Brassbanned catches up with the new conductor of the Hawthorn Brass Band, Mr. Wayne Bowden.
Wayne talks about his (probably unique in A Grade) rehearsal technique and reveals what Hawthorn is playing as its Own Choice. He also describes last year’s Hymn performance at Nationals as ‘down the toilet’, going on to explain how the band will be performing the same Hymn this year, and hoping for a much better result.
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
[Music] Good evening once again, loyal Brass Band Internet viewers. You are in for an absolute treat tonight. We have the conductor of the mighty Hawthorne Brass Band, Mr. Wayne Bowen, here. Wayne, how are you? I’m great. We’ve just finished rehearsal. How did it go? Uh, very good. Do you need to do any more before Nationals? We’re about a week out. That should do it. Yeah, we certainly need to do a little bit more. I think every band needs to do a little bit more. Never do enough.
No. No. We’re always striving to just get that little bit more out of the music and uh we’ve been working hard for quite a few weeks. How many times a week have you been rehearsing? Well, that is interesting. Um we’ve only been rehearsing twice a week. We’ve only had one extra rehearsal on a Sunday. That was all. It was 3-hour rehearsal. And we’ve had no section rehearsals. And did you want section rehearsals or are you going in with a plan just for two rehearsals a week?
No, I don’t. I have no plan to do section rehearsals. I never do section rehearsals. I’ve never done them. I’d love to play in your band. That sounds great to me. So, um I’m I’m very very much aware of the time commitment that people have. And not only that, but my own time commitment. Uh being that I have two bands in the Nationals. What’s your other band you’ve got in the National? Other band is the Sunshine Community Brass. Apparently, they’re the band to beat. I’ve heard some rumors around the place.
Oh dear. Uh well, yes, that could be so well uh it’s on the books. I suppose that um Sunshine is 18 months ago was a C-grade band and they’ve now been elevated to B-grade only after two wins. I I just Yeah, see how it goes. It’s pretty tough. Yeah, it’s pretty tough in Teluk, but that’s all right. Um and they’ve been working really hard. They also have had no section rehearsals. They’ve had one Sunday rehearsal. Yep. uh other than a Tuesday every week. So, only one rehearsal a week.
And tell us a bit more about the Mighty Hawthorne band. What are you guys playing for your own choice? Unless that’s a state secret. Oh, no. Nothing’s a secret for me. No. Uh we’re playing The Essence of Time. Great. Peter Graham. Is that one? Peter Graham. That’s the one. And uh we’ve been working on that for a number of weeks now and it’s really it’s coming up nice. Great. Yeah. In terms of players in the band, are you guys permitting in many players or it’s just your own band you’re fielding on the day?
Right. I’m permitting two players only. Yeah. Okay. And I think that’s all you’re allowed to do, isn’t it? Not that I can really follow the rules. It’s all too complicated for me. No, I’ve got a Euphonium player from the Sunshine Band playing second euphonium. So, that’s been a great experience for him. And I’ve got my dear friend John McMillan who is playing with 50 other bands, I think, at the nationals. Well, three. Um, and uh, he’s he’d been a friend of mine for years, ever since he came over from New Zealand.
And we’ve also been sparring partners for years in solos, but of course I retired from that. After you beat him a couple of times, that was enough. Oh, well, yes, I had my my little successes along the way. Yeah, I did. And Hawthorne band did really well last nationals. I think you guys came second overall in the own choice perhaps. I think the own choice. You did quite well. Second in the own choice, but we were down the tube in the test. down the tube in the hymn.
Yep. Uh I’ve taken a gamble and I’m doing the same him. Okay. Fantastic. Yeah. Um the reason I’m doing it is because it’s been arranged by a member of our band. Sure. So I I think Who was that? Who’s done the arrangement? His name is Jesse McVey and he’s he’s a tuba player, isn’t he? And he studies composition. So it’s a beautiful arrangement. So we’ll see. We’ll see how that goes. Um the band’s playing beautifully. That’s the main thing. And uh the thing I like about this group is that the vibe is is great at every rehearsal.
And having a look around when I walked in, it’s quite a young group of players you’ve got here. Oh, is it ever? Yeah. Uh if they’re not if they’re not studying music right now as uh well, my my son’s in the band now. He plays flugal horn. Um he’s in his first year at MES. if they’re not studying their instrument at at university or they’ve done uh a dip or they’ve done a masters or they’ve done a doctorate or they’ve done a bachelor. Uh I don’t think I’ve got many others.
You’re dealing with a smart group of players then, aren’t you? Yeah, I’ve got an intelligent group. Excellent. And it’s really kept me on my toes. Good. Which has been great. It’s it’s allowed me to uh work really hard and get fussy. So we we will see. Excellent. Do you have any expectations of where you’d be happy to finish at the nationals or just however it goes? As long as you play well, you’re pretty happy, right? Uh all through all through my playing career and conducting career, it my thought process has always been you do the best that you do on the day, whatever that is.
And if that means that you do come a place, then that’s a bonus for all the work that you’ve put in. Uh if you don’t come a place then you come home and you say okay what are we going to do about this next time? Are we going to work harder? Um I’ I’ve haven’t been out of a place very many times. So and Hawthorne’s currently Victorian state champions. Uh yes. Yes they are. Um we were fortunate last year at Bellerat to uh finish in front of Footsgay who had actually come second in the nationals.
So if if this was a horse event, if we put some money on it, then the bookies would be having a bit of a thing, wouldn’t they? Absolutely. You know, if it was a horse race, h you would be thinking that we we must be pretty close. Um whether whether we’re close to Q or not is yet to be seen, but Mark Ford and I have been friends for a long long time. And I’ve always enjoyed his results. And I’m sure that when he hears mine, cuz he hasn’t heard us, uh, when he hears mine, I hope he he he enjoys our ours, too.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. But it’s all about making music, not notes. Excellent. So, well, Wayne, thanks very much for joining us. Is there anything else you’d like to say to people who might be watching on the internet and be wondering about the Hawthorne Brass Band? Uh, yeah. Well, if you would like to hear the Hawthorne Brass Band at the Nationals, uh, come along to the Seable uh, on the Friday evening next week. Yep. or the Saturday evening. If you really want a treat, come on the Saturday rather than the Friday.
Uh the Friday, you may get bored listening to the same piece 100 times. Cambridge variations, which uh is a great playing piece, but is not the greatest listening piece. Uh a little bit challenging for the audience there. I would have thought so. It’s pretty hard to understand. It’s been hard enough for us. Um, I I’ve tal talked about the thematic material to my people about the fact that there’s there’s actually two main themes. There’s an X and a Y and they’re actually back back to front and the and the work itself is based around the letters of Cambridge.
Really? Yeah. So, it’s it’s based around those letters and there’s a 24 note tone row. That’s a bit tough for the audience to handle, isn’t it? It is. But it it makes it tough for these people, too. And the and the technical demands and the musical demands in the piece are are really quite tough. And nobody nobody is left out. Nobody. And speedwise, it’s break neck speed at the end with with semiquavers, you know, and it’s in harmony. Fingers crossed it is. Well, it will be.
Don’t worry. It will be. We’ve spent the time. Yeah. Apart from nationals, when else can people hear you? Do you have any special big concerts coming up or a website people should check? the uh there’s a website that’s in in the process of being rebuilt. Sure. And uh concerts uh there’s nothing planned right now. It’s an open book. Uh it certainly is because I’m hopeful that what we’ll do is we’ll go to Bendigo. Yep. And uh we’ll certainly go to Bellerat and we we should do a concert somewhere in between there.
Yeah. Excellent. Well, Wayne, thanks very much for joining us. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
