5th Open German Championships “Spielleutemusik”
Championships for Marching Show Bands, Flute and Fife Bands, Fanfare and Bugle Bands, Drumbands, Drum and Bugle Corps
BDMV’s 5th Open German Championships “Spielleutemusik” held within the Deutsche Musikfest is the most challenging national music competition in the field of “Spielleutemusik”. The German term “Spielleutemusik” includes marching show bands, flute and fife bands, fanfare and bugle bands, drumbands as well as drum and bugle corps. Competing ensembles in the marching and show competition are judged by a well-reputed international jury panel of the World Association of Marching Showbands (WAMSB). All the competing bands will receive recorded jury comments that will help them to improve their performance. International bands are not required to qualify for the 5th Open German Championships “Spielleutemusik”. Winning international bands will be awarded the title of an Open German Championship and the best German band will become German Champion.
The public is most welcome to all competitions!
March & Show
Stage shows are a revived form of presentation and belong to the category Entertainment. In stage shows, participants are provided all freedom of presentation in order to entertain the audience – from within a fixed stage area.If the qualification standard is reached, the contestants of the 5th Open German Championship “Spielleutemusik” will also be entitled to take part in the WAMSB world championships WAMSB 2020 in Japan as well as in 2021.
B 1 = Street Parade March – Divisions 1 and 2 (different courses, symphonic wind bands are allowed)
B 2 = Street Parade March and standstill piece
C 1 = Marching Parade
C 2 = Show
D 1 = Entertainment
D 2 = Schalmei Ensemble Contest
All categories are open to youth and adult ensembles.
Drum Battle
The drum battle is offered for the first time by BDMV and therefore held as a demonstration competition. The drum battle is open for percussion ensembles with instruments that can be used in motion. This provides a specific challenge for marching drum lines and percussion ensembles since technical skills and visual presentation must be achieved while moving. A presentation takes about 120 seconds. The ensembles must present their best skills within this short period of time.
During presentation, two ensembles face each other on a square of 15 x 15 meters and play successively. The evaluation through the jury follows promptly after the presentation and the winner is announced immediately.
Because of the direct proximity to the audience in the city centre, the public is brought very close to the musical happening and vividly experiences the musical “boxing match”.
Concert Contest
All competing bands may take part in the concert competition. Besides wind and brass bands the following categories will be available:
| A | 1 | Percussion Ensembles |
| A | 2.1 | Flute Bands |
| A | 2.2 | Concert Fife Bands |
| A | 3 | Fanfare and Bugle Orchestras (using valveless natural trumpets and percussion) |
| A | 4 | Schalmei Ensembles |
| A | 5 | Mixed Ensembles (fanfare bands A3 mixed with flute orchestras A2) |
| A | 6 | Marching Bands and extended instrumentation (all wind bands and percussion instruments allowed including complete drum line and pit) |
| A | 7 | Traditional fife bands |
Also the concert contests will be judged by a well-reputed jury panel. In contrast to the marching and show competition results will not be included in the ranking of the German Championships.
All categories are open to youth and adult ensembles.