Drum Corps Report July 1st 2011

This written report encompasses March, April, May and June, as only verbal reports have been tabled this year.

PREMIERS FLOOD RELEIF CONCERT

In March; 7 members from the Band as the Drum corps attended a flood relief concert in Wynnum and helped raise approx $880 for the premiers flood relief appeal. They performed a drum display which involved playing while walking through the audience and then straight into St Louis Blues, with the QSB(Queensland Show Band). Then they made their exit to Cadet Brigade and came back to the stage for the finale of I am Australian with the QSB, Pipe Band, and dancers. Thanks go to the drummers who also ran raffle ticket stands, helped on the door and other necessary tasks to help raise money for the appeal. All performers offered their time for free at this event, and thanks to the members of the Band who gave their time for free to raise money for this cause.

CHINCHILLA WATERMELON FESTIVAL

In March; 8 members from the Band as the Drum corps attended the Chinchilla watermelon festival with the QSHBA (Queensland Services Heritage Band Association). The festival is a bi annual event, held in February which was postponed this year due to the floods. The town was extensively flooded and most of the community groups where involved in flood clean up. The mayor organised funds for travel from the state government to bring in groups from outside the town to be able to hold their festival and boost the morale of the town. The QSHBA arranged a 52 seater bus and organised 3 bands to combine and attend the festival; QSHBA, GCCBB drum corps, Wynnum Pipes, and the accommodation was organised by the festival organisers, (the usual sleeping bags on the floor of a hall). The trip away involved a street march through the town and a concert at the RSL to play for our lunch. The drummers had to learn two new songs to attend, Sussex by the sea, and Soldiers of the Queen. Tom represented the drummers in the concert playing I am Australian and Scotland the Brave with the pipe band. All performers offered their time for free at this event,and thanks again to the members of the band for attending. Band members received thanks and gratitude from the townspeople for coming out and raising morale in their town.

ANZAC DAY
The Dawn service at 4am in Southport had 9 members to lead the parade to the memorial for the service. Then we peeled out and went straight to Surfers to lead the parade at 5am. At the 8am parade we had 11 drummers, including Angelo and Liam on Bass drum for the first time. Angie also played Bass drum for the Southport parade, which is the first time we have had 3 bass drummers on a march; well done to all. The songs for this year were 1914 and 1939. The members worked hard to learn these two songs, for weeks prior to the marches, and should all be congratulated for their hard work. Thank you to the GCCBB Inc committee for organising a bus and paying for lunch at Surfers RSL afterwards.

EMU GULLY

In May the QSHBA invited the Drum corps to attend a land and air spectacular at Emu Gully. The weekend away involved 9 marches over two days and involved the ceremony of sunset with vollies, where 7 drummers played during the National Anthems. The marches here were a challenge and involved Cadet Brigade, Our Director, 1939, Susses by the Sea, Soldiers of the Queen, and Sunshine State thrown in at the last minute. Well done to Kathleen who handled the job of Solo Bass Drum and did it very well. The snare drummers performed exceptionally, leading the QSHBA band, and what a job to remember 5 songs on a parade. Well done to all. The drummers were involved in a concert with the QSB and performed a drum display and St Louis Blues, followed by 1914 and 1939, then finishing with the finale of I am Australian. This performance was a previous act to the Andrew Sisters, which we all watched and enjoyed immensely. The committee paid for a mini bus at a cost of $297, and QSHBA organised dormitory accommodation and food for the entire weekend, at no cost to band members, all on site at Emu Gully. (This accommodation and food would normally be charged to the groups staying at the site and was a substantial saving to the members). After the event the organizers were so impressed with the level of performance on the march and at the concert, that Paul was able to organise an extra $300 fee for the combined group of which $150 will go to the GCCBB Drum corps upon receipt of the money from Emu Gully.

BEENLEIGH CANE FESTIVAL

The drummers had 12 on parade at Beenleigh Cane. Due to the traffic difficulties Kathleen was late so I moved from tenor horn to bass drum to make a dynamic duo of it with Liam. We performed Army of the Nile and Our Director. The Drum corps learnt Army of the Nile in one session and it was a challenge, I thank them for their efforts. The day went extremely well and I was proud of all the drummers especially during the Our Director solo. I managed to drop a bass drum mallet on the first roundabout, right in front of all the audience, but to my surprise within two steps someone was tapping me on the shoulder and I had it back. I found out later that Lisa on trombone (from QSHBA) bent down and swooped it up, then caught up to me and gave it back without even missing a step.

