2006 NSW State Brass Band Championships

26-27 August, Penrith

This weekend sees 26 brass bands line up for this years state titles. Few would argue with the magnificent choice of venue. The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith should be great in terms of acoustic, comfort and organisational logistics.

Saturday 26 August

Opening proceedings at 9.30am is the Open C Grade Brass.  Maitland City has withdrawn, leaving 5 bands in this section.  Langford's Sinfonietta as the test piece should provide enough to sort the field.  Favourites in this event would have to be Toronto Brass conducted by Tim O'Hearn, though The Royal Hifofua Tongan Brass (Frederick Deroy Vi) could pose a definite threat.  Fresh from their D Grade National Championship win, Yagoona District (Norman Short), from all reports, is also travelling well in its preparations.  Bankstown City (Dennis Williams) and Blacktown City (Bill Belcher OAM) are consistent performers in this grade and should not be dismissed.  This may be one of the more difficult grades to sort.  Unfortunately, there have been some issues for some of the bands in the lead up concerning the supply of music, however, spirits have not been dampened as a consequence. 

Open C Brass 4BRDU Prediction:
1. Toronto Brass
2. Royal Hifofua Tongan Brass
3. Yagoona District

The Junior B Grade Brass has only one competitor – St Mary's Band Club conducted by Bob Pearce.  The lack of competition certainly won't deter the enthusiasm of this young group.

The high profile Open A Grade Brass, commencing at approximately 3.30pm, is the final section for the day.  Bands have certainly been kept busy in terms of rehearsals with Harrison's Dream (Graham) as the test.  This piece was commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes for the prestigious Millenium National Championships of Great Britain.  It takes its inspiration from a naval disaster of 1707 and the ceaseless work of the clockmaker John Harrison to produce a timepiece that could be used to measure Longitude, and thus enable ships to navigate safely.

The composer relates the story: "At 8.00pm on the 22nd of October 1707, the Association, flagship of the Royal Navy, struck rocks off the Sicily Isles with the loss of the entire crew. Throughout the rest of the evening the remaining three ships in the fleet suffered the same fate. Only 26 of the original 1647 crew members survived. The disaster was a direct result of an inability to calculate longitude, the most pressing scientific problem of the time. It pushed the longitude question to the forefront of the national consciousness and precipitated the Longitude Act. Parliament funded a prize of £20,000 to anyone whose method or device would solve the dilemma.

For carpenter and self taught clockmaker John Harrison, this was the beginning of a 40 year obsession. To calculate longitude it is necessary to know the time aboard ship and at the home port or place of known longitude, at precisely the same moment. Harrison's dream was to build a clock so accurate that this calculation could be made - an audacious feat of engineering.

This work reflects on aspects of this epic tale, brilliantly brought to life in Dava Sobel's book Longitude. Much of the music is mechanistic in tone and constructed along precise mathematical and metrical lines. The heart of the work however is human - the attraction of the £20,000 prize is often cited as Harrison's motivation.

However, the realisation that countless lives depended on a solution was one that haunted Harrison. The emotional core of the music reflects on this and in particular the evening of the 22nd October 1707."

St Mary's Band Club Brass Band has had its preparation time cut extremely short by its recent birthday celebrations.  Having said that, the nature of the test piece should suit the style of this band and its Musical Director, Ken Bradley.  The City of Holroyd Band (Mark Strykowski) are expected to perform quite solidly. Willoughby City, with new MD Andrew Snell, has been attracting players and much positive feedback in recent months, and should be very interesting to listen to.  Even though they will hate being reminded, Waratah have had a couple of disappointing results in this competition in recent years.  They will be keen to regain the State A Grade title and should be firing this weekend under the leadership of Ron Prussing.  With Gunnedah not attending, the competition in the A Grade event is somewhat weakened.  Hopefully, this will not effect the overall standard of play.

Open A Brass 4BRDU Predictions:
1. Waratah
2. Willoughby
3. St Mary's

Sunday 27 August

At the time of 8.30am, the Junior A Grade Brass begins todays session.  City of Wollongong (Tara Grimm), Gunnedah Shire (Danny Alexander), and Willoughby City (Andrew Hulme) are the contenders – exactly the same line-up as the Nationals earlier this year.  A Celtic Suite by Sparke is the test piece which should prove to be enjoyable for both the players and the listeners.  Hopefully these young bands will have the audience support they deserve.

Junior A Brass 4BRDU Predictions:
1. Gunnedah
2. Willoughby
3. City of Wollongong

Open D Grade Brass commences at approximately 11am.  The line-up in this section is fantastic with eight bands entered.  The contest organizers are extremely happy to host these bands – some of whom are competing for the first time.  It is the first start for Nambucca District (Ian Flarrety) and the first time back in the competition arena in 10 years for Orange PCYC (Derek Moule).  This year, it would seem that Conrad Curry and his team Waratah Brass No. 2 would be considered the front runners, though there are several ‘dark horses'.  City of Holroyd (Mark Strykowski) and Armidale City (Dave Brown) are possible contenders, whilst Nowra Town (Ross Sadler), Liverpool City (Trenton Wright) and Brisbane Water Brass (Jonathan Gatt) may not be totally out of the picture.  The chances of a clear winner here is high – the lower order may be more difficult to sort.

Open D Brass 4BRDU Predictions:
1. Waratah Brass No. 2
2. City of Holroyd
3. Armidale City

Similar to the Junior B section, the Junior C Grade Brass has only one competitor – Warringah Youth with John Saunders as MD.  As National Junior C Grade Champions, they will be keen to show their progress since the Easter win.

Last section of the championship is the Open B Grade Brass.  With Le Roi D'ys (arr. Wright) as the test piece, the bands will be challenged.  Some viewed the test piece choice as ridiculous, others welcomed it.  Although written in 1959, Le Roi D'ys still rates as one of the classic all time great test pieces.  Superficially, the piece may appear playable, but to create a true performance of this work requires a great band – and definitely a great Euphonium soloist.  The overture embraces some of the original Opera's (Lalo) most notable musical moments and covers a wide range of emotions – love, sacrifice, energy and relief.  We will be listening intently.

Warringah Concert Brass (John Saunders) have got the recent runs on the board, but Sutherland Shire Brass (Warwick Tyrrell) should be set to give them a decent nudge.  City of Wollongong (Andy Yule) and Parramatta City (Jonathan Gatt) will battle it out for third we predict.

Open B Brass 4BRDU Predictions:
1. Warringah Concert Brass
2. Sutherland Shire Brass
3. City of Wollongong

4BRDU is looking forward to attending the championships this weekend and to experience what has become known as one of the best run contests in Australia.  The schedule, in the absence of any marching event or stage march, is concise and efficient.