And another thing

On the wry side with guest wit, John Barber and cartoonist, Nezzy

Within most band rooms up and down the land, there is an understanding, an acknowledgement and a general reluctant acceptance that the most important member of the team that meets each week is, in fact, not the principal cornet player. Certainly the Principal Cornet is ably dexterous with fanciful melodic lines and sets the tone on the concert platform, clearly relishing the supposed pressure of the contest arena, but the most important? No.

Perhaps then the euphonium player who stares back across the band eyeballing the cornetist, vying for equal attention whilst dancing around an octave lower than their nimble-fingered counterpart? Or the horn player sitting proudly in the middle of the band, smugly in the conductor’s line of sight playing teacher’s pet, offering notes and musical phrases as substitutes for apples and completed homework? No??

Then the conductor surely, who regularly demonstrates considerable prowess in one and two-armed line dancing techniques whilst dressed for dinner and carrying a collection of action faces to reflect the joyful, sincere or hapless nature of the music? No - none of these (nor the baritone player for reference - either one) are really the most important parts of the team for, without them, the band would still function. Parts would be swapped around, the British spirit would kick in, (the baritone player may even get to move back up the line to where they probably started life in the band) and the group would carry on making merry music.

There is one person though, without whom the band could very quickly find itself treading water and certainly, if you asked them, they would tell you that this is the case....

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