News

13 Nov 2004

Spectacular Brass Concert

There was a Spectacular Brass concert on Saturday 13th November 2004 at Sydney Congress Hall, that featured two champion bands: Waratah Brass and Warringah Concert Brass plus International cornet player, Carl Saunders.
The concert was a great success! The bands presented excellent individual concerts in the first half, but the tour de force was the massed bands segment in the second half. It was a real sight to behold, with 8 basses spread across the back of the stage, and over 50 expert musicians playing magnificently under the alternating batons of John Saunders and Ron Prussing. The finale, from Respigi's The Pines of Rome, was hair-raising in its growth from murky, growling chords to the deafening sounds of thousands of Roman infantry marching through the hall.

11 Sep 2004

A reasonable 3rd place in NSW State Champs

Today we contested in the 2004 NSW State Championships. The other bands in B-grade were Gunnedah, Sutherland Shire and Hall Village (Canberra). These are all excellent bands with excellent players.
We came 3rd, behind Gunnedah (1st) and Sutherland (2nd). The Pommie adjudicator was very pleased with the performances he heard in B-grade. He was expecting (UK) Second Division quality sound, but confessed ALL the bands were better than this. He liked our balance, intonation and overall band sound very much.

1. Hymn Crimond (Goff Richards)
2. Test Voyage of Discovery (Goff Richards)
3. Own Choice Salute to Youth (Gilbert Vintner)

Congratulations to the Gunnedah band for their 2nd in a row NSW Championship. I wonder if they will graduate to A-grade? Congratulations to our good friends in Sutherland. Congratulations to John Saunders our long-suffering hard-working Musical Director, and all in Warringah.

Phil Anderton September 2004.

4 Sep 2004

NSW State Brass Band Championships

On September 11th, 2004, we will contest the NSW B-grade Brass band Championships. There are some fine Bands in the contest, including Gunnedah Shire (current champs) and Sutherland Shire.
The test piece will be Goff Richard's "Voyage of Discovery". It has been a real voyage, discovering just how difficult and devilish this piece really is. It has some of the toughest material in the repertoire, including nasty semiquaver unison runs for all in the opening passages, a real tuba quartet, a number of high C's, including one very exposed for the soprano cornet, and an interesting mix of modes and styles throughout the piece. We think it is not his best piece of music, but it is certainly one of his most challenging works.
Stay "tuned" to hear how we go. We intend to play Goff's "Crimond" arrangement for our hymn, and Gilbert Vintner's "Salute to Youth" for our own choice. Both are demanding works. But we have also been working hard to conquer all these works.

28 Jun 2004

Ron Prussing Concert a Success

We are over the moon about our concert with trombone virtuoso, Ron Prussing. Held at Dee Why Salvation Army Hall on Saturday 19th June, it featured Ron as both soloist and guest conductor with the band. He took us through some of the more demanding brass band pieces from the Salvation Army repertoire, including Gregson's "Variations on Laudate Dominum", and Graham's "Shine As The Light".
Thanks are due to our MD, John Saunders, whose came up with the ideas and program for the concert, the Warringah Council, for their Cultural Community Grant which supported the Concert, and to Ron himself for lending his considerable talents to a joint venture with the band.

28 Jun 2004

Young Musicians Group with Ron Prussing

One of the features of our recent venture with Ron Prussing was a workshop specifically designed for young brass musicians. Assisted by a number of experienced musicians from Warringah Concert Brass, Ron led a group of players from School Bands in the Warringah area through two quite demanding brass pieces. Later that night they featured in the Concert (see image) where they played both pieces with a little help from a few older "kids" from the senior band.