The Kavanagh Journey - Banding for an Aussie

A year ago Rob from Adelaide, South Australia, set off to the Great Brass Band Land. Chris Bowman from 4BRDU caught up with him in Blackpool and here's the update on the Journey.

It is hard to believe that it is year ago that I set off on my great UK adventure.  It was a very scary but exciting time for me .  After travelling through Malaysia and France, I headed to London, then onto Manchester where I stayed with my cousins for 6 weeks.  I didn't intend to practice law when I got here - and I was enrolled for a Masters degree in performance at the Royal Northern College of Music which was to start in September last year - but I had to make some tough decisions because I ran out of money very quickly.  The exchange rate was even more horrendous than it is now, and I knew that I would not be able to afford the £12,000 a year course (for international students) and live at the same time.  I needed a good job!

I looked  for legal work in firms around Manchester and ended up landing a job as an associate in one of the UK's leading law firms.  I headed out to their Leeds office last year then moved back to the Manchester office at the beginning of this  year.  Having to learn a whole new jurisdiction of tax law (I am a corporate tax lawyer) has been and still is bloody hard, but I am enjoying the challenge.  In a few years when I am an official UK resident I can start thinking about doing the course at the Royal Northern because I can pay the much lower UK rates and I can also keep my job part time whilst studying.

Right.  Banding.  I have been pretty busy this year and things are starting to pick up.  When I arrived last year I began to meet many "banding dignitaries" who gave me advice and encouragement.  I remember my first lesson with Lesley Howie where I came to the realisation that I was going to have to work hard and that I couldn't expect things to just fall into my lap.  Lesley gave me the Philip Wilby Concertino for Horn to look at and the words "bloody hell" immediately sprung to mind. 

My first taste of UK banding was attending a Black Dyke rehearsal.  It was surreal to be sitting there hearing this band playing through Graham's Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Philip Wilby's new work Northern Lights.  After Dyke had played through Graham's Journey a wacky professor type man who was standing to my left side asked me , "It's a great pieced, isn't it?"  I realised in a few seconds that it was Philip Wilby talking to me! 

It was a great night seeing Nick Childs in action and hearing the elite banding outfit.  I then attended a concert they gave at the Bridgewater Hall.  They opened with Queensbury (of course) and I knew when I heard that performance that I was in banding heaven. The whole concert was electrifying.  The standard was so much higher than anything I had ever heard before that I could not close my mouth for days.

With that in hand I knew two things.  One:  I wanted to play in a top brass band.  Two:  I needed to work very hard and improve my playing.   Things were going to be difficult given my new job.  I started practicing every night.  Sometimes I would get home at 9.30pm after work then do two hours practice.  I was very exhausted and there were lots of tantrums and marks on walls! 

Whilst I was living in Leeds I met up with Phillip McCaan who invited me to have a blow with Sellers.  I then became the band's newest groupie and travelled with them to the British Open which was great fun.  It was great to get advice from Phillip McCaan who I had met in Australia in 1996 and also see how he takes and develops a band for a major contest.  I also made some great friends in that band who I am still in regular contact with.

By the end of October I was helping the newly crowned National Champions Leyland on Solo Horn!  And boy oh boy, this was a baptism by fire!  It took me over two hours to get to rehearsals (and back again) as I was still living in Leeds.  It was nerve wracking for me, not having properly played in a band for 6 months, then having to play Solo Horn for the National Champions!  I remember sitting in my first rehearsal with the National Champions cup in eye-shot.  I had to pinch myself.  It was a real treat to meet the players and Russel Gray who is a great guy and masterful musician.  I did a BBC recording with them and several concerts including a joint concert with Brighouse where we were conducted by Jim Gourlay.  Leyland had not seen the music until the day of the Brighouse concert and can I just say that the whole experience was the most terrifying musical experience of my life, but it was also a great challenge for me.  Sight reading (or only looking at music once) before concerts is common over here, but you get used to it after the first few terrifying experiences hehe.

I competed in the British Open Solos that November and performed Kneale's Variations on a Welsh Theme.  I was really happy with my performance and I was placed 9th out of about 50 so I was chuffed to bits.  The Aussies in this contest were outstanding in my opinion.  Rosie Pearce made the final and Kristy Rowe, Steph Barrett and Tom Humphries also performed really well. 

I came home to Adelaide for Christmas and my first night back was spent with my K&N Brass family!  We had drinks at the Colonist like the good ol' times and it was touching to see so many people turn up to witness me get blind drunk for just one more time.  I got back to the UK after New Years and I then moved to Manchester with my work, but I was more than happy to move as there was more for me in Manchester from a banding perspective. 

I took up the Solo Horn seat at the famous Besses o' th' Barn Band as soon as I arrived.  The players at Besses have been great to me and made me feel very welcome.  Within a few weeks I had a nickname, "Possum".  Better than dingo or koala I guess.  When I arrive at band rehearsals there are always a few Dame Edna impersonators saying "Hello Possum"!   

Since being at Besses I have performed under some great conductors including Roy Newsome, Derek Broadbent and Jim Cant.  Besses has been through an extremely tough spell of late and bands do go in cycles.  We are down the bottom of our cycle and we have been picked up by the scuff of our neck by our new conductor John Hinckley less than a week before the Grand Shield!  He has already instilled a new sense of confidence in the band.  There is so much talent around the stand to work with. 

Three wooden spoons in a row have been extremely difficult to swallow (have you tried swallowing a wooden spoon, let alone three?), but things have changed now and we're getting back to the basics and moving forward.  When you are sitting in a band room with National Champion and British Open first place certificates hanging everywhere, you have to think that although things might not be going so well, this is a famous band that has had a knack of pulling itself out of the tough times and conquering.  It was only a few years ago that Besses were still in the National finals and the British Open.  We have our work cut out for us, but it will be worth the effort.

As well as playing with Besses I have been fortunate enough to continue helping Leyland and also Fodens Richardson Band.  Performing Sparke's Year of the Dragon with Fodens has been a real highlight for me due to the historical connection Fodens has with that piece.  Their performance of Year of the Dragon at the 1992 European Championships is known to be one of the best performances in brass band history.  The 2006 performance might not have matched the one in 1992, but it still sent shivers down my spine!

All in all, I am loving the UK and it is so cool to be able to pop over to Spain and Ireland (where most of my family are) for breaks which I have been doing.  I also travel to London quite a bit where I have some close Aussie friends.  I have made loads of new friends in Manchester and with them I have enjoyed keeping the local brass band pub Scu Bar in business.  I am only at the beginning of my journey as far as banding is concerned and once I start focussing on my horn playing at the Royal Northern in the next few years, I will be determined to improve my playing a great deal.  I still have a long way to go.  Right now I am having a break from banding for a few weeks before enjoying what will hopefully be a steady rise upwards for Besses.

The first time Rob saw snow!

From what I have been told Australian banding is improving rapidly and all I can say is work hard and play hard, but work hard first. The social life connected with banding in the UK is huge, much bigger than it is in Australia, but that is only secondary to the fanatical commitment to excellence that these bands have.  Banding over here really is a blood sport but the rewards far outweigh the wounds.

Rob Kavanagh