The event was formulated by the local Waikato Bay of Plenty association to promote banding in the Waikato area.

Organised by Gary Bilton and Robert Wilson, Howard Taylor agreed to be the MD for the weekend and the focus was to produce a CD at the end of the three days.

Excitment all round

Howard was quite excited to be invited to take the band but not as excited as the band members themselves were, as most of the members were from B grade bands or lower and the chance to work with a MD the calibre of Howard was something not to be missed.

I highly recommend this type of weekend to all associations, as making a CD certainly is a very effective method of improving playing standards within a short amount of time.Gary Bilton

The venue was the Hamilton City Brass bandrooms. Thirty players were invited to attend, and rehearsals started on Friday afternoon.

Daunting

A good variety of music was chosen to suit the band and this was handed out a couple of weeks prior, as the challenge of putting a CD together in one weekend was rather daunting to most.

Band whipped into shape

Showing his usual whit, friendliness, determination and discipline, Howard Taylor set about putting the band into shape.

The Music

The music of Philip Sparke featured heavily over the course of the weekend with Band Wagon, Pioneers, Marchissimo, David of the White Rock and Processional.

Gary Bilton on Eupho featured with Varied Mood and Barry Cullen the Bands principal cornet played A Repton Fantasy.

The band managed to squeeze in some work on "Inspiration” which is to be the C Grade test at the NZ Nationals in july.

Awards

Awards for the weekend were presented to:
Best Player: Steve Webb, Eb Bass
Best Section: Basses
Most Improved Section: Horns

Thanks to...

Much work was done in the background and the weekend would not have happened without the tremendous help of Elizibeth Edgecombe for her untiring work putting the music together, and Alison Derbyshire and Marylin Edgecombe who were responsible for feeding and watering the troops.

Recommended

The recordings on the Sunday went very well and organiser Gary Bilton commented: "I highly recommend this type of weekend to all associations, as making a CD certainly is a very effective method of improving playing standards within a short amount of time."