View From Above Whit Friday Brass Band Competition 2nd June 2023

A View From Above
The Whit Friday Brass Band Competition
2nd June 2023

5 hours of audio and drone footage condensed into half an hour.

The audio is all from a single source located on top of one of the many hills surrounding the villages, overlapping bands and echoing were inevitable with so many playing at once.

This was an attempt to capture the whole atmosphere of the event, not focus on one location.

Battery limitations and manpower were my biggest problems, drone batteries are expensive and limited and I am only one man trying to cover 11 separate locations.

The Whit Friday band contest tradition dates back to 1884 and is actually a series of individual band contests held in eleven of the thirteen villages that make up Saddleworth: Delph, Denshwaw, Diggle, Dobcross, Friezland, Greenfield, Grotton, Lees & Springhead, Lydgate, Scouthead and Austerlands and Uppermill.

The contest is held in such high esteem that more than one hundred brass bands travel worldwide to perform, and thousands of people come to the area to watch them do their thing. The competition is open to all – International bands, local bands, youth bands, and military bands all are welcome and able to compete up against some of the most famous bands in the world such as Brighouse & Rastrick, Black Dyke, Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Lydgate Brass Band.

Each band plays two pieces, the first is performed as they march to the contest performance area, the second is the competition piece that they will be judged on. A volunteer marches ahead of each band holding a sign with the name of the band so that the crowd can see who is playing next, however, the name of the band is never verbally announced. The judges, spend all day hidden away in a caravan or tent and score each band only on the quality of their performance, not on their prestige, fame, or fancy uniforms.

Thanks for watching.

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