February 11, 2024 • 40 mins
Welcome to an exciting new episode of the Brassbannedcast, led by your hosts, Tim and Robyn, as we celebrate the fusion of music, life, and love in banding life. In this week's episode, we have a candid chat with the charismatic Jared McCunnie, composer, conductor, tuba player and all round awesome guy!
Please write in to the show at awesome@brassbanned.com if you want us to talk about any upcoming events, news or salacious gossip.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, loyal viewers, hello, listeners, hello, internet people,
wherever you are listening from, welcome to Brass Band Cast,
the podcast about music, life, love, and band.
My name's Tim. And my name's Robyn. Hi, Brass Band people.
It's great to have you listening to our brand new podcast. This is episode number two.
(00:20):
Episode two. And today we've got a very, very special guest who is Jared McCartney.
Is that how I say your name? That's absolutely correct.
Lovely to be here. You've brought out the good weather.
Oh, yes. We're going to talk about that later. Anyway, so every episode,
well, we're saving it. Yeah, don't worry.
Every episode, we're going to talk about an amazing part of our lives and we're
going to interview someone. Which is banned.
(00:41):
Which is banned because banned is an amazing part of all of our lives.
We can also talk about the weather. And the weather. And guess what?
This week, we are in a place all together. So when I interrupt Tim,
it's going to not sound so terrible as it did last week.
But last week's podcast sounded really good. If you haven't heard it,
you can download it on stuff. Which nobody would have listened to it.
No one's listened to it yet.
(01:01):
Because I haven't publicized it at all. Yeah. Okay.
It's coming. Those 25 listeners out there. I'll tell you what,
25 people downloaded it and I got one subscriber and it was my husband.
Oh. Yeah. So that's nice, isn't it? That's great. It's a little wins.
Yeah, a little wins in life. So he's my greatest fan.
None of your family subscribed, Tim. No one's subscribed yet,
but loyal listeners, please subscribe because we're trying to do a podcast every
(01:22):
week in the lead up to Easter, which is the Australian National Band Championship.
Yeah, and if no one listens, we'll stop making them and that'll be very sad, wouldn't it?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, wow. Anyway, so Jared's here. And Jared, how are you today?
Very good. Very good. It's what, less than two months out from Nationals. It is.
Yes. I don't know when the podcast is coming out, but I'll treat it as if it's
(01:44):
been two months out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, release immediately.
Whether or not people will be listening to it immediately. Oh, yeah. Probably.
Probably, yes. Probably, yes. In like a year's time when we're famous.
So, Jared, two months ago, you're conducting Western Brass. Correct. Taking them over? Yes.
Are you playing tuba? I'm not playing tuba this year, unfortunately.
It's been a bit of a hit, but the Western Army got a bit big and raucous.
(02:07):
So, I went, you know, it's like herding sheep.
I can't herd sheep with a tuba. So, I went.
So, it's going to be a big campaign. It's my first nationals with the band and
the band's first interstate nationals in history. So, they did the Melbourne Nationals in 2018.
So, band pumped up and keen to get into marching.
Exciting. Oh, that's so exciting. It's my first nationals conducting too.
(02:29):
There we go. Who wins your first nationals conducting? Not this year. No, not this year.
We'll be soon. We'll be soon. Everyone takes up the stick at one point in their
life, don't they? Of course. And just to clarify for our lovely loyal listeners
out there, Robin, you're conducting?
Burundi Harmony in D grade, so we are not against you, Jared,
so that's okay. Aren't you in C grade? Correct. Ha-ha.
Yes. But competing in fashion sense.
(02:50):
I think we're the bands with, I'm hoping there's a dash of colour.
Yeah, we're going a bit more orange this year than we were. I have in the past,
which is good. Good. I'm going to go some orange.
We're going to hopefully get as much orange. I love the Western Brass mustard.
The mustard. It is hot mustard. It is. Hot sauce.
I must admit, when you're re-watching the Brass Band live stream,
it is really easy to find Western Brass. There is very little competition in
(03:13):
terms of highlighter yellow with a bit of grit in it.
It's what banding is all about. I love it. I love that yellow.
It's very distinctive. It is. But Jared, you're two months out. Correct.
What are you doing with the band two months out? Do you have a plan that he's
going to plan, or are you just like, let's see what happens this week? What?
(03:34):
Let's get inside the brain. We're actually doing pretty well.
We got started earlier on in the year.
Historically, the band sort of run around school terms. So, we got started, I think, 16th of Jan.
We've already done a weekend rehearsal and we chose a lovely 39-degree day and
we did start off with some marching practice and then I dealt with dehydrated
people for the next five or six hours.
So, yeah, no, it's been really good. I think, without spoiling any special surprises,
(03:59):
we've sort of focused on doing repertoire while we can achieve really well that
the band's really engaged with and somehow the band's enjoying the test piece
and we're only a month in, which is not an attack on the test piece specifically,
but test pieces in general, it normally takes a little later stages.
But we're drawing out some melodies.
We've got, yeah, there's so much to unravel in that.
(04:21):
The test pieces were, I thought, nicely selected this year. The D grade one's pretty nice.
Let's talk about the A grade test piece. Oh, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, too much politics. Yeah, B grade also got a bit.
Really? Yeah, that's okay. It's good choosing a piece before it's published.
It's all, the B grade ones are all right. They're all a bit like not particularly
exciting, but not overly bad, I thought.
(04:43):
Unless I haven't played the A grade one. Right down the mediocre line.
What's the A grade one like?
Is it bad? Oh, it's fine. So, yeah, there was a bit of drama with the A grade one.
And I think, yeah, but I think the new one, it's good. good.
It will test us against the European equivalent competitions.
A lot of them, you know, England's done it, you know.
All the other European countries have done it. So, you know,
(05:07):
it's a test piece. We need a yardstick. That's what a test piece is,
isn't it? A yardstick, exactly.
What is a yardstick? Like a stick in your yard? I don't know.
Which came first, the yardstick or the yard? How long's a yard?
Oh, this is going to turn into me looking up. Anyway, we've got a fantastic
structure for our podcast.
Oh, yeah, our structure. We've already gone off the structure.
All right, we start off with our hymn, which is our reflection of the last episode,
(05:28):
gigs and life in general.
So Tim's going to share with us a fun gig that his band did.
Yeah, I played in a gig last night with the fantastic Footscray Aeroville City
Band. Oh, fantastic. Will this work?
That's the Footscray Aeroville City Band playing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on
the march. Oh, fantastic. And now we've got a copyright strike.
No. I'm talking at the same time. No one's hearing anything.
(05:50):
Oh, yeah, that's true. True.
No, no. I've been to rehearsals. I've done a gig. You know, I've been playing
my tuba. I've been buzzing.
I've been practicing. I mentioned on last week's podcast I might not have practiced
for about like 15 years or so.
Should I decide to start practicing again? That's amazing. And did you march
with your tuba? I marched my tuba. The big one? The big one.
Good stuff. Wow. It's so heavy.
It was really strong. What straps do you go for, you know, big sturdy tuba?
(06:11):
Well, I'm playing an Imperial tuba. Oh, I see.
It's only got three buttons. It's quite heavy. Yeah. And I had a look at it
because I'd never put a strap on it. And last night, the two marching rings
were both on the same side for the hunts. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Like in a line. So it was awkward and it was quite horrifying.
Lopsided, yeah. But it was fun. Yep.
Oh, there you go. An unpopular opinion, perhaps. I love marching.
(06:34):
I've encouraged Western Brass to march. Spoiler alert if they're listening now,
but I think marching's optional this year. It is, yeah.
But we haven't really revealed that to the band, and the band's approaching it with enthusiasm.
Oh, no, I gave my band the choice. Yes. And we had a very narrow vote in favour of marching.
Okay. So now, like, all right, well, you voted and, you know,
Facebook polls for the win.
