The Nelson Vivace Youth Brass made its first National Championship appearance at the New Zealand Championships, held in Dunedin recently.

Pre-contest Tour

Nationals week basically took the form of a tour of the South Island main centres. After leaving Nelson on the Tuesday, the band arrived in Christchurch mid afternoon before joining Canterbury Leopard Coachlines Brass for a concert that evening. The band certainly enjoyed the concert, with the bass trombone of Canterbury certainly providing a lot of inspiration to the Nelson bass trombonist Katherine Carpenter, who could be heard the next day practising her loud playing.

The next day, the four solo competition entrants (Jarrah Dowrick, Madeleine Burton, Danielle McQuin and Fenella Deans) headed off at the crack of dawn to Dunedin for the solos contests, while the rest of the band headed to Burnham army base for a workshop with the NZ Army Band musicians and their conductor Dwayne Bloomfield. The band had a great time at this session and learned a lot about tuning and balance.

Soloist Success

On arrival to Dunedin the band were greeted with the great news that the four soloists had all gained single digit finishes in their solos, a big achievement in their first National solo contests.

Thursday saw the band let loose in Dunedin with the instructions to see at least one soloist in the Open solo. It was pleasing to see so many of the band ambling around the venue talking about the various solos they heard. The band also turned out en masse to see Mike Ford gain his umpteenth tenor horn title with a cracking performance of the Tenor Horn Test Piece, Ronald Hamner’s “Cavatina and Allegro”.

Percussionists Treat

After an afternoon at Moana Pool, the percussion section were pleased to have a session with professional percussionist Grant Myhill, who passed on a whole heap of knowledge before electing to stay on and join in the bands rehearsal that evening.

Jealous

On Friday it was time to take the band out to the public with two performances at the Museum of Otago, the second time with a new addition to the euphonium baritone section, slow melody champion, euphonium champion, and champion of champions Riki McDonnell. Jack Robinson, principal Euph of Vivace Brass, said of sitting next to Riki: 'He was so good, it made me real jealous!' Riki later said to the Nelson Mail: ‘I just want to bundle them up and show them around the country!’

Contest Day

Finally, the band reached Saturday in high spirits, thoroughly ready for their performance on the contest stage in the D Grade and Youth Grade. They gave a great account of themselves with their playing of ‘Jupiter,’ ’The Liberty Bell’ and Paul Lovatt Cooper’s ‘Dream Catchers’ and got a rousing reception from the audience. David Gallaher, in his adjudication, called the Youth Band's performance of Dream Catchers ‘One of the highlights of the contest.’

Massive Achievement

I was extremely proud of the band this week, not only did they perform exceptionally well but their behaviour throughout the tour was brilliant, Nelson was represented extremely well.Nick Sharpe, Nelson Brass Academy Director

Nick Sharpe, Nelson Brass Academy Director said “I was extremely proud of the band this week, not only did they perform exceptionally well but their behaviour throughout the tour was brilliant, Nelson was represented extremely well. They should be proud of themselves, to be placed where they were in the contests is no mean feat for saying the vast majority of the band have been playing for four years or less. They probably don't realise it but it’s a massive achievement for these players. I’d also like to thank David Gallaher and Allan Brown (conductor of D Grade Champions Roxburgh) for their kind words during the results ceremony, it definitely meant a lot to the band and I.”

New Connections

Earlier in the year, the Nelson Brass Academy were also very busy with appearances by Nelson Vivace Youth Brass and also Nelson Vivace Junior Brass at the West Coast Regional Contest in May, where both bands gained a lot of new friends in the West Coast banding community.

Masterclasses

The Academy also enjoyed masterclasses by Steve Miles (St Kilda), David Bremner (NZSO), and Brian Chin (Seattle Symphony), learning a lot about breathing, embouchure strength, and practise routines.