Australian Concert Bands

Hey All

DanJ's blog gave me a kick up the butt to do one of my own!

Well - here we are, almost Feb 2008!

PMHM Band went back last week in prep for Aust Day. 3 new pieces in the folders. The Dam Busters march, Air from County Derry (Danny Boy) and an interesting piece called Song and Dance - very strange cause the time signature changes nearly every bar. Goes from 4/4 to 3/4.

Aust Day was pretty busy. First up i drove down to Taree to play with the Greater Taree Concert Band. They have a great spot for their Aust Day along the Manning River there! Then after lunch, back to PMQ for our own Aust Day ceremony.

I will admit though that this was the hardest Aust Day! I had the worst bloody ulcers on my lip, and i left the SM33 at home!!! Wasnt so bad if the notes were fairly close together, but once we had to jump around it was murder!

Also on the music scene i have been working on the musical called Blood Brothers. Trying to organise the band for the show, but with HSC and people being so busy, its a constant battle to find players!

Anyways, thats about it....will post more when something interesting happens!

Well - first night back last night at New Notes, which is the adult beginner band division of PMHM Band. rehearsals have changed from 2 x 1 hr sessions a week to a single 2 hr session. Good to be able to rehease things properly.

Definately should've done more practice during the holidays ! lol (who hasnt said that?!). I lost count of the amount of time i dropped my drum sticks!

Still trying to find a aux percussionist and 2nd pianist for the musical - theres gotta be some out there!

Hi Ben, Saw some photos of Port Macquarie on another forum - what is that green stuff on the ground. We only have dirt now - not even dry grass.

Seriously, best wishes for all your tasks (musical and otherwise) for this year.
Bev

Well, ive been a bit slack lately and havent posted anything!!!

First up - Blood Brothers!. Rehearsals are well underway, and i have moved on from playing trumpet to playing aux percussion. The reason was that I couldnt find another percussion player, but had a trumpet player spare, so it now works out!! We have a great group so far, consisting of Piano 1, Piano 2, Drum Kit, Trumpet, Bass Guitar, Acoustic / Electric Guitar, Sax (doubles on Violin) and Aux Percussion (timp, tambali, chimes and all the other toys!)
The season opens in PMQ at the Players Theatre on the 9th of May, so if your in the area, make time to see if as its going to be great!

But if that wasnt enough, we recently recieve the scores for the next musical, Hello Dolly!, which is on in September. Im looking for musos, so if you want to jump in, let me know!

Have recently started taking drum lessons, and am really enjoying them. Always good to improve techniques!

Onto Port Band. Well, our Youth Band has had 2 rehearsals, and numbers are steadily growing! The group is having a great time, and are being challenged by the music - speaking of music, i now know how all those long suffering band librarians feel after putting together the music for YB!!! If anyone mucks it up WATCH OUT!!

Senior Band has been pretty quiet lately, with the band learning some new pieces like Jersey Boys (great piece!), an interesing piece called Song and Dance by Richard Saucedo (strange piece - changes time sig nearly every bar!) and Air from County Derry aka Danny Boy. Anzac Day just around the corner, so that means marching practice!!! Better drag the cornet out to get ready for the Last Post!

Anyway, will post when there is more news!

Geez - its been a month since i last posted...am getting slack lol

Been a quiet month though!

Just working on Blood Brothers the musical. Getting stuck into this. Coming along really well! We arent in a 'pit' in traditional sense. We are in one of the wings on a scaffold about 3 metres above the ground. Only problem is that the sound is sucked straight into the roof and we have to belt out to be heard!

PMHM Band still going good. Youth Band is really taking off, with numbers steadily increasing. The Senior Band is getting ready for Anzac day, and looks like im playing snare drum on the march, and the bugle calls at the services.

Am also playing Timp with our Blue Note Ensemble on sunday week at a Seniors Week Concert. Should be good fun.

Will post more when i have something interesting to say!!!

Hey Guys

Thought i'd better post something!!

Been quiet lately with school holidays. No band this week - if it wasnt for theatre rehearsals, i think i'd go into withdrawls!

Went to Brisbane earlier in the week for a training course for work. I reckon i could live in Brissie - its a really nice city!

One thing i did do whilst up there was go and see Phantom of the Opera. 3 words to describe it - OH MY GOD!

If you get a chance to go see it, dont hold back!

Apart from that, not much at all has happened!

Will post again when i can think of something to post! lolol

Hi Ben, I would love to see Phantom but Adelaide is missing out again!!!! My son recently conducted K&N Brass for two concerts as the regular MD was on sick-leave. A photo of Mark is on the website knband.org.au as he was conducting during the Massed men's Choir Concert in the Barossa Valley. Mark is also conducting during the SABA Band camp in July and adjudicating in the Junior Solo Competition later in the year.

Poor old SA is still missing out on good rain. We are hopeful that later in autumn we will get something to help us out.

Best wishes to you and all Forum participants.
Bev.

Well - Blood Brothers is over! It was a great season, but its always good to get your life back after doing a show. But not for long - we start rehearsals for Hello Dolly! next week...lol

Our band went to East Coast Champs yesterday and i am proud to say that we came first, even with all my fluffed notes lol!

I also permitted over to Lane Cove on Timp. LCCB are a great band and i had a blast - just wish i was a bit more confident on a couple of the pieces, but oh well, its done now! But they still won their section which was great to hear

Thats about it! Short one today!

Hi Ben. Glad is is going so well for you. I am working full time now - had to do something to help us with the costs of the drought. We have had a few mm of rain - more forecast for later this week so we are still hoping.

Still interested in all the Bands, Concert and Brass - but don't get much time for forums. Ususally have a quick look and then rush off!!!!
Bev.

WOW - talk about being slack! Someone kick me in the butt for being so slack!

Well - end of September! Since my last post i've gotten thru another season of a musical, this time Hello, Dolly!. It was a great show, with a brilliant orchestra! I had managed to find the following instrumentation. Bass guitar, clarinet (playing reed 3 part), alto sax (playing reed 2 with reed 1 alto parts), 3 trumpets, french horn (playing cello part), glock, pianist, eupho (playing trom 1), trombone (trom 2), kit, and aux percussion. Tell you what though, am sick of transposing the music (cello to f horn?! - it worked!)

At the PMHM Band front - the SCB recently held its major fund raising concert at the Players Theatre. These shows were very well recieved, with the audience wanting to hear more of the band! We did things a little bit different, such as openign with The Dambusters march (before the band started playing we had a audio clip from the bomb run in the movie, with roving spotlights flicking around the theatre to give atmosphere). We were also joined by two great vocalists for West Side Story, and even ventured into unknown territory for our band by inviting along a piper to perform Highland Cathedral with the band, which sounded AWESOME! We even managed to borrow 4 piper snare drums and a tenor drum to get the right sound!

Next up - Carnival of the Pines march, and im also sitting in with a <gasp> brass band from macksville! Unsure if im playing Bb or Eb cornet. Bring on the soppy!

Will post more soon! (i hope!)