(06:54):
Yeah. And now you can't go away. Yeah, it's going to be really fun.
I had a chat with organisers of the Nationals about some, like,
streamy stuff, and all the venues are really close together.
So, like, I think C grade and A grade are in Elder Hall, and B grade and D grade
are in Scott's Auditorium or something, which is quite close by.
And then there's a parade ground, like, right across the road. Oh, sweet.
So, it's going to be a party all in the same place. Yeah. I love the party.
(07:15):
It's like, because that's, the march is when everyone comes together in the
same place, because otherwise it's all spread out through the days.
You might miss people. No, I do.
I'm for the march. Let's keep the march at the Nationals, I say.
You know, if there's certain people that don't want to do it, good on you.
But I think let's, you know, they've really leaned into the entertainment side
of things. I think that's fun.
You know, Robin, you know, Harmony will be out there in Shining Colors. I reckon it's great.
(07:38):
I love thinking of it. Sometimes there's a lot of pressure to think of something
fun every year. Yes. As long as you made a bit of it. And just reflecting on the week gone by, Robin.
The week gone by. Oh, yeah, we're getting off topic. Well, yeah,
sorry. We're reflecting on the week gone by.
You did a gig. I didn't do any gigs. Just full of rehearsals.
Did Sue Bradley come to your rehearsal?
Sue Bradley did come to my rehearsal. Yeah, I'm getting some conducting tips slash lessons.
(08:02):
Hi, Sue. Yeah, she laid into me a bit. I look at the score too much. Yeah.
That's good. Respecting the composer's intentions. Yeah. And,
Jared, you mentioned already that you had rehearsals at last weekend with Weston.
Oh, it might have been a couple ago. Yeah.
Maybe last. The weeks go fast. Is it one rehearsal a week at the moment?
So, we're pretty much sticking to, yeah, Tuesday nights.
And we've got two single-day weekend rehearsals. to try and really bite into,
(08:27):
you know, take some big chunks out of the piece.
Lovely. And big chunks have been removed in terms of progress.
That metaphor did not go the direction it ought to. Yeah, I'm sure you get disqualified
for removing chunks of a piece. Not if you're not looking at the score, though.
How would the composer feel if you were to remove chunks of his work?
Oh, they would not be impressed, I'm sure.
(08:47):
But, no, there's been some strategic chunks and rewritings of things,
but that's nothing that the adjudicators aren't already aware of. Yeah.
Oh, amazing. So, Jared, tell us.
I think we can go. Yeah, let's go on to our own choice. Let's talk about the
story of Jared. This is the own choice section of the podcast where you can
talk about whatever you want and we'd love to know everything about you. Yeah.
(09:08):
When did you start? Like, what's your story? What's your origin story?
Well, it's funny. You talk about this week.
We've unfortunately had one of our base players indicate this week they can't
make it to the Nationals for unexpected reasons.
So, I've sort of been on the run around trying to secure a second Bb bass player.
And someone from the Footscray organisation, who Western's affiliated,
(09:32):
said that there has been a new player that's come along, might be looking to join.
And he's actually the first ever brass player I learnt with at Moorland Junior
Band, however long, Joseph Williams.
So, I've reached out to him. Hopefully, if he can make it to Adelaide,
we'll try and make it happen.
But yes, that's how I started banding. So, I was about 10 years old.
I'd been doing piano for a little while.
(09:52):
And the local council paper sort of said, look, we've got a band.
Any juniors want to join? and at that stage it was about three or four players.
And I came along, started learning the tenor horn, the most glorious instrument of them all.
Got braces, couldn't play it anymore, moved to baritone after a stint on trombone,
which was not successful at all.
And then braces came off. The school told me baritone might not get you to places.
(10:16):
So, I learned the French horn, the trombone or the tuba.
And I could play a scale on a tuba despite doing a term of trombone.
And yeah, that's how it got into brass banding back in the Blue Moon.
Oh, so that was with Moreland. Moreland, yeah. So that was sort of,
I think Moreland was probably still competing.
What was that? It was really about 2007.
(10:39):
So I think there was still competitions. I don't know which era.
I'm not going to speculate in a public forum as to who might have been taken at that stage.
But yeah, so the junior band sort of picked up at that stage.
We probably got to about 15, 16 players.
Yeah. But, yeah, and I probably stuck with them until end of high school and
then got the invite with Northern in the Darabin organisation and that sort of community banding.
(11:02):
Ah. And then did you, you studied music at university?
I did. I did a double degree, but I did do a degree on music composition at
Monash, which was bundles of fun, not necessarily brass specialising,
but I crammed in what I could with my own choice assignments. Yes.
Yes. Yes. And now you're a lawyer, right? Correct. Yes.
(11:23):
That's very exciting. I don't know how, and you write music.
Yes. And you conduct a band. Correct. And you play the tuba.
Yes. Have you ever adjudicated?
I've adjudicated state events. My question, how much do you sleep a night?
How do you even fit all that in?
I don't know yet. I'm figuring now, I'm transitioning.
(11:44):
We had this lovely interview with Tim last year to ask you about how I manage
the law and the music side of things.
And I went very confidently, things are going to be okay And I think they'll
still be okay It's just expectations with work on the increase And just as my
expectations with my musical output on the increase But,
you know, I'm very spoiled Workplace, bands, they understand You know,
I had a chat with Danny at Burundara About my commitment to the band for the
(12:07):
Nationals And that I just didn't think I could meet the rehearsal campaign And,
you know, but hopefully keep the open door For post-Nationals and make things work.
And so, so many different parts of banding your life is in.
Is there like a common thread through all of them? Like, what is it that you
love about bands so much that you're writing music for them,
conducting them, playing in them, adjudicating bits around them?
(12:30):
I just love the brass bands, the ecosystem, the people that come in and you
just have so many personalities and the banding music, you know,
we're not afraid to have a bit of cheese.
We do the pop stuff. We do some real serious, cool stuff as well.
And compositionally, the brass band movement's actually fairly progressive in
terms of new new music, a new repertoire.
People will have a whinge about various test pieces and the like,
(12:50):
but it's just bands are just, you know, they're wicked. They're wicked.
There's your soundbite. I don't know. Brass bands are wicked. Wicked.
I mean, concert bands are wicked too. Have you played in many community concert bands, Gerard?
I have not. I have not. I did a bit of wind symphony work at Monash.
I had a timpani solo back in the day. Wow. Yeah, there was a uni open day and
(13:15):
I, you know, was helping percussion and then, yeah, picked up a chart that was timpani solo to finish.
So that's not, okay, that's not over. There's no concerto, timpani concerto.
But yes, no, I haven't done community wind bands.
There's certainly some wonderful ensembles in Victoria.
It's probably not as big as New South Wales, but, you know, I think there's
space for growth and, yeah, yeah.
(13:36):
Space for more bands. More bands. I agree.
Well, I want to do a whole episode about people who have been,
like played in high school, maybe did a little bit of community bands,
fell out of it and like getting them back.
Yeah. Getting them back in, like grabbing them by the scruff of the neck, throwing them back in.
Western Brass, I'm astonished with the growth we've had of players that have
(13:57):
put instruments away for not just COVID but like 10 years,
20 years and haven't played since they played with a community band interstate
or since they were at school or since they had kids and they brought it back out.
And it's just those people, the joy that they have playing this.
It's like they're prouder than, you know, having kids. It's just an incredible
experience. Sorry, Robin, I should be careful here. Do you relate to that, Robin?
(14:20):
I'm prouder than having kids. Oh, I don't know. It's just a different skill
really, isn't it? Yeah. But like the first step is the hardest one, I think. Of course.
And that's with community bands. I think if you get the right,
you know, I've always had open door policy and even people that say they want
an instrument to take away to have a bit of practice.
