Brisbane Excelsior victorious down-under

Australian-born Brenden Wheeler, Assistant Director of Music of the Band and Bugles of the Rifles, brings all the action from Down Under

Every Easter weekend, the Australian brass band community comes together for the country’s sole major event: the Yamaha National Brass Band Championships. South Australia was the host state, with the chosen destination the iconic town of Gawler. This picturesque setting 30 miles north of Adelaide is more famously known for its links with the Barossa Valley - home of Jacobs Creek and Wolf Blass, among other favourites. Nonetheless 36 bands descended on the area, each hoping to impress ex-New Zealand Army Bandmaster, Dwayne Bloomfield - the sole adjudicator for the event.

Consistency is a key ingredient for this contest - The Australian National is a three-day event and bands are judged on their performances across four different disciplines: set test, hymn, own-choice and stage march.

Good Friday saw the bands perform the set test, Jan Van der Roost’s epic Albion, followed by a hymn of their choice. The work, originally written for the 2001 National Final of Great Britain, stretched the unusually small field of
A Grade Bands at the contest. At the conclusion of day one, Brisbane Excelsior had positioned itself ahead by two points clear, with the rest of the field more closely placed.

A street march contest is held on the main road in Gawler on Easter Sunday, which, despite not always popular with players, is obligatory for all competing bands. Importantly, it has no bearing on the overall Championship results, but does create a huge profile for banding in the local community.

There was everything to play for on Easter Sunday as the bands presented their own-choice and stage march. In the A Grade, nine bands chose seven different own-choice works…

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