WONDAI

This weekend 8 members are off to Wondai to play at the Reserve Forces Day March. This is the 4th year in a row we have attended this event and I am honoured to be asked back time and time again. Wondai has a history for the Reserve Forces of hosting all three services for training during the Second World War and people come from all around the state to attend this service. This year the GCCBB Drum Corps has the honour of being asked to perform “Beating the Retreat” in conjunction with the QSHBA. A ceremony that has only be performed a dozen times in the past 11 years in this country. Permission from the Navy had to be obtained and footage of the drum corps (channel 7 news) from prior years allowed the organisers to gain this permission. We have been practising for months to get this right and have had to learn 5 new songs to perform this ceremony. They are Heart of Oak, Waltzing Matilda Trilogy, Botany Bay (slow march), Botany Bay (quick time) and Life on the Ocean Wave. Thanks must go to Paul who volunteered his time on at least 5 Saturdays to teach the Drum Corps how to slow march, how to do a Gate Counter, and how to perform a “pick up the band” on the fly.

Without Paul’s involvement I could not prepare the drummers of the GCCBB to the competent level that they now have attained. I look forward to the weekend and I am honoured to have taken part in teaching these wonderful people the art of playing drums.

ITEMS REQUESTED

I would like to request the following items:

Mallets pack:
Price is $160 cheque payable to Australian Percussion (Timpani, cymbals, hard glockenspiel, concert snare sticks). At present I am using my own personnel mallets for the concert percussion group. It would be beneficial for the band to own mallets for those times when I am not here, and I would request that they stay in the bandshell after rehearsal, and then be issued to a player to be used for performances.

Drum skin:
Required for maintenance of a pearl snare drum. The price is $40 cheque payable to Australian Percussion.

Stands
Request to purchase 5 stands at $50 each, cheque payable to Australian Percussion.

Robyn Devitt

(Drum Corps Director)

Gold Coast City Brass Band - Musical Director's Report - June 2011

June has been an interesting time for the band with the adoption of the new constitution at the Special Meeting of the band. The band is now a democracy of the actual current playing members and the proxy votes from people who have not had any part in the band for over a decade have disappeared for ever. I thank the committee, and especially Jenny and Howard, for the work involved in the adoption and that they managed to do it all with minimal disruption to the rehearsal schedule.

I welcome our new members: Aaron Wang on Solo Cornet; Barry Martin on Timpani & Alan White who has rejoined after an absence of 10 years, firstly on Bass Trombone but he has seen the light and moved to Tuba. I know that George (percussion) is studying hard for year 12 and I hope you continue with us when your studies permit. I also welcome back Ted & Jenny Charles to 2nd Cornet. Your experience is very important to me and the band was not the same without you. It was wonderful to have Peter Pageant on Soprano Cornet and you are welcome back at any time. Sandy has once again gone travelling and I miss you already. Have a great and safe trip and I look forward to your return.

I am very pleased that Patrick Stapleton has accepted the position of Deputy Conductor of the Senior Band. The "man" can play a mean trombone and his musicality will be of benefit to us all. I intend that Patrick starts each rehearsal with a reflective piece and that he takes at least one major work in each Concert. Please give Patrick your utmost attention and respect as he stands before you.

Congratulations must go to Tom Nicol who achieved 99% in his Music Theory exam. Congratulations and good luck to Alan White who will be travelling to N.Z. to compete on tuba in the National Championships there.
The band is working towards the Gold Coast Eisteddfod with remarkable improvement in the lower cornets and the horns. With pieces such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" there is nowhere to hide and the 3rd cornet or 2nd tenor horn is as necessary as any of the the solo parts. Well done all of you, we just have to nail the finish and it will be great. With all three groups; Brass Band, Drum Corps & Development Band, competing in their own sections, The Gold Coast City Brass band is well represented.

The senior Brass Band percussion section has grown to six and it never ceases to amaze me that your percussion cacophony makes such a fantastic difference to the overall band sound. We still need a permanent Soprano Cornet, 3rd & 4th Trombones and a Solo Horn but overall the instrumentation is complete.

I thank all the players for the sight reading of the "Musicals" for the Banana Festival gig and be assured it will get worse as the gig gets closer. I believe we will be the only band that really gets into the "Musicals" theme. Even on the Parade we will be marching to Oliver and Hello Dolly.

In closing, we approach a significant and exiting time for our band. We have grown from 10 players at the start of the year to a list of nearly 40 Brass and Percussion. We intend to continue the growth with other ensembles, possibly on Tuesday evenings and a Beginner Brass Band to supplement the Beginner Drum Course on Saturday Mornings. If you are interested or able to help. please contact me or Robyn and we both will appreciate it.

Yours in Banding, Henk Dogger

New sign proposed for band shell

A new sign has been proposed to help promote the band to users of the light rail.

The design of the sign features full color photos of band members and the catch phrase:
community performers since 1904