New Zealand National Secondary Schools Band - Annual Course, 3-8 August, 2006

Alexandra Kerwin provides a detailed account, complete with photographs, of the 5 days of fun!

What was I thinking? That's what was going around my head during the nine hour drive to Wellington from Auckland. Why on earth would anyone want to manage 63 teenagers at a remote camp in Upper Hutt? How will I and my co-manager Evan Sayer cope? What if they all hate me and think I'm the camp witch?

As the airport shuttle taxis began to pull up, I was even more worried. One by one, these bored looking teenagers unloaded their bags and what was worse is that they were all taller than me.

The Auditions

The first task was to sort out the sleeping arrangements for the band members. The bunk accommodation was pretty sparse but there weren't many complaints. Then it was audition time. We'd experimented this year with not auditioning applicants before the course and therefore accepting all applications. This proved to have its good points and also its fair share of downfalls. The positives were that we could take in players that might not have necessarily had the chance to join the band and to give great inspiration and benefit to all the youngsters. The downside was that we didn't really know what to expect standard wise and of course we couldn't mail out any music prior to the course.

So, the next obligation was the seating auditions. For this process we utilized our tutors on the course, who were, Julia Moseley, Anthony Smith, Gil Evans, Grant Sinclair, Blair Sinclair, Kevin Moseley, Graham Hickman, Mark Oldershaw and Brent Stewart.

Stampede!

Then the hungry mob ate dinner. I've never seen such a stampede apart from the wildlife programs on TV! The first band practice and the seating placements were next. Most players seemed satisfied with their positions and it was testament to Thomas Eves character and talent that he took the prestigious principal cornet seat for the third year running. This was to be Thomas's final course as he will be leaving school shortly. What was also a delight was Laura Settle who is only twelve years old, claiming the principal soprano chair. She is an awesome talent with a very promising future ahead of her.

Laura Settle on Soprano

Simon, my husband, was the musical director of the course for the second year running. Without being too biased, Simon really has a rapport with the youngsters and soon had them laughing hard and playing well. He never gets grumpy but he soon let's you know his displeasure by a disapproving raise of his eyebrow. (Even I've been on the receiving end of that look!).

The Wardrobe

As part of the course, each band member received an embroidered polo shirt and polar fleece jacket, which this year proved to be invaluable due to the awful weather in the Hutt Valley.

Shy tuba players....not!

It was interesting to observe the band members interact. On the whole they were pretty shy on arrival (apart from the tuba team. What is it with tuba players? They seem to have no fear/intelligence….no sorry. I mean/no coyness etc. What you see is what you get.)  Anyway, I'm digressing. After just one day, some of these young ones (no matter what term you use, it always sounds patronizing. I hate calling them kids because they're not) had made life-long friendships. Now that is what banding is supposed to be about. Not the never-ending politics, finger pointing and general misery that are finding their way into bandrooms these days. Two girls, Penny Hooson and Abbie Bunting were a fine example (although far too giggly if you ask me!!). Never met each other before the course, but were inseparable by the end of it.

The Tuba Section

The Repertoire

The first few days of the course were taken up with rehearsals and sectionals. The programme this year, reflected that we didn't quite know what the standard was going to be, so there was a mixed bag of music. We included, Elsa's Procession to the Minster arr. Himes, Cartoon Music arr. Peter Graham, Simon Kerwin's lovely arrangement of Ashokan Farewell which featured Patricia Robertson-Bickers on flugel. Also played were African Roots again arranged by Simon which utilized all the band singing. Fair play to them they did a great job. Lisa Crawley, solo horn,  from Wanganui performed Demelza and principal cornet Thomas Eves played Goff Richards, Chablis. One piece that was challenging for them all was Andrew Duncan's arrangement of Fawkes the Phoenix.

The first concert was at the Upper Hutt Cosmopolitan Club, where a full audience was delighted with the bands playing. I must admit that when the band played Philip Wilby's moving arrangement of Abide with Me, it brought a tear to my eye. To see these young people playing with such emotion was pure joy to me and showed both myself and Evan what a privilege it is to work with the future stars of NZ banding.

