Brass bands play different facets of music
KEEN brass band musicians brought a touch of ‘‘razzmatazz’’ to Dunedin at the weekend for the annual OtagoSouthland provincial contest.
Seven bands from Otago, Southland and South Canterbury took part in the competition, over two days at Queen’s High School and the King’s and Queen’s Performing Arts Centre.
Otago Southland Brass Bands Association president Brian Lee said the contest was first held in about 1875, and the bands in the south of the South Island were among the oldest in the country.
On Saturday night, bands performed competition pieces, which included a sacred piece or hymn and a longer, test piece.
The sacred pieces showed the softer, more mellow side of brass band music, Mr Lee said.
‘‘There were some lovely sounds.’’
However, the bands let their hair down yesterday and brought some vibrance and ‘‘razzmatazz’’ to the occasion, Mr Lee said.
‘‘The programme showed the bands in a different light.’’
In the last two years brass bands in the OtagoSouthland province had been experiencing a ‘‘revival’’. A good number of younger people were looking to join and sometimes there were two or even three generations of the same family in a brass band.
The winner of the A grade competition was Ascot Park Hotel Brass, from Invercargill. Alpine Energy Timaru Brass took away the B grade prize.
The C grade winners were the Ascot Park Hotel Auxiliary Brass, also from Invercargill, and the D grade section was won by Roxburgh Pioneer Energy Brass.
There were a number of solo prizes, as well as ‘‘party event trophies’’.
The next event on the brass band’s calendar was Anzac Day, when Mosgiel Brass would perform in the Dunedin Town Hall with the Dunedin RSA Choir. In July, winners of the provincial competition would play in the national contest in Marlborough.
The winners of all grades would be invited, but which bands actually took part depended on who could afford to make the trip.