I'm just like, just sit in the third corner or
third baritone and wherever and just
(14:43):
play and play wherever you want and like i'm not gonna blame
you and if the band's the right thing they they
do a bit of practice and they come back and that's how the bands i
genuinely think has grown so much over the last yeah 12 24 months so is western
western's quite full at the moment very full we've got yeah we probably could
take an extra full-time bass or percussionist but otherwise i'm like you know
(15:05):
there's there's all the seats always there for you, Tim. But you're a very busy man.
I just think it's interesting because word on the street that I'm hearing is
that a lot of bands around Melbourne are quite full.
There are people trying to get in to find somewhere to play and there's not many spaces available.
There's new bands, I think, popping up. I know Glenferry's just started Auburn
and maybe some other things happening around the town.
(15:28):
But don't listen to this and say, oh, the bands are full. I'm not going to try.
Even if we're full, someone like, I know National says you can only have X amount
of players on stage, but it's always good to have a bit of a rotating roster
and someone can come and someone can pop in.
So, don't listen to us and say they're full. No, no. And I very much meant like
the bands are full now as an exciting thing because we all band are coming up all the time.
(15:49):
There's so many more opportunities to play. So, it's pretty exciting times. It's very exciting.
And we're often full, but disproportionate. There might be a fair few cornets
in the Western suburbs, but you know.
Exactly. Where are the timpani? Where are the timpani? But there must be somewhere
on a V line or something somewhere we could get them into the inner west.
And while speaking of percussionists and people getting into banding,
(16:11):
I know that Box Hill had a percussion thing going on. And Footscray's got a percussion thing.
Percussion Academy. Percussion Academy, where if you want to come and join a
band, maybe not play a buzzy instrument.
Yeah. You can get involved. Yeah,
you can learn the piano, go and do some xylophone, some glockenspiels.
Percussion is, it's a funny beast, isn't it? There's like a couple of parts
(16:31):
you actually obviously have to be quite good to play.
But often in a like a chart, there'll be a few like parts you could play it
like ding a triangle play.
As long as you can play in time, you can kind of do that.
Yeah. And then sometimes you'll get a really hard part with like thumb rolls
on a chamber. I can't do that. That's too hard. It's okay.
Adjudicators don't look down that far. So, if you do go to a contest,
(16:52):
it doesn't matter. and the audience at your local play out, they don't mind.
If you're smiling, no one's looking at your thumb action.
Bing bong on a tippy. I get so many endorphins playing percussion, I swear.
It's like the biggest smile on my face is the best fun.
It is. What's the worst thing that's gone wrong playing percussion for you, Robyn?
I'll tell you what, the last Nationals, and it wasn't even, I played a thing
perfectly and there was a big gong at the end and I was laughing and whoever
(17:15):
was on the camera zoomed right in on me and everyone was laughing at me.
And I didn't even get it wrong, but I have to always stop the gong with my behind.
Yes. I'm trying to be clean here. I'm pretty sure that's a professional technique.
Yeah, and they zoomed right in on me because I must have looked absolutely hilarious.
Was this in the B-grade test? Yeah. I think it was in the hall.
(17:36):
That was the most amusing performance.
And I felt bad. Poor Danny. All these guys at Danny Wong's go to all these rehearsals,
work so hard, and the camera's just been completely monopolized by me doing
a funny thing on the gong. No.
Those camera people. Terrible. Those camera people. He was like, she's entertaining.
Zoom in on her. But that's what the Brass Band Stream is all about.
We cut through the adjudication wish wash. We focus on entertainment.
(17:59):
Percussion's always entertaining. Well, that's a great – have we got any more
questions about Jared's life? Or do you have – and we're going to get into our questionnaire.
This is the own choice section still. So is there anything you'd like to say
to our thousands of loyal listeners out on the internet? No. Yes.
No, it's a pleasure. I don't know. I don't know. The questionnaire sounds threatening.
I'm sort of worried about the next segment. I think I need to stretch this out as much as I can.
(18:23):
No, we came up with this at the pub the other night. Yeah. Okay.
We're testing them out. They're good questions. I think they're funny.
Okay. But if you'd like to rate us on the questions afterwards.
I will do a rate here. I think also you can suggest a question for the next person. Okay.
Pass it on. Okay. Yeah, sure. All right. This is on the notes of my iPhone. Okay.
What are your thoughts on, this could be a controversial topic,
(18:44):
pick the uniform like we talked a little bit about your mustard yellow how do
you feel about look i think,
I can see why there's many bands in Australia that look, you know,
top notch. Brisbane Excelsior come out in the red and it's most impressive.
My personal position is Australia is a very diverse place and we have a very diverse climate.
I think we should, let's think a bit practically about our uniforms.
(19:09):
And yeah, this sounds very serious. But I genuinely think, I think a flexible
uniform set up, I'm more for keeping it relaxed. We're community musicians and
we play some pretty, you know, amazing things.
I think, you know, let's be like the people, dress a bit more comfy.
I'm wearing yellow sneakers on stage.
Like, let's just, you know, I think let's get people in, make them feel invited.
(19:31):
I wonder how sweaty Excelsior gets on stage. We've all got to ask one of them.
Shoulders ice. Yeah. They just come in. Yeah, that's very true.
Yeah, big jacket. All right, that's an interesting. Tim's a big fan of the jacket.
I like bands that obviously look like a band. I think uniformity is important.
(19:53):
Uniformity in a uniform is good. Yeah, absolutely. It's very difficult picking.
Our committee is trying to do some changes to our uniform, and it's like every idea is good.
It's like so hard to work out body shapes, sizes.
We've got women and men and old and kids and all these sorts of people that
don't fit sorts of things. You
can see why bands just say, let's just wear black shirts. It's too hard.
(20:13):
There's a band, I think they're out in the Netherlands, that there's some
i don't know if they've changed but they used to wear double denim
for every gig i'm not going to try and guess their name but
if you find them it's dirt and then a word sign with double denims oh exactly
but it is they won the second section and their video gets uploaded to youtube
and it is like an amazing site with everyone with like different colors of double
(20:36):
denim but it's like oh it's great it's spectacular that is the direction the bandage should go in,
I love it. I love it. Sorry, I should have led with that. That's a ripper.
I hate double dented. We're going to re-edit that, so that's what you lead with.
Don't worry. Please. Thank you.
All right. I've got to keep this clean. What's the biggest, and this is kind
of hard to answer. Biggest mistake. Biggest mistake that you've been involved with on stage.
(20:57):
Like it could have been you. Something went wrong. Like at a concert where something
really went completely awry. Or you personally made something go wrong.
Something could have fallen over. Yeah, no. I did have like all the classic
YouTube percussion fail videos.
I did have, I think it might have been the same performance as the timpani solo,
but we did an Eric Whittaker piece with the concert band and I sort of,
(21:18):
it was a bit hot under the lights and I sort of got slippery hands and had a
bass drum mallet fly across the stage nearly in our marimba play or something.
But that's, yeah, that's, yeah, that was, yeah, that was okay.
I don't think any, yeah, it might have been a rehearsal actually in retrospect,
but that's okay. Look, all roads lead to Rome, but yeah.
All right. We're going to get your opinion. Now, we've come down into Tim's
(21:39):
studio and seen these beautiful ergonomic chairs.
What's your opinion on chairs? We started chatting about that.
Oh, from a tuba perspective, it is actually paramount.
I think tuba players need to be first ones at rehearsal just to choose the right
chairs because every band room, there are always chairs that are too squishy,
too forward-leaning or too reclining.
(22:00):
Too reclining, yeah. I think they're all serious issues that other bands,
people, they don't get. Quarter players, oh, I need a comfy chair.
It's like tuba players, we do not need comfort, we need support.
And if you're playing a B-flat tuba and you're trying to rest on the chair in
front of you, if you've got like the chair shape, sometimes it goes down. It falls down.
It falls down and it's, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Or like in an outside gig and there's those plastic garter chairs with arms. Oh, arms.
