Battle of the band
A CIVIL war has erupted at a small Gold Coast music club after the committee decided to cut the chords of its beginners band.
The song and dance centres around the Hinterland Community Band Committee Rookies Band which will play its final performance today.
Both warring parties are blowing their own trumpet. Band members and parents say the Mudgeeraba-based group was cut because it cost $25 a week to run and that the club’s concert band needed numbers.
However, the committee’s chairman says cost was never a factor, the rookies band was struggling for numbers and not following its “original purpose”.
Rookie band members have been told they can join the concert band, a group designed for more experienced, older musicians.
Band member and former committee member Sally Gregory claims the band was cancelled because of the $25a-week cost and a lack of new concert band members.
“They didn’t tell the concert band members (it was cancelled) either,” she said. “It is so un-community.
“I’ve kept it together for these kids because they don’t understand the enormity of what they’re being asked to do (joining the concert band). But part of me is absolutely losing sleep about this.”
Ms Gregory said she and parents of young members feared the children would be “scared off music for good” by entering the older band too soon.
“We’ve already had four of the kids sit in (on concert band) but they tell me ‘We can’t keep up, it’s too fast’.
“The committee doesn’t understand. There’s no-one there trained in teaching young children music. And not all these kids have even been playing for a whole year.”
But committee chairman Alby Chamberlain said: “We agreed the band could proceed on the understanding that (Sally Gregory) would target school-leavers, and also older young people who hadn’t played since leaving high school.
“They could come into the rookies band, get their confidence back, and then proceed into the concert band. That was the aim of forming it.
“She called it a rookies band. We didn’t think that was a good name, because a lot of people it should have targeted wouldn’t have considered themselves rookies.
“The result was a number of young primary school kids coming in to learn instruments. It became a teaching band for young people.”
Mr Chamberlain said the cost of the band – about $550 a year – had never been mentioned as an issue, and added the band would not have been scrapped had there been more members.
“We let it run because we were hoping it would progress into the initial concept.
“She promotes that there are 24 players in the band. That’s absolute tripe. There’s probably five, at the very tops nine juniors, who have attended over the period of time. The rest of the guys are supporters of the band, they’re mature people, accomplished musicians who came to help.”
Sam Gregory said her 11year-old daughter Samara was heartbroken at the news.
“She took advantage of learning new pieces of music, playing with new people,” she said.
“I wouldn’t even entertain (letting her in concert band). She’s just turned 11 years old. She’s not a bad player, but there’s no way she could play the music they play.”