Posting Comments and Following the Blog

Have you read one or more posts on the Blog and wondered how to comment?  Here is a step-by-step guide to doing just that.

Posting Comment on the Blog
Click on the title of the post you want to Comment on:

Scroll to the bottom of the page and then insert your comment in the box, as shown below:

Entering your name
Choose the name or username you will leave your comment under.  You can choose to enter your name (with an optional URL, such as website):

Then click on post comment:

Using your Google Account
Or you can use your existing 'Google Account', which will be your e-mail address and password that you have previously set up, or you can set it up now.

 This is the page you will then be sent to where you must enter your Account details:

Once you have signed in you will see your comment as it will appear on the Blog and then you need to click Post Comment to complete the comment process.

N.B. Comments will not be instantly posted as they will have to be verified by the band for content, but this should not take too long.

Hopefully, this has been made clear, but of you would like anymore help please refer to this Google Blogger article or e-mail the band at pembertonband@hotmail.co.uk and we will do our best to help!

Following the Blog
If you would like to know about Following the Pemberton Bugle, there is a Google Blogger Article here that tells you all about Following, including what it is and how to do it.

Photos from Ashton Music Festival

These are some images taken during the Senior Band's spot at the Ashton Music Festival concert last Wednesday, 22nd September.  Apologies to the 'B' Band and Youth Band that there are no pictures available of their performances.  If you took some and are happy for them to be included here, please e-mail the band at pembertonband@hotmail.co.uk so that we can include them.

First are pictures from our opening number, the piece that began our Wychavon Programme "Jewish Wedding Dance":

The following were taken during Joanne Johnson's reprised performance of "Dark-Haired Marie":

These next photos were taken during the band's performance of "Dreaded Groove and Hook" by Simon Dobson and show some of the featured soloists, starting with Tom buckley on Euphonium: 

This is trombonist David Chapman demonstrating his 'Acid Jazz' side during the "Dreaded Groove and Hook":

 Carina Halliwell also shows off her solo skills:

Then came the 'novelty item', "Pizziwato Polka" featuring muted cornets...

 ...and muted trombones...

 ...and ofcourse, the duck call!

We then finished the programme with excerpts from "On the Shoulders of Giants":

As you can see, the audience really enjoyed our performance:

The audience appreciated our performance so much, that we had to give them more, and "MacArthur Park" has become a regular in our concerts recently:

Further appluase...

 ..this time it's time to go!

For information on the concert read the recent blog post "Ashton Music Festival, Wednesday 22nd Sept 2010"

Please feel free to leave comments on the photos.

Ashton Music Festival, Wed 22nd Sept 2010

Last night saw one of the highlights of the band's concert season when all three bands performed during the course of one music-filled evening.  This was part of Ashton Music Festival and the concert was held at St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School.  It is a great opportunity for members of all three bands to hear the other bands in concert.

The evening started with John Don-Duncan's youngsters, who were in fine form as usual.  The Pemberton Youth Band began with the classic march "True and Trusty" which was played with great confidence and joie de vivre!  Then the band featured a star-of-the-future, trombonist Gemma Riley, who ably and confidently performed "Kid Shifter".  Gemma won the British Open Solo and Quartet Junior Slow Melody Championship in November 2009 and is a great asset to the Pemberton Family.

Mr Don-Duncan then chose a German work entitled "Schniedizer" before giving us a wonderfully controlled and confident rendition of part of the test piece the band will perform at Fleetwood contest on 3rd October "Summer Fantasy".  The band finished their segment with a rousing rendition of the superb "Slaidburn" which was again confidently played.

Next to take to the stage was the Pemberton 'B' Band led by the band's regular Soprano player, Ediie Hill, who also chose to play a march, this time "Bramwyn" an exciting march which demonstrated the band's control and dynamic contrasts.  Following this the band played a more reflective item, "The Irish Blessing" which was well played.  Particular mention must go to the four players who started the piece David Lunt (on Flugel), Alex Nesmejanow (Solo Horn), Barbara Grant (Solo Baritone) and Bob Grant (Solo Euphonium).

The band then accompanied a soloist in the shape of Helen Don-Duncan, John's daughter, who chose to play "Weber's Last Waltz" a theme and variation solo that demonstrated Helen's technical skill as well as some wonderfully lyrical Euphonium playing.  A special guest then joined the band in the form Eddie's son, Peter Hill, who sang the Michael Buble hit "Haven't Met You Yet".  This was well received by audience and players alike.  Finishing the first half of the concert was a lively performance of 'Valero' which featured standing sections of the band and even some dancing from the cornet section

After the interval the Senior band took to the stage and relived their Wychavon programme, beginning again with "Jewish Wedding Dance" demonstrating some assured technical skill from all sections of the band.  This was again followed by Joanne Johnson's beautiful cornet solo "Dark-Haired Marie" which somehow was played even better than on Sunday!  "The Dreaded Groove and Hook" then followed again with featured excellent solo playing from Tom Buckley (Euphonium), David Chapman (Trombone) and Carina Halliwell (Flugelhorn).

With a healthy-sized, appreciative audience this was a perfect opportunity to also replay the 'novelty item' from Sunday and so "Pizziwato Polka" again featured the cornet and trombone sections.  The audience really seemed to enjoy the humorous twist on this classic!  This was then followed by the closing number from Sunday "On the Shoulders of Giants", again, the shorter version.  The band were once again in fine form demonstrating exceptional technique as well as wonderfully rich, full sounds and fine solo work from all sections of the band.

With huge applause from the audience and Mr Bumble-esque calls for 'more!' the band concluded the evening with a spectuclar performance of the Richard Harris popular 1968 song, which has also had big-band jazz versions performed by Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman - "MacArthur Park" as arranged for the Grimethorpe Band by Alan Catherall.

Another fine evening of music making from the Pemberton organisation, which was described by one of the spokesmen of the Festival as 'truly the highlight of the whole festival!'.

If you missed this concert, the Senior Band will next be performing at the DW Stadium in the first of a series of concerts which will be running over the coming season showcasing the band's versatility on the concert stage.  This concert on the 15th of October is entitled "Friday Night is Music Night".  The same weekend we will be performing at St Michael's Church, Swinley on Saturday 16th October.

Both the 'B' Band and the Youth Band will be competing at Fleetwood Contest on Sunday 3rd October at Fleetwood's Marine Hall.