(22:25):
No, no, that is a shocker. Shout out to Michael up in Bright.
He used to play with the state youth band with a piano stool and I actually
think it is a superior chair experience.
You've got room to move from a tuba playing perspective. Well,
how often do people lean back when they're on stage?
Does anyone play when they're leaning? I need a back. I feel weird on a stool.
(22:48):
I'm sure Harmon gets bars rest with Sydney City and leans back.
But when you get your rest, it's like, ah, I'm going to lean back.
I don't think I do, I think. So you're saying you don't need a back on a chair?
I don't think I need a back on my chair. I must admit, I could be a stool player.
Yeah, you're right. You have a little foldy thing you unfold.
But you've already got such a big instrument, it seems unfair,
like we were talking about the other week, if you're bringing your tuba and a chair to a gig.
(23:12):
Oh, I need someone to bring the chair for me, I guess. It's a bit,
yeah. Best solution, great. Yeah.
No, I did think with Siege, the test piece from last year, I thought the minute
of silence. Great piece.
The minute of silence at the end for most players, I thought Newcastle could
really have set up some squeaky chairs, people recline too much and you get
a squeak during the, you know,
(23:33):
flugelhorn gorgeous vibrato and then you squeak. I thought that could have been awkward.
That would be amazing. I think last year's Nationals was spectacularly organized.
Great event. Great event. Even if we didn't quite get the squeaky chair.
Yeah, no, that's okay. It was really good last year. It was really good.
I particularly liked, my favorite part was like that the two halls came out
into that one courtyard where the pub was.
(23:56):
But you could just sit there and it's like, I just sat there for about two,
three hours and all these people I know wanted past.
It's like you couldn't go half an hour without seeing something.
Exceptionally planned. Whereas sometimes they're like all separate out and you
don't really have a one area of conglomerate. I hear Adelaide's going to be
a very central city. It does sound very good.
So I don't know if there's a pub nearby, but I'm sure.
City of churches. Yes. Will be looked after. Yes.
(24:21):
Dear. All right, Jared, if someone, maybe think of your own band here, Western Brass.
All right, and you've had a new person come along to a rehearsal and they're
just like. And they never come back. And they've never come back.
Why do you think? Why, in your band in particular, would someone come along
to one rehearsal and never come back?
Just pick one reason. Okay. Uniform has been known to be polarizing. Really?
(24:44):
Especially because we're now running out of jackets. And the jackets that aren't
there, we don't have the logo, the Western Brass logo on top.
And I think those jackets haven't been dry cleaned.
So, I think they could be a bit smelly. I don't want to make it all about these jackets.
There's more to our band than these lovely mustard jackets. Are these jackets
bought from a previous band?
(25:05):
I believe two previous bands from regional Victoria. I'm not going to name names because I don't know.
But I'm sure I could. Mustard. Mustard coloured bands.
Yes. But, you know, if there is, I will do my homework this week and find that
band and say thank you again for the jackets.
They predated my involvement with the band. But to let them know that they're
(25:26):
leading. Go down under the patch to see what the patch below the patch is.
Yeah, they're there. They're there. Yeah, and- History.
Yeah. So someone could say, I can't play in this band because of your crazy
jacket. I can't possibly. Yes. No, I think it's going to be- Yeah.
I'd say it would be the jackets. There's got to be the lady reason. Yeah. I'm sure.
Yes. I don't think my similes and metaphors, when I conduct,
(25:47):
are particularly attractive.
I did describe trombone playing as they need to approach it more like a ratatouille,
as a layer of multiple delicious things. But, like, no one needs to stand out.
And I think if someone came to a rehearsal and heard that, they'd be pretty scared.
So- But then they'd see the jacket.
We don't rehearse in the jackets It'll lead up to a gig Do you think you should
(26:08):
rehearse in the jackets?
It's a different feeling, you want to practice all the variables I think it's
going to be 38 degrees next Tuesday night I'm not getting into the jacket Do
you practice in a jacket Tim?
No, I don't practice But maybe I do.
Alright, what do you think is the best instrument? Or if you could play a different
(26:31):
instrument so you can't include the tuba.
If you play a different instrument, what would it be? Within banding?
It could be anything. Worldwide.
Anything. Yeah, I picked the bassoon. That was weird. That is weird.
It's pretty weird. I don't know.
Do I want to be successful or do I just want to be like- No, no, for fun.
Like a gamelan or something. Yeah. No, I did do a stint at gamelan at uni. That's pretty fun.
(26:52):
If you like gongs, they've somehow mastered not dampening the gong with your
buttocks. Oh, yeah. They're pretty good with that.
Instrument that I want to learn. I don't know, I kept on leaning towards...
Not just knowing, just like if you could instantly be good at it too.
Yeah, like I leaned towards like a theremin or something odd,
synthetic, like a keytar. But I think that's...
(27:13):
We can stop at keytar, I think. Okay. It's a great image. You could have been
in the 80s. You seem like a man out of time.
I reckon you would have fit in. Okay. I feel insulted.
Not that you don't fit in right now, right here. Yeah, no.
I can really see you playing a keytar in like, you know, with one of those bands.
Rock bands. Cheetah, yeah. Yeah, the bands with the like.
(27:34):
Wham. Yeah. Wham. Wham 90s? 80s. They're before my time. I'm just going to show off my age.
They wake you up before you go-go. That's 80s. That could be 70s. No.
I don't know. Okay. Could be. Could be. All right. All right. Keith.
That is an awesome answer. No one else is going to come up with an answer.
I don't know if Keith's and I dissed your bassoon. I'm awfully sorry. No.
(27:57):
There's no. We're in a safe space. There's no. You can ask this one.
Okay, yeah the next question.
It's the one with the smiley. Okay, do you practice your instrument?
I've definitely been practising conducting. The tuba? The tuba.
When did you last practise the tuba?
At home? Not in a rehearsal hall? Like long notes. Long notes.
(28:17):
See, long notes, okay, so not played in a tune.
Yeah. Long notes is going to be before Christmas. I must be honest,
I'm sorry, Danny, but I haven't got a nationals campaign to work towards.
In that time, have you been to a rehearsal where the conductor said,
oh, has everyone practised? And did you nod?
I haven't been to a rehearsal with a tuba this year. It's a bit sad.
(28:38):
I've sort of got our jail-free card.
Oh, that's okay. Sorry, committee. Mine was like 15 years, so that's all right.
Yeah, okay. That's fine.
So, and we're celebrating Lunar New Year. Correct. Lunar New Year.
Yes. What's your opinion on Year of the Dragon?
Is it your favourite piece ever? If not, why not? Year of the Dragon is not
(29:00):
my favourite piece ever, but it is a spectacular piece.
Anyways, it is, I have tried doing a side-by-side comparison of many of Philip
Spark's wind band and brass band works.
I am going to say Year of the Dragon is best served in brass band format.
Because of the trombone solo in the second movement? Correct.
I don't think the cor anglais really does it justice.
(29:23):
No, the version he put it in the saxophone. Oh, okay. Well, that sounds like fun.
But yeah. Hi, Philip. He did a 2019 version of the wind band. Yes. He did, yeah.
Yeah. But you love a trombone in there. Yeah, no, the trombone.
I think it's more spectacular.
He writes the scorings much, I think, more evocative in the brass band.
I think so. I think so. Yeah. There's some of the other music of the spheres,
(29:47):
controversial opinion, I think is best served in wind band.
There's many brass banders that might not like me saying that,
but I think the colours are much better and the blend with the percussion.
Well, on the topic, what are your thoughts on Extreme Makeover, concert band music?
Have you heard that? Yeah, I have heard the – I haven't heard it live.
So, I don't know. I think I want to hear it live.
(30:10):
Yeah. But – I love the toots in that song. I can only add that I love the toots.
The toots. That's all I remember.
