1 May 2019

This year saw the City of Greater Dandenong Band's tenth consecutive year of participation in the Australian National Band Championships. Since making the journey to Hobart back in 2010, the City of Greater Dandenong Band have pretty convincingly covered the whole of Australia except for the Northern Territory. Each year, the major brass and concert band contest is held in a different state, usually in the states’ capital city being hosted by the states’ band regulatory body and overseen by the National Band Council of Australia. As a registered member of the Victorian Bands’ League our band competes in Victorian, interstate and national competitions. 
 

You may ask why - or how - do bands compete against each other when they’re just playing music? It’s certainly no sport. Or is it?

Band contests are judged on musical accuracy and musicality. Usually a single adjudicator (but sometimes more than one) will award points to bands based on what they hear and how accurately it corresponds to the sheet music the band is playing. 

Sometimes the competition is fierce and band rivalry can erupt - All for the glory of bragging rights and monetary prizes. But, ultimately, competition inspires individuals to become better musicians, and bands to put on better performances. Our band certainly enjoys the social aspect of the National Band Championships as a chance to take an interstate holiday and catch up with mates from other bands.
 

The National Band Championships sees bands, including ours, put in months of preparation in to four contest pieces. This extensive rehearsal schedule is necessary to master each piece, perfecting each note, the dynamics, the rhythms, and the musical story as a whole. 

Each year there is a 'test piece' that every band in the grade must play. This year the B grade test piece was ‘The Legend of Pandora' Composed by Benjamin Tubb-Hearne, a current member of Brisbane Excelsior band and bathtub salesman! The test piece music is usually written on a theme or story.  'The Legend of Pandora', involved some very challenging solo sections that featured Baritone player, Todd O’Shea, Tenor Horn players Catherine Hillman and Michael Mathers, and Cassi de Lacy-Vawdon on Flugel Horn - playing the pinnacle of the piece, the main theme 'Pandora'. The test piece was a great piece of music that was both challenging to play and genuinely a great piece to listen to. Perhaps the most testing part for all bands was the Solo Cornet and Euphonium Duet - delivered stunningly by Timothy Hellyer and David Martin for our band. To round out the competition, bands also play pieces in various other styles. This year, Dandenong Band performed the hymn tune, 'In Love for Me', our own choice, 'The Saga of Haakon the Good' by Philip Sparke, and the march, 'Simoraine' by Clive Barraclough. There were sixteen bands in B grade this year, each performing in turn.

Our former Musical Director and Drum Major made a return to the band for the National Australian Band Championships after his move to Tasmania earlier this year. Joining us on Tenor Horn, we were happy to have Michael join us on stage again. 

Our contest performance was streamed around the world courtesy of  brassbanned.com, reaching around 1700 people who tuned in to listen to our band perform.

Another integral part of the Nationals weekend is the Saturday street parade. Taking to Brisbane city streets were all of the brass bands represented at the contest, their supporters, and many locals who came down to watch the fun. There were concerns that impending rain would stop the parade from taking place, and the Australian National Band Championships committee informed us of their hopes that the parade could continue as planned. In the end, despite inclement weather, the parade marched on.

In the street parade Dandenong Band performed a compilation from 'The Lion King', led by newly appointed Drum Major, Cameron Sanders, who also very cleverly arranged the piece specifically for our band in mind. Cameron was the obvious candidate for taking on the Drum Major role after Michael Mathers's resignation, and delivered an absolutely amazing performance at his first national competition. For the 'Change of Direction' - in integral part of the street march including a right hand turn, where points are awarded for 'entertainment value' -  Cameron choreographed the players to form a circular dance to the song ‘The circle of Life’. Naturally, this ended with Rafiki, presenting Simba the lion on top of 'pride rock'. Our efforts managed to secure the band equal 2nd place in this category. Cameron has set the bar high for himself from this event and has now attracted specific attention from other notable Drum Majors, judges and brassbanned.com commentators for future events. Cameron is sure to be a lookout for coming years of banding success!