The final concert was at Viard College in Porirua, where let's say the young audience were very enthusiastic (or unruly you could also say, sshhh!). Again the band performed superbly.

Special Guest

On the penultimate day, the band was treated to a masterclass from Brett Baker. Brett kept the band enthralled for an hour and a half, where he discussed breathing, quiet playing, stage etiquette, lip trills and even multi-phonics. One girl (a trombone player) reduced Brett and the band to hysterics when Brett asked ‘What's the time difference between the conductor's baton going down and the band playing a note?' There was a long pause, then the young lady said….'Erm, ten seconds?!' Brett gave Simon an odd look then he carried on. Simon looked bemused.

Oh no!!.....Karaoke!!

As a special treat on the Monday evening, Evan the co-manager hired a professional karaoke machine and organized music vouchers as prizes. The band members took it all very seriously and put a lot of practice in. However, when it came to the competition, no-one wanted to be first. There was a long wait, then my four year old son Aaron, piped up, ‘I'll sing. Yes, I'll go up.' Well this dumbfounded me. ‘What are you going to sing?' Simon asked. ‘I'm going to sing, ‘Queen's' ‘Another one bites the dust!' he replied. Well there my little lad was singing karaoke in front of all these scary looking teenagers. I thought my heart would burst with pride. He was sensational! He even performed air guitar! When he came off stage, he ‘high-fived' all the band members and then announced at the top of his voice that he rocked! Where on earth did all that come from? My daughter Cecelia also got up and gave a cracking rendition of Madonna's ‘Music' complete with funky dance moves. I would have never done anything like that when I was their age (well let's face it, I wouldn't do it now).

Happy Birthday Simon

This of course spurred everyone else to have a go. One group of players got up and dedicated a song to Simon, as it was his birthday. They changed a lot of the words of the song to ‘jam butty' as they thought the way Simon said it was hilarious. They became the buzzwords of the course. There were some ok singers, there were some excellent singers and there were some, erm, other singers (Simon and myself fall into that latter category when we butchered Tom Jones, ‘Delilah').  Then the band members surprised Simon with an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday and lots of presents, jam butties and birthday cake.

The following morning, Simon had organized a conducting class. We both feel very strongly that in order for New Zealand's band movement to progress and grow we must start to harness young conducting talent. I know this probably seems odd as we're both imports from overseas but we are very much keen to stay in New Zealand and see the brass bands move forward. There were a very healthy number of volunteers to conduct a small brass group and receive tips and feedback from both Simon and the band.

Player of the Course

After a small coffee break we had a feedback forum where we asked the youngsters how we could improve the course and for other suggestions that were extremely beneficial for us as we can now make next years course even better. Simon then awarded the player of the course trophy to Thomas Eves, who was truly outstanding.

Lisa Crawley and Thomas Eves

So, as the cars and buses arrived to take the campers away back to their nice warm homes, there were many tears shed and mobile numbers exchanged. I definitely got the warm and fuzzies.

Thank you

I would like to thank a few people who made the course a) happen and b) be extremely successful.

• Brent Garrett (Porirua), who stepped in at the last moment to play bass trombone when he normally is tenor.
• Cohan Chapman (Auckland). Cohan has only been playing for eight months but he played very well and was a real asset. He was always polite and was constantly offered his assistance.
• Sophie Wilson (Hamilton), Georgina Brown (Upper Hutt), Lisa Crawley (Wanganui), Mathias Dale (Timaru) and Daniel Maxwell (Invercargill) for their attitude, playing, friendship and assistance throughout the course.
• I would also like to thank so highly, Evan Sayer. He was a joy to work with and between us we completed all the tasks. Thanks Evan.
• Last and most definitely not least is Simon. Simon has a gift of being able to communicate to all people from different walks of life and at varying ages. The band seemed to adore Simon and responded to him so well. He has a rapport with youngsters and to conduct 63 people for many hours at a time without losing his cool and getting the band to perform to a wonderful level is really an extraordinary feat. Well-done Simon, on behalf of the management and the band.

Alexandra Kerwin
2006