Isn't that the one where you go toot, toot on the bottom? Do they all go toot,
toot in the wind band version?
Toot, toot. Yeah, they do. I don't think I've seen a live performance of the wind.
Was it 2010 when Johan de Mey came out to – because he composed Extreme Makeover.
He came and was a communicator at the Hobart. Yeah.
(30:32):
And he came out the week before to do a concert with the Granger Wind Symphony.
But something went wrong and he couldn't be there to conduct the concert and
I was meant to play, but I was also not there. I think it was like his.
It sounds very suspicious. You two ran off to the pub.
Oh, I love some Year of the Dragon. That's all right. So I've got one more question. Okay.
What's the weirdest thing someone has brought to a rehearsal?
(30:57):
There's been many good excuses. I don't think that counts. Yeah,
no, someone had their car stolen with their cornered in the back.
Oh, yes. But the thing brought to rehearsal.
We've had a blow-up pumpkin. We had that Western Brass had a performance last year.
For Halloween or something? No, we had a spin on Cinderella.
(31:19):
It was called Cornetella. It was a ripping show. We were narrowly beaten by
Geelong West on entertainment value.
But, yes, we dressed our soprano corner player, Jim, who's a Footscray He's
the current Australian National Cornet Champion Exactly B-Flight Cornet Champion
He's so good on B-Flight Cornet but such is the depth of Western's B-Flight Cornets,
(31:39):
Couldn't get a seat Yeah We had to give him E-Flight Cornet but yeah he dressed
up as an inflatable pumpkin for part of the show to rescue Cornetella from a
disastrous evening at the Brass Band Ball So it had one of those like.
Fans in it exactly inflated exactly can't sit down on no
alien thing and he couldn't sit down in it
at halloween when we all dressed up yeah no he just stood up
(32:00):
the whole concert yeah no i i make all my corners stand up
for the majority of all concerts i don't know how it's gonna work for nationals
no no we'll sit them down we don't we haven't got um inflatable pumpkins planned
for the nationals but i actually we let's see if we can borrow it because harmony
it would suit you with the orange yeah we're orange yeah on the street much
you need a whole set of them yeah Yeah, a whole set.
(32:21):
This, this, Halloween with the pumpkins. That'd be pretty good. Yeah. I'm all for that.
Will I get copyrighted for singing that? Or was that singing?
No, it should be all right. It's fine. Yeah, all right, all right, all right.
Fair use. So do you have a question that you think we should ask our next guest?
We don't know who the guest is. Well, some of us do. Okay.
Yeah, it depends who it is. No, no, no, it doesn't. Yeah. You can think about
(32:43):
it if you want and come back to us later.
You could email us at awesome at brassband.com with ideas. Awesome at Brass
Band. Yeah, funny. It's funny, we want to keep our podcast light.
We're not getting too into the depths of the, like, we was robbed type.
Yeah. I did want to call the podcast that, but like in a joking way.
We was robbed. We was robbed. You know, like when you do.
For the crime spinoff, I'd say we was robbed. True crime. Brass band edition. Yes.
(33:08):
Oh, yes. 2009.
Sorry. What happened to that in 2009? The dove really descended. Oh, gee.
Look, you can ask what's a socially acceptable. When does it become a true pedal note?
I think that's all about. I don't know if that's too serious.
I think it comes down to the fundamentals, right? Yeah.
(33:29):
But some people have questionable views on what pedals.
I had one person think anything below the low C is a pedal. And I was like,
no, I think you've got to drop an octave at the very least. I think so. I don't know.
I hope a Bocassianist gets asked that question next. What's an acceptable pedal?
Where does the pedal range start? Yeah.
(33:50):
We're going to ask the next person that. I guess it depends what sort of timpani
you're playing. Can you please make sure they don't know who asked that question? Timpani have pedals.
Oh, okay. Well, I'll write it on the list and I'll say, preface,
this is a stupid question. Preface.
Preface. Preface. Yeah. I would love it if, like, if someone discovers our podcast
(34:12):
at, say, like, you know, episode seven, and they're like, this is pretty good.
I'm going to go listen to all the previous ones.
But we keep telling them what's going to happen in the next one.
Like, it's a bit spoilerish, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Because they're going to listen to them backwards.
Like, they'll listen to an episode where they're like, we're saying,
what do you accept to be a pedal note?
And they'll be like, that's a weird question. And then they'll listen to the
next one. I reckon we probably need to just scrap the pedal note question just
(34:34):
for the sake of the podcast. I'm writing it down. I'm awfully apologetic.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. That might be a good one for Adam Arnold.
If you want to talk about, you know, primary school bands. Not that I'm dubbing him podcast guests.
Yeah, we are. We're getting him after nationals. Oh, good. Post-nationals.
Well, Adam doesn't know that if you're listening. Okay. Hey,
Adam. Cool. I gave him a mouthpiece the other week.
(34:54):
Everyone's getting on our podcast. We're going to have like 200 episodes.
Actually, that's a good question.
Whose gear have you got that you probably ought to give back? Gear? Yeah.
Because I reckon I've got a mouthpiece that I'm fairly- I, it was definitely
given to me, but there was a while there that I had some tuba straps that I
really need to give back.
And I have given them. We've got so many liars at our house.
(35:14):
Yeah. We moved house and I found like six of them. And that's not my fault.
Ben, he just like takes a liar to March and then goes home and then doesn't
put it back in the liar box.
And then the band's always like, where are our liars, Gordon?
I've got a confession. Yeah.
Hello, Footscray, Arable City Band librarians. Mm-hmm.
When I play with a band and when I'm streaming at the same time,
(35:34):
I quite often just leave the stage and run off with all my stuff.
I found all of these folders of music. Photocopies are all photocopies.
For the past, how many competitions have I been in? No originals.
All photocopies, which is legal for practice purposes, which I then burn because
that's what you're meant to do. That's what you're meant to do.
(35:57):
Hi, Emily. That's a good question. You've given us two questions, so that's pretty good.
All right. Well, that's the end of our questionnaire. Thank you.
Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
End of the test. Oh, yes. Is it time for me to rate? It's time for the march.
You can stop. It's time for the march.
Oh, my goodness. Here we go. No. Do I need to rate the questionnaire, though?
(36:18):
No. Okay. We weren't asking. Wasn't that the deal? Yeah, yeah.
I thought, yeah, rate the questionnaire out of 10. I'll give it 8 out of 10. Yeah.
Cool. Good chat. Good chat. All right. All right, we're up to the march,
and so what's going on around town?
This is when we're just doing a talk about current, so we've talked about the
past and then we're talking about the future. Yeah, fantastic.
(36:39):
Yeah, so. Does Western have any gigs before Nationals?
We'll do a pre-Nationals concert, which will hopefully be with Footscray,
a format to be confirmed.
But please head to Footscray or Western's social media, Facebook, Instagram.
I don't know if we've got TikTok yet or if we would. I want to get TikTok,
but I think I'm too old for it. TikTok is very helpful for conductors.
(37:02):
Okay. Yeah, it keeps you in time. No, but if I sign up to it,
then I'll be, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Isn't it very addictive? I don't know. I haven't got TikTok.
Yeah, no, it's never. Do you have TikTok? Only bands. Only bands. Only bands.
Oh, man. Robin, what's going on with you? What's coming up?
Oh, I don't think so. It's got to be in the next seven days.
(37:24):
My son plays in the Dandenong Youth Band.
He plays the timpani and they're doing a little gig before an outdoor cinema thing.
But I'm like, aren't you just going to rock up and take a drum kit?
He's like, no, we're not going to be having full percussion at this gig,
so I don't know what he's going to play. I'll have to give him a tambourine. That's triangle.
Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't really care. His favourite part of going to rehearsal
(37:45):
is spinning around on the timpani wheelie chair. Yeah.
Yeah. Stop spinning. Yeah. You're not ready when it comes in. Yeah.
