2007 South Australian Band Championships - Post-party report

Sarah Mears reports for 4BRDU on the 150th birthday celebrations of the Tanunda Town Band.

After a good trip over to Adelaide, we headed up to Tanunda to join in the celebrations of the 150th Barossa Band Festival. Tanunda is situated in the Barossa, about an easy hour’s drive from Adelaide. The actual Tanunda Band competition was started in 1910, and has become legendary, with participants enjoying the event. Tanunda Band itself was started in 1857, becoming an A Grade band in 1927.

The Welcome

The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a welcome reception at the Tanunda Show hall for all participating bands. A number of bands hadn’t arrived in Tanunda yet, so it was a smaller crowd, but we were well looked after, with plenty of food! Not sure what happened to the Carnival – we never saw a sign of it! It did rain heavily a couple of times – maybe that had something to do with it.

Some of us then relocated to the Tanunda Pub for a very good meal and a few drinks. An invitation was extended to visit the Tanunda Band Hall, so we went and experienced the hospitality of the band’s bar! What a great set up – many bands would be jealous in seeing what the band has done for their bar area, and thank you to the Tanunda players who made us very welcome.

The Contest

The next day saw the serious part of the weekend – the competition was held in two venues. The A and B Grades were held in the Show Hall and the C, D and Junior Bands were held in the Langmeil Centre, which was a 5mins walk from the Show Hall.

I listened to the A and B Grades in the Show Hall and thoroughly enjoyed it. For those who have never been, the Show Hall is a very large tin shed, with shell grit on the floor! It actually seems to be quite a good venue – I actually enjoyed  I must admit it would have been in an experience to hear a band such as Brisbane Excelsior play in such a place – I actually enjoyed the acoustics.

The Tanunda Show Hall

Good to see a number of interstate bands making the journey – Box Hill Band and Hawthorn from VIC, and Brisbane Brass from QLD.

From a spectator’s point of view, the programme ran well. Everything ran to time. There was even a canteen to buy lunch, hot drinks etc which was great. Mental note – bring a cushion next time!

The March

Once the stage performances were finished, everyone headed down to the main street to get ready for the march. This competition was run differently from most, with the marching done after the stage performance. In essence, I felt that this was a great idea, as it allowed time for the results to be collated and meant that the bands had done their main performances - but in practise, it didn’t quite work that way….but more on that later!

There was a pipe band contest also run during the day, so the brass bands had to wait till the pipe bands were finished before their march commenced. But the sun was out and there were heaps of people lining the streets, enjoying the day.  The bands marched from the Rotunda to the Tanunda Pub. Two bands did diagrams – Box Hill and Brisbane Brass – with the rest of the bands doing a straight march. Hawthorn had the interesting additions of a guy playing an electric guitar and his mate holding a small amp marching behind them – not sure if they were welcomed or not!

Another feature of the march were the introductions of ‘Tanunda Legends' to the crowd. The Legends were important people who have made the Tanunda Brass Band the band it is today.

The Pub...umm.....Results

Once the march was completed, the crowd collected outside the Tanunda Pub and this is where the organisation fell apart a bit. The results took ages to be collated, and it was getting darker and darker (and colder!) by the minute. Rumours were spreading about a problem or issues with results, but I didn’t hear any confirmation of this.  Tanunda Band was to do a re-enactment performance, so eventually started to set up despite them hardly being able to see their music!

The adjudicators spoke about their results, and other officials did their best to entertain the crowd but unfortunately, most were more interested in going inside for a drink, food and to get warm!

Finally, the results were announced (around 40 mins or so later then planned).  Congratulations to all the winning bands!

Once results were completed, the poor players of Tanunda played for about half an hour in almost total dark, followed by the Red Backs (a concert band).  By this stage most people had headed into the pub to get dinner and warm up!

Torches needed for the announcement of the results

One entertaining part of the evening for me had nothing to do with brass bands – later in the evening a group of players from the various pipe bands got together outside the pub and played a few tunes before marching off into the night! Shame the brass band players didn’t do the same!

Overall, the competition was enjoyable to attend, however there seemed to be a bit of disorganisation in some parts. Trying to find out times was a little difficult but we eventually sorted it out. But in so saying, we all received a very warm welcome and would definitely go again. I believe there was a good breakfast at the Tanunda Bandroom on Sunday morning although we didn’t make it there!

Sarah Mears