West Coast New Zealand Band Camp - Report

This years West Coast Brass Band Camp was a big success with over 80 brass players taking part from areas such as Westport, Hokitika, Nelson, Picton, Blenheim, Motueka, Riwaka, and Takaka.

It all began when everyone arrived on the Friday night. After being given the rules in a very concise, direct way by camp managers Ray Moroney (Westport) and Ernie Scherff (Marlborough), rehearsals got under way with a massed blow through of the Junior Bands repertoire for the weekend, led by Nick Sharpe (conductor of the Intermediate band). Following this, the Intermediate band took off to their base for the weekend, the St Arnaud Community Hall, for another hour’s rehearsal of their repertoire.

The Saturday was the day where the majority of preparation for Sunday’s concert was to be done. After an early wake up call from several band campers (after quite a late night), rehearsals kicked off at nine am for both bands, carrying on for the whole day, including sectionals. Sectional tutors for the day included Graham Moseley, Gordon Lang, Jeff Mulraney (all Marlborough), Ross Hall (Motueka), Ben French, and Louise Moroney (Nelson). All participants worked very hard on the Saturday on their respective programmes, and it was with some relief that the evening’s entertainment was a couple of relaxing films.

After a somewhat muted wake up call on the Sunday, last minute rehearsals began at 9, with much debate about what repeats were in or not, who was going to announce pieces, and which pieces were to be included.

The end of camp concert began at 1 on the Sunday afternoon at the St Arnaud community hall. First to take the stage were the 44 strong Junior Band, playing, amongst others, ‘Mini March’,’ Old Dutch Tune’,  and Alan Prings ‘Choo Choo Boogie’ featuring a very dedicated Elliot Thomas on train whistle. Mike Ford (Junior Band Conductor) said of his experience with the Juniors, “It was a real pleasure to work with the Junior Band. The enthusiasm and motivation they showed made my job really easy. The progress that was made over the weekend was amazing…. From the raucous sounds on Friday Night to the music at the concert on Sunday was quite a leap! I think it would be fair to say that “Choo Choo Boogie” by Alan Pring was the hit number…it was “oh so hard, but really cool!”, as one young player put it. The weekend was a great success, very well organised and run. It is a credit to all those involved in making it happen.”
 

The Junior Band under the expert eye of Mike Ford

Next to take the floor were the Intermediate band.

The band had worked incredibly hard over the weekend, and this showed in their polished performances of Jock McKenzies’ ‘Curtain Up’, Cameron Mabon’s arrangement of ‘Let Me Entertain You’ and, featuring antiphonal off stage cornets, the ‘Theme from Rocky.’ It was interesting to note the audiences surprise when the offstage cornets entered in this last piece. The bands main work for the weekend was Philip Sparke’s arrangement of music from the Disney Pixar film ‘The Incredibles’, the piece featured lots of techniques not experienced before, as well as a lot of notes! Special mention has to go to Fresca Dashfield for a cracking rep solo.  However, the band carried the performance off in an admirable manner, before rounding off the concert with a romp through ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ Other pieces in the Intermediate band’s programme included ‘Aladdin’ and the theme from ‘The Third Man.’

Nick Sharpe, conductor of the band, said, “Once more, it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with this group of people. The way they get down to work in rehearsals is just amazing, I only have to mention something once and they do it straight away! I have to mention a couple of players, Jeanette Thorneycroft who did so well on solo cornet, and Georgia Scherff on the front row for her hard work.”
 

The Intermediate Band

Once more, the top of the South is proving to be a growing stronghold for Brass in New Zealand.

Thanks for the weekend have to go to the following organisations for making the project possible - Pub Charities, Creative Communities Tasman Scheme, Wakefield Lodge, Waimea Lodge, Nelson Havens Lionesses, Talleys, and Staig and Smith.

Nick Sharpe