The conductor had to tell me that during my timpani solo back in the day. Yes.
And as we sit here on spinny chairs, I'm like, oh, spinny, you're out.
So, I really can't. You know, that's a pretty fair criticism of my poor kid. Yeah.
Vanessa, how about yourself, Tim? Great. In the next week or so, what am I?
(38:06):
Not much. I've got a Footscray rehearsal. Yeah. Monday night.
I might do some practice, do some buzzing. We're doing breathing practice,
actually. Okay. In the actual rehearsal?
Well, yes, we've got a super secret special breathing technique pattern that the whole band's doing.
Which reminds me of being back at uni when we went to learn how to breathe.
Oh, no. We had breathing pipes.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. From Bunnings.
(38:27):
It's been good. They didn't have those in conducting class. Breathing pipe?
Composing class, yeah. A different type of class.
Oh, I love it. Have you had sectionals yet? Yes.
Okay. Last Thursday. On Thursday. Coke and Cokes. It was really good. Cool.
We played a lot of good notes together, but we made sure to save some for the
performance as well. Yeah. Of course. I like a sectional. Yeah.
(38:49):
It's like, get a bit more bonding in, don't you?
I'm all up then for the social connections. In case you didn't notice this,
I'm talking about all serious things. I'm like, no, I love a bit of bonding
in a sectional. It's the best part of banding.
We're at 45 minutes. Oh my goodness. These episodes are supposed to go for 20
minutes. Oh, it's true. All right. I'm going to have to cut out a lot.
This could be two episodes.
(39:12):
We're not getting into like you know Hunger Games part 3 Plus by the time you
add all the ads Okay if you got bored halfway through this Don't feel bad if
you turn it off after 20 minutes It's okay,
Switch it to next guest That episode will be good,
Thanks Robin Yay I will Jared thank you so much for joining us I hope you enjoyed
(39:36):
yourselves It was great to get to know you a little bit better Always a pleasure
Yeah We still don't have an exit theme music Do you want to sing Year of the Dragon?
We've got to sing Year of the Dragon together I'll do the snare drum At the
start First movement Do we have to do third movement?
We can do first movement together Oh yeah okay It's good double tonguing practice Okay Okay,
(40:03):
Good stuff thanks guys Bye everyone Bye Oh stop Bye-bye.
Hello, loyal viewers, hello, listeners, hello, internet people,
wherever you are listening from, welcome to Brass Band Cast,
the podcast about music, life, love, and band.
My name's Tim. And my name's Robyn. Hi, Brass Band people.
It's great to have you listening to our brand new podcast. This is episode number two.
(00:20):
Episode two. And today we've got a very, very special guest who is Jared McCartney.
Is that how I say your name? That's absolutely correct.
Lovely to be here. You've brought out the good weather.
Oh, yes. We're going to talk about that later. Anyway, so every episode,
well, we're saving it. Yeah, don't worry.
Every episode, we're going to talk about an amazing part of our lives and we're
going to interview someone. Which is banned.
(00:41):
Which is banned because banned is an amazing part of all of our lives.
We can also talk about the weather. And the weather. And guess what?
This week, we are in a place all together. So when I interrupt Tim,
it's going to not sound so terrible as it did last week.
But last week's podcast sounded really good. If you haven't heard it,
you can download it on stuff. Which nobody would have listened to it.
No one's listened to it yet.
(01:01):
Because I haven't publicized it at all. Yeah. Okay.
It's coming. Those 25 listeners out there. I'll tell you what,
25 people downloaded it and I got one subscriber and it was my husband.
Oh. Yeah. So that's nice, isn't it? That's great. It's a little wins.
Yeah, a little wins in life. So he's my greatest fan.
None of your family subscribed, Tim. No one's subscribed yet,
but loyal listeners, please subscribe because we're trying to do a podcast every
(01:22):
week in the lead up to Easter, which is the Australian National Band Championship.
Yeah, and if no one listens, we'll stop making them and that'll be very sad, wouldn't it?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, wow. Anyway, so Jared's here. And Jared, how are you today?
Very good. Very good. It's what, less than two months out from Nationals. It is.
Yes. I don't know when the podcast is coming out, but I'll treat it as if it's
(01:44):
been two months out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, release immediately.
Whether or not people will be listening to it immediately. Oh, yeah. Probably.
Probably, yes. Probably, yes. In like a year's time when we're famous.
So, Jared, two months ago, you're conducting Western Brass. Correct. Taking them over? Yes.
Are you playing tuba? I'm not playing tuba this year, unfortunately.
It's been a bit of a hit, but the Western Army got a bit big and raucous.
(02:07):
So, I went, you know, it's like herding sheep.
I can't herd sheep with a tuba. So, I went.
So, it's going to be a big campaign. It's my first nationals with the band and
the band's first interstate nationals in history. So, they did the Melbourne Nationals in 2018.
So, band pumped up and keen to get into marching.
Exciting. Oh, that's so exciting. It's my first nationals conducting too.
(02:29):
There we go. Who wins your first nationals conducting? Not this year. No, not this year.
We'll be soon. We'll be soon. Everyone takes up the stick at one point in their
life, don't they? Of course. And just to clarify for our lovely loyal listeners
out there, Robin, you're conducting?
Burundi Harmony in D grade, so we are not against you, Jared,
so that's okay. Aren't you in C grade? Correct. Ha-ha.
Yes. But competing in fashion sense.
(02:50):
I think we're the bands with, I'm hoping there's a dash of colour.
Yeah, we're going a bit more orange this year than we were. I have in the past,
which is good. Good. I'm going to go some orange.
We're going to hopefully get as much orange. I love the Western Brass mustard.
The mustard. It is hot mustard. It is. Hot sauce.
I must admit, when you're re-watching the Brass Band live stream,
it is really easy to find Western Brass. There is very little competition in
(03:13):
terms of highlighter yellow with a bit of grit in it.
It's what banding is all about. I love it. I love that yellow.
It's very distinctive. It is. But Jared, you're two months out. Correct.
What are you doing with the band two months out? Do you have a plan that he's
going to plan, or are you just like, let's see what happens this week? What?
(03:34):
Let's get inside the brain. We're actually doing pretty well.
We got started earlier on in the year.
Historically, the band sort of run around school terms. So, we got started, I think, 16th of Jan.
We've already done a weekend rehearsal and we chose a lovely 39-degree day and
we did start off with some marching practice and then I dealt with dehydrated
people for the next five or six hours.
So, yeah, no, it's been really good. I think, without spoiling any special surprises,
(03:59):
we've sort of focused on doing repertoire while we can achieve really well that
the band's really engaged with and somehow the band's enjoying the test piece
and we're only a month in, which is not an attack on the test piece specifically,
but test pieces in general, it normally takes a little later stages.
But we're drawing out some melodies.
We've got, yeah, there's so much to unravel in that.
(04:21):
The test pieces were, I thought, nicely selected this year. The D grade one's pretty nice.
Let's talk about the A grade test piece. Oh, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, too much politics. Yeah, B grade also got a bit.
Really? Yeah, that's okay. It's good choosing a piece before it's published.
It's all, the B grade ones are all right. They're all a bit like not particularly
exciting, but not overly bad, I thought.
(04:43):
Unless I haven't played the A grade one. Right down the mediocre line.
What's the A grade one like?
Is it bad? Oh, it's fine. So, yeah, there was a bit of drama with the A grade one.
And I think, yeah, but I think the new one, it's good. good.
It will test us against the European equivalent competitions.
A lot of them, you know, England's done it, you know.
All the other European countries have done it. So, you know,
(05:07):
it's a test piece. We need a yardstick. That's what a test piece is,
isn't it? A yardstick, exactly.
What is a yardstick? Like a stick in your yard? I don't know.
Which came first, the yardstick or the yard? How long's a yard?
Oh, this is going to turn into me looking up. Anyway, we've got a fantastic
structure for our podcast.
