Nationals

I just came back from city hall where I played with QWAB in the 2006 Australian National Band Championships. It's a pretty big deal. Yesterday they had some gala concert with bands from Auckland and Osaka. QWAB doesn't travel anywhere so we can only play in this competition when it's based in Brisbane. The last time it was in Brisbane was 2001, and we came 3rd. About half the bands we were up against were from NSW while the others were from around Brisbane. We competed in the A Grade Concert Band section. Here's a list of who played:

• 1 City of Sydney Wind Ensemble
• 2 Queensland Wind and Brass
• 3 Sutherland PCYC Concert Band
• 4 Castle Hill RSL North West Wind Ensemble
• 5 Queensland Wind Orchestra
• 6 QYO Wind Symphony
• 7 State Schools Symphonic Wind Ensemble
  

We played four pieces. They were:

• Glorious Victory - some gay march
• Harrison's Dream - a fuckin hard piece that uses a 7/16 time signature
  
• Amazing Grace - a really good arrangement of that song Americans love to death. uggh
  
• Festival Variations - a rollicking bitch of a piece

I don't think we played particularly well. Lots of fuckups all round. However Amazing Grace was really good. It always is for us. The percussion provided was fantastic. I got to use a military snare drum for once.

I'll know the results later tonight probably. I'm guessing we came 5th.

Here's a couple of photos from our concert a couple of weeks ago:




I also finished an arrangement of a Philip Glass piece for concert band. It's the first time I've written something for so many parts. It only took me a week. It's here. I can't put it on SibeliusMusic.com though cos the composer hasn't been dead for 70+ years. It isn't out of copyright yet. I wish Mr. Glass would hurry up and die. Nah he's pretty good. He will be regarded as one of the most important composers of the 20th century imo when he kicks the bucket.

So yeah, I think I'll go for a bike ride now. Hej.