Day 2: Another one Bites the Dust – Australian Nationals 2013

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Hi Loyal Viewers,

Just a quick 2nd wrap of today’s action. Did you manage to catch the street march this morning? It was great weather, a great crowd and a pretty good spectacle. I’ve already written stuff about that so I won’t repeat myself.

Instead, I’ll talk about the Open A Grade Wind Bands. They were absolutely spectacular, and completely in a class of their own when it comes to musicality – and intonation (!). That’s when compared to the Open A Grade Brass section so far, anyway. There is another whole day of A Grade Brass to come, because they’re not hardcore enough to play an entire nationals program in one sitting (weak?). We’ll see if the brass band own choice works can bring them up to the same high level shown by the wind bands today.

I really enjoyed the performances of all the A Grade Wind Bands – I thought the NSW Band and Hobart Band were spectacular…But Rob McWilliams – the professional adjudicator – decided that the Hobart Band had the win by a whisker. I can’t rave enough about the musicality, tuning and incredible amount of work that was shown by the 4 bands that competed. If any of the Open A Grade Brass bandies had decided to come for a listen, I’m sure they would have been blown away…

It’s really interesting the way the brass band world is so isolated…bands rarely listen to each other and even more rarely listen to different genres of music. Which is a shame, because with the incredibly technical abilities of most brass bands, with a little more musicality and intonation would be really special to listen to! A few minds need to be expanded a little bit, I think.

Tomorrow is the final day of ensemble competition at the Nationals…looking forward to hearing the Open A Grade strut their stuff with the own choice selections