Oh, yeah, our structure. We've already gone off the structure.
All right, we start off with our hymn, which is our reflection of the last episode,
(05:28):
gigs and life in general.
So Tim's going to share with us a fun gig that his band did.
Yeah, I played in a gig last night with the fantastic Footscray Aeroville City
Band. Oh, fantastic. Will this work?
That's the Footscray Aeroville City Band playing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on
the march. Oh, fantastic. And now we've got a copyright strike.
No. I'm talking at the same time. No one's hearing anything.
(05:50):
Oh, yeah, that's true. True.
No, no. I've been to rehearsals. I've done a gig. You know, I've been playing
my tuba. I've been buzzing.
I've been practicing. I mentioned on last week's podcast I might not have practiced
for about like 15 years or so.
Should I decide to start practicing again? That's amazing. And did you march
with your tuba? I marched my tuba. The big one? The big one.
Good stuff. Wow. It's so heavy.
It was really strong. What straps do you go for, you know, big sturdy tuba?
(06:11):
Well, I'm playing an Imperial tuba. Oh, I see.
It's only got three buttons. It's quite heavy. Yeah. And I had a look at it
because I'd never put a strap on it. And last night, the two marching rings
were both on the same side for the hunts. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Like in a line. So it was awkward and it was quite horrifying.
Lopsided, yeah. But it was fun. Yep.
Oh, there you go. An unpopular opinion, perhaps. I love marching.
(06:34):
I've encouraged Western Brass to march. Spoiler alert if they're listening now,
but I think marching's optional this year. It is, yeah.
But we haven't really revealed that to the band, and the band's approaching it with enthusiasm.
Oh, no, I gave my band the choice. Yes. And we had a very narrow vote in favour of marching.
Okay. So now, like, all right, well, you voted and, you know,
Facebook polls for the win.
(06:54):
Yeah. And now you can't go away. Yeah, it's going to be really fun.
I had a chat with organisers of the Nationals about some, like,
streamy stuff, and all the venues are really close together.
So, like, I think C grade and A grade are in Elder Hall, and B grade and D grade
are in Scott's Auditorium or something, which is quite close by.
And then there's a parade ground, like, right across the road. Oh, sweet.
So, it's going to be a party all in the same place. Yeah. I love the party.
(07:15):
It's like, because that's, the march is when everyone comes together in the
same place, because otherwise it's all spread out through the days.
You might miss people. No, I do.
I'm for the march. Let's keep the march at the Nationals, I say.
You know, if there's certain people that don't want to do it, good on you.
But I think let's, you know, they've really leaned into the entertainment side
of things. I think that's fun.
You know, Robin, you know, Harmony will be out there in Shining Colors. I reckon it's great.
(07:38):
I love thinking of it. Sometimes there's a lot of pressure to think of something
fun every year. Yes. As long as you made a bit of it. And just reflecting on the week gone by, Robin.
The week gone by. Oh, yeah, we're getting off topic. Well, yeah,
sorry. We're reflecting on the week gone by.
You did a gig. I didn't do any gigs. Just full of rehearsals.
Did Sue Bradley come to your rehearsal?
Sue Bradley did come to my rehearsal. Yeah, I'm getting some conducting tips slash lessons.
(08:02):
Hi, Sue. Yeah, she laid into me a bit. I look at the score too much. Yeah.
That's good. Respecting the composer's intentions. Yeah. And,
Jared, you mentioned already that you had rehearsals at last weekend with Weston.
Oh, it might have been a couple ago. Yeah.
Maybe last. The weeks go fast. Is it one rehearsal a week at the moment?
So, we're pretty much sticking to, yeah, Tuesday nights.
And we've got two single-day weekend rehearsals. to try and really bite into,
(08:27):
you know, take some big chunks out of the piece.
Lovely. And big chunks have been removed in terms of progress.
That metaphor did not go the direction it ought to. Yeah, I'm sure you get disqualified
for removing chunks of a piece. Not if you're not looking at the score, though.
How would the composer feel if you were to remove chunks of his work?
Oh, they would not be impressed, I'm sure.
(08:47):
But, no, there's been some strategic chunks and rewritings of things,
but that's nothing that the adjudicators aren't already aware of. Yeah.
Oh, amazing. So, Jared, tell us.
I think we can go. Yeah, let's go on to our own choice. Let's talk about the
story of Jared. This is the own choice section of the podcast where you can
talk about whatever you want and we'd love to know everything about you. Yeah.
(09:08):
When did you start? Like, what's your story? What's your origin story?
Well, it's funny. You talk about this week.
We've unfortunately had one of our base players indicate this week they can't
make it to the Nationals for unexpected reasons.
So, I've sort of been on the run around trying to secure a second Bb bass player.
And someone from the Footscray organisation, who Western's affiliated,
(09:32):
said that there has been a new player that's come along, might be looking to join.
And he's actually the first ever brass player I learnt with at Moorland Junior
Band, however long, Joseph Williams.
So, I've reached out to him. Hopefully, if he can make it to Adelaide,
we'll try and make it happen.
But yes, that's how I started banding. So, I was about 10 years old.
I'd been doing piano for a little while.
(09:52):
And the local council paper sort of said, look, we've got a band.
Any juniors want to join? and at that stage it was about three or four players.
And I came along, started learning the tenor horn, the most glorious instrument of them all.
Got braces, couldn't play it anymore, moved to baritone after a stint on trombone,
which was not successful at all.
And then braces came off. The school told me baritone might not get you to places.
(10:16):
So, I learned the French horn, the trombone or the tuba.
And I could play a scale on a tuba despite doing a term of trombone.
And yeah, that's how it got into brass banding back in the Blue Moon.
Oh, so that was with Moreland. Moreland, yeah. So that was sort of,
I think Moreland was probably still competing.
What was that? It was really about 2007.
(10:39):
So I think there was still competitions. I don't know which era.
I'm not going to speculate in a public forum as to who might have been taken at that stage.
But yeah, so the junior band sort of picked up at that stage.
We probably got to about 15, 16 players.
Yeah. But, yeah, and I probably stuck with them until end of high school and
then got the invite with Northern in the Darabin organisation and that sort of community banding.
(11:02):
Ah. And then did you, you studied music at university?
I did. I did a double degree, but I did do a degree on music composition at
Monash, which was bundles of fun, not necessarily brass specialising,
but I crammed in what I could with my own choice assignments. Yes.
Yes. Yes. And now you're a lawyer, right? Correct. Yes.
(11:23):
That's very exciting. I don't know how, and you write music.
Yes. And you conduct a band. Correct. And you play the tuba.
Yes. Have you ever adjudicated?
I've adjudicated state events. My question, how much do you sleep a night?
How do you even fit all that in?
I don't know yet. I'm figuring now, I'm transitioning.
(11:44):
We had this lovely interview with Tim last year to ask you about how I manage
the law and the music side of things.
And I went very confidently, things are going to be okay And I think they'll
still be okay It's just expectations with work on the increase And just as my
expectations with my musical output on the increase But,
you know, I'm very spoiled Workplace, bands, they understand You know,
I had a chat with Danny at Burundara About my commitment to the band for the
(12:07):
Nationals And that I just didn't think I could meet the rehearsal campaign And,
you know, but hopefully keep the open door For post-Nationals and make things work.
And so, so many different parts of banding your life is in.
Is there like a common thread through all of them? Like, what is it that you
love about bands so much that you're writing music for them,
conducting them, playing in them, adjudicating bits around them?
(12:30):
I just love the brass bands, the ecosystem, the people that come in and you
just have so many personalities and the banding music, you know,
we're not afraid to have a bit of cheese.
We do the pop stuff. We do some real serious, cool stuff as well.
And compositionally, the brass band movement's actually fairly progressive in
terms of new new music, a new repertoire.
