Editorial ~ 2007 December

This month we present a snapshot of the year as we saw it, along with a revisit of National inconsistencies.

The Year in Review

The brass band year in Australia and New Zealand has been packed full of highlights, some not so high, and some definite glimmers of hope.

Certainly a highlight for us which started the year off to an accelerating start was the winning performance of Katrina Marzella at the 2007 Ern Keller International Soloist of the Year.  To have Katrina back in 2008 will be a tremendous opportunity to watch and listen to this super talent.

The next major event was the 2007 Australian Nationals which saw the soloists numbers down somewhat but the bands, particularly from Victoria and several overseas representatives, strongly supported the event.  The theft of some of the contest takings, as well as some warm up room issues, were things organisers could well like to put behind them.

Brisbane Excelsior under the direction of Howard Taylor achieved its hat-trick of Australian National titles but a clean sweep of the events, as was the case in the previous two years was not to be.  The onwards and upwards efforts of Footscray Yarraville band, conducted by the newly crowned VBL Musical Director of the Year, Phillipa Edwards, deprived them of this by its winning style in the Stage March.

There were fine performances from Mark Ford's Kew Band Melbourne who showed themselves to be hot on the heels of XLCR both in Ivanhoe and later, at the NZ Nationals.

Champion Brass on the Shore - the 2007 New Zealand Nationals, ran, as expected, like a well-oiled machine.  Scottish adjudicator, Nigel Boddice, had his work cut out for him - both in quantity and in separating the quality.  Next to nothing separated the top 4 bands with Dalewool winning the test, Woolston winning the Own Choice and XLCR coming away with the Championship with fellow Aussie band Kew in overall second place.  The contest was history in the making as no Australian band has ever held both trans-Tasman trophies at the same time.

There was much interest around the States and regions.  Numbers were well down at some of the regionals, particularly in New Zealand, and Western Australia also suffered this problem and consequently cancelled its State Championships this year due to lack of interest.  A positive reaction to this was the inception of the Western Australia Festival of Brass - an event highly likely to become one of the highlights of the banding calendar in the future.

Queensland held its State Championships at Easter which was to be the end of its historic run of clashing with the Nationals.

The recent changes to some of the by-laws in New South Wales, created an exciting contest for the A Grade bands with the use of 'guest' conductors.  The standard of the bands at this contest was, without a doubt, up a notch on previous years.  A highlight for us was seeing Ken MacDonald once again in front of a brass band - this time with Waratah.

St Mary's Band Club under the baton of ex-player Jason Katsikaris, taking a break from his meteoric rise to fame in the UK, led the band to a close (ultimately controversial) victory.

Numbers were down in the Victorian and Tasmanian states, whereas in South Australia celebrations took priority as the Championships shared the occasion with Tanunda Town Band celebrating its 150th birthday who, aptly, also won the A Grade title this year.

Many bands strived to produce concerts of quality and public appeal.  Leading the way was the National Band of New Zealand who undertook its concert tour of New Zealand with monster performer - James Morrison.  Not to be outdone, Dalewool also used the talents of The Wizard.

North Shore Brass - NZ Band of the Year; Kew Band Melbourne - winners of the ABC band of the year, Warringah - winners of the Battle of the Bands in NSW, Brisbane Brass - winners of the Brisbane Battle of the Bands were just a few of the successful bands in the entertainment contest arena.

Other bands to produce notable concerts and/or tours include Gunnedah who toured country NSW; the mighty Waratah Brass who have again risen to the top in times of adversity; St Kilda Brass, the Trusts Waitakere Brass, Dalewool Auckland Brass have each run successful subscription concert series; XLCR and its Stars of Brass production; Sutherland under the leadership of Warwick Tyrell - a band and MD of the future we think. 

Individually, along with Katrina, the National Champions were Matthew van Emmerik who has had a busy, successful year commuting between his two homes - Sydney and Melbourne; Phil Johnston who is like a good bottle of wine - just continues to get better with age; Jen Magoulas - a young lady with a bright future regardless of the road she chooses to follow; and Thomas Eaves - a versatile performer who already plays with a maturity beyond his years.

The country and regional Festivals continue to be well supported by bands where the prime focus is to have a good time. Thankfully, this still does happen.

Speaking of good times, how good was it to see Mnozil Brass - well done MIFB!

This is just a snapshot we realise with many more highlights worthy of mention, and many which we simply don't know about...so, please, over to you - tell us about them.

What do you think?
Send an email to: du.comments@4barsrest.com

A level playing field for Australian Nationals 2008?

With entries due on the 14th of December, bands around Australia are considering whether or not to commit massive amounts of time, energy, and money to compete at the Australian Nationals Band Championships to be held in Brisbane in March 2008.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could compete on a level playing field?  At the moment, some bands may register players from anywhere in the world whilst others may only register players from their state yet others may only register players who are Australian citizens or permanent residents.  Some bands may use players who are registered with up to three different bands whilst others may only use players who are exclusively registered with them worldwide.  Some bands need to register their conductor but others don’t.  Some bands are obliged to complete a registration procedure involving government bodies and others are not.

And then there are overseas bands such as those from New Zealand who are able to bring bands into the competition under a completely different set of ground rules again.

Those hoping for affirmative action from the NBCA on these issues need to remember that the council can only change the status quo if five out of six state governing bodies direct them to do so.  In turn, the state governing bodies are only able to change the status quo if so directed by a majority of their members.  That’s you and me.

It seems daunting then that you and I have the potential to submit a proposal that could possibly change the very fabric of band contesting in Australia, but this is the nature of our system.  Until such time as a proposal is submitted by one of us, the playing field will remain uneven.

What do you think?
Send an email to: du.comments@4barsrest.com

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