Bring on the community bands

Bring on the community bands!



So, where was I? Oh yes, the uni years.

I left high school after doing year 12 twice and the first year of it, getting to participate in the school musical (another blog entry). It only took about 2 months for me to really start to miss playing. I hadn't had lessons in almost 2 years and so I had no repertoire to practice and I was really worried that I was going to lose my fledgling skills on the instrument.

Then one day, my mum told me that there was a community concert band that had advertised for players in my council area in the local Messenger and so I went along on a Wed night. I didn't know what I expected after high school but it wasn't this. This was a band with only 2 people younger than me and mostly older men. I was introduced to the band secretary (who later became a very close friend and father figure, may he rest in peace) who immediately heard that I had played until year 12 and shoved me on 1st clarinet. This music wasn't like high school though. Very old school band music that looked like it had been in their library for centuries. I began my journey through community banding with pieces such as Hootenanny (which, if anyone has heard it, has a quite amusing clarinet 'chicken reel' up in the altissimo register for 1st clarinets, a bit that at first eluded me, technically). We opened EVERY concert (gulp!) with the Sousa march, The Thunderer, and played horrible marches like Mountbatten March (which partially caused my dear friend M to leave the band in a huff...) and old school tunes such as Keep Smiling Through.....

I have both fond and shudder-worthy memories of the old Hal Leonard arrangement of The Wizard Of Oz, the annoying chromatic dixieland piece Jazzamatazz (which sadly had a piccolo solo), My Heart Will Go On (and on and on and on....) and Bands Around The World (complete with narration and the clarinets acting like bagpipes).

I, however, don't have fond memories of the guy I sat next to. He smelled really bad and caused a lot of people to leave, unfortunately. I remember the bari sax player saying "DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! I'M DOWN WIND!" So funny! :) But he helped me a lot. He could play everything technically very well and I felt a lot more confident with him there. But as I got better, it became frustrating that I was almost overtaking him in ability and yet I would never be able to play any of the solos and be able to hold my own. He was there EVERY week, no fail, and so I never really got a chance to play on my own. And the conductor was getting on my goat. He was a lovely man who stepped in when noone else would do the job and so every credit to him. But he was getting old and didn't like change. So my good friend Andrew finally won the job of conducting this band and the band hasn't looked back since.

During this time, I answered another advertisement that my nan found in the Australian about a community ensemble converting from brass band to concert band and looking for wind players. I wasn't entirely happy with just playing alongside Mr Stinky Pants and I wanted another musical outlet. So I went along there. This was one of the best things I ever did for several reasons:

1. I met someone I dated for several years without whom I wouldn't have EVER auditioned for the conservatorium

2. I met one of my closest friends in the world

3. I gained so much confidence about solo playing

Even though I later left this band because of stylistic reasons, uni commitments and also because I improved too fast for the band (it remained a beginner-like band, whilst I improved dramatically), I have fond memories of rehearsals above the bar downstairs, spending many a Thursday night gasbagging until the early hours of the morning, the social times,

I remember some of the terrible gigs we did - the Norwood Food and Wine Festival was a particular highlight. I remember playing the original theme from Neighbours at my first ever performance with this band and a couple of coppers standing by the side of the marquee cacking their pants. It was hilarious. Not at all humiliating... But we also had some great social events such as the annual bbq at the MD's house, the 'Eisteddfod' where our MD played Advance Australia Fair on 12 different instruments and where Matt, Mo and I did a great whistling trio to Mozart's Rondo A La Turk. A fun event that should be mandatory for all bands, esp on band camp.

The AMEB years to come....

Squeak squeak squeak

Welcome to my second blog. Unlike Down With Pants: The Next Generation, this one is serious.


I know what you're thinking, those of you who are readers of Down With Pants....Nix? Be serious?! What a cack!!


But this is my new music blog, dedicated to all things clarinet-y and saxophone-y. And more than anything, it is a tribute to Benny and Stan, my babies.

So how about we meet my babies then....

This is Benny....well, sort of.

And this is Stan....sort of....

Who needs children when you can have Stan??? So shiny.....

They are pretty much my life. I am a single girl, no kids, no ties, with metal and wooden wind instruments as children.

And I am a self confessed band nerd. Gasp!

I didn't have much hope, really. My mum's side of the family are all band geeks. And brass band geeks at that, so I really copped it with the genes. But I have made some of the best friends in the world through banding. So I don't care about being a nerd.

So, a bit about me....

THE EARLY YEARS

I began playing the clarinet at the age of twelve, very late considering that I was bugging my parents about clarinet lessons when I was seven. This older bloke (who I have a sneaking suspicion ended up being my first teacher in high school - they looked very similar) used to come into my dad's music store when I was really little. He played in a jazz band that used to play in the arcade where the store was. He used to carry his clarinet under his arm, not in its case, and peruse all the records. I was fascinated by him. Dad played me the Mozart Clarinet Concerto not long after that and I was hooked. Dad actually asked this bloke how much he charged to teach clarinet to me but sadly, it was too much and my parents couldn't afford lessons until I hit high school and the lessons were free.

I picked up clarinet really quickly. It wasn't long before I was in the training band at school and 1st clarinet, no less. I had a fabulous classroom music teacher (who, as coincidences would have it, became one of my closest friends, married the conductor of one of the bands I played in AND became my boss). She inspired me in so many ways. She was so enthused about music and I loved going to my music lessons. I remember every band rehearsal as she made every one of them so memorable. I remember sitting on first clarinet after only a few weeks and freaking out about the fact that it was 'so high' (when really, looking back at it, it was only F (fifth line) and G (just above the stave). LOL. I have so many fond memories of playing band music such as Tequila (played at just about every band rehearsal because we loved it so much) and When The Going Gets Tough and Fantasia Espanol. My teacher was so encouraging and made everything so much fun that I persevered with the hard things - in fact, it inspired me to practice. I have since then told her about how much she helped me but that'll be a new blog entry later.

However, my clarinet teacher was a different story. He didn't seem to like children very much, ironically, and I didn't feel like I was getting much out of my lessons. I played out of some horrible repetitive method book for 2 years until I finally cracked it and asked for something different. I was lucky however, to have a good work ethic and a natural ability for the instrument. I had a pretty good ear and practiced quite hard. As a result, I ended up being quite competent at the instrument.

Part two, the UNI YEARS is coming up.

Nix

Over and out.