People will have a whinge about various test pieces and the like,
(12:50):
but it's just bands are just, you know, they're wicked. They're wicked.
There's your soundbite. I don't know. Brass bands are wicked. Wicked.
I mean, concert bands are wicked too. Have you played in many community concert bands, Gerard?
I have not. I have not. I did a bit of wind symphony work at Monash.
I had a timpani solo back in the day. Wow. Yeah, there was a uni open day and
(13:15):
I, you know, was helping percussion and then, yeah, picked up a chart that was timpani solo to finish.
So that's not, okay, that's not over. There's no concerto, timpani concerto.
But yes, no, I haven't done community wind bands.
There's certainly some wonderful ensembles in Victoria.
It's probably not as big as New South Wales, but, you know, I think there's
space for growth and, yeah, yeah.
(13:36):
Space for more bands. More bands. I agree.
Well, I want to do a whole episode about people who have been,
like played in high school, maybe did a little bit of community bands,
fell out of it and like getting them back.
Yeah. Getting them back in, like grabbing them by the scruff of the neck, throwing them back in.
Western Brass, I'm astonished with the growth we've had of players that have
(13:57):
put instruments away for not just COVID but like 10 years,
20 years and haven't played since they played with a community band interstate
or since they were at school or since they had kids and they brought it back out.
And it's just those people, the joy that they have playing this.
It's like they're prouder than, you know, having kids. It's just an incredible
experience. Sorry, Robin, I should be careful here. Do you relate to that, Robin?
(14:20):
I'm prouder than having kids. Oh, I don't know. It's just a different skill
really, isn't it? Yeah. But like the first step is the hardest one, I think. Of course.
And that's with community bands. I think if you get the right,
you know, I've always had open door policy and even people that say they want
an instrument to take away to have a bit of practice.
I'm just like, just sit in the third corner or
third baritone and wherever and just
(14:43):
play and play wherever you want and like i'm not gonna blame
you and if the band's the right thing they they
do a bit of practice and they come back and that's how the bands i
genuinely think has grown so much over the last yeah 12 24 months so is western
western's quite full at the moment very full we've got yeah we probably could
take an extra full-time bass or percussionist but otherwise i'm like you know
(15:05):
there's there's all the seats always there for you, Tim. But you're a very busy man.
I just think it's interesting because word on the street that I'm hearing is
that a lot of bands around Melbourne are quite full.
There are people trying to get in to find somewhere to play and there's not many spaces available.
There's new bands, I think, popping up. I know Glenferry's just started Auburn
and maybe some other things happening around the town.
(15:28):
But don't listen to this and say, oh, the bands are full. I'm not going to try.
Even if we're full, someone like, I know National says you can only have X amount
of players on stage, but it's always good to have a bit of a rotating roster
and someone can come and someone can pop in.
So, don't listen to us and say they're full. No, no. And I very much meant like
the bands are full now as an exciting thing because we all band are coming up all the time.
(15:49):
There's so many more opportunities to play. So, it's pretty exciting times. It's very exciting.
And we're often full, but disproportionate. There might be a fair few cornets
in the Western suburbs, but you know.
Exactly. Where are the timpani? Where are the timpani? But there must be somewhere
on a V line or something somewhere we could get them into the inner west.
And while speaking of percussionists and people getting into banding,
(16:11):
I know that Box Hill had a percussion thing going on. And Footscray's got a percussion thing.
Percussion Academy. Percussion Academy, where if you want to come and join a
band, maybe not play a buzzy instrument.
Yeah. You can get involved. Yeah,
you can learn the piano, go and do some xylophone, some glockenspiels.
Percussion is, it's a funny beast, isn't it? There's like a couple of parts
(16:31):
you actually obviously have to be quite good to play.
But often in a like a chart, there'll be a few like parts you could play it
like ding a triangle play.
As long as you can play in time, you can kind of do that.
Yeah. And then sometimes you'll get a really hard part with like thumb rolls
on a chamber. I can't do that. That's too hard. It's okay.
Adjudicators don't look down that far. So, if you do go to a contest,
(16:52):
it doesn't matter. and the audience at your local play out, they don't mind.
If you're smiling, no one's looking at your thumb action.
Bing bong on a tippy. I get so many endorphins playing percussion, I swear.
It's like the biggest smile on my face is the best fun.
It is. What's the worst thing that's gone wrong playing percussion for you, Robyn?
I'll tell you what, the last Nationals, and it wasn't even, I played a thing
perfectly and there was a big gong at the end and I was laughing and whoever
(17:15):
was on the camera zoomed right in on me and everyone was laughing at me.
And I didn't even get it wrong, but I have to always stop the gong with my behind.
Yes. I'm trying to be clean here. I'm pretty sure that's a professional technique.
Yeah, and they zoomed right in on me because I must have looked absolutely hilarious.
Was this in the B-grade test? Yeah. I think it was in the hall.
(17:36):
That was the most amusing performance.
And I felt bad. Poor Danny. All these guys at Danny Wong's go to all these rehearsals,
work so hard, and the camera's just been completely monopolized by me doing
a funny thing on the gong. No.
Those camera people. Terrible. Those camera people. He was like, she's entertaining.
Zoom in on her. But that's what the Brass Band Stream is all about.
We cut through the adjudication wish wash. We focus on entertainment.
(17:59):
Percussion's always entertaining. Well, that's a great – have we got any more
questions about Jared's life? Or do you have – and we're going to get into our questionnaire.
This is the own choice section still. So is there anything you'd like to say
to our thousands of loyal listeners out on the internet? No. Yes.
No, it's a pleasure. I don't know. I don't know. The questionnaire sounds threatening.
I'm sort of worried about the next segment. I think I need to stretch this out as much as I can.
(18:23):
No, we came up with this at the pub the other night. Yeah. Okay.
We're testing them out. They're good questions. I think they're funny.
Okay. But if you'd like to rate us on the questions afterwards.
I will do a rate here. I think also you can suggest a question for the next person. Okay.
Pass it on. Okay. Yeah, sure. All right. This is on the notes of my iPhone. Okay.
What are your thoughts on, this could be a controversial topic,
(18:44):
pick the uniform like we talked a little bit about your mustard yellow how do
you feel about look i think,
I can see why there's many bands in Australia that look, you know,
top notch. Brisbane Excelsior come out in the red and it's most impressive.
My personal position is Australia is a very diverse place and we have a very diverse climate.
I think we should, let's think a bit practically about our uniforms.
(19:09):
And yeah, this sounds very serious. But I genuinely think, I think a flexible
uniform set up, I'm more for keeping it relaxed. We're community musicians and
we play some pretty, you know, amazing things.
I think, you know, let's be like the people, dress a bit more comfy.
I'm wearing yellow sneakers on stage.
Like, let's just, you know, I think let's get people in, make them feel invited.
(19:31):
I wonder how sweaty Excelsior gets on stage. We've all got to ask one of them.
Shoulders ice. Yeah. They just come in. Yeah, that's very true.
Yeah, big jacket. All right, that's an interesting. Tim's a big fan of the jacket.
I like bands that obviously look like a band. I think uniformity is important.
(19:53):
Uniformity in a uniform is good. Yeah, absolutely. It's very difficult picking.
Our committee is trying to do some changes to our uniform, and it's like every idea is good.
It's like so hard to work out body shapes, sizes.
We've got women and men and old and kids and all these sorts of people that
don't fit sorts of things. You
can see why bands just say, let's just wear black shirts. It's too hard.
(20:13):
There's a band, I think they're out in the Netherlands, that there's some
i don't know if they've changed but they used to wear double denim
for every gig i'm not going to try and guess their name but
if you find them it's dirt and then a word sign with double denims oh exactly
but it is they won the second section and their video gets uploaded to youtube
and it is like an amazing site with everyone with like different colors of double
(20:36):
denim but it's like oh it's great it's spectacular that is the direction the bandage should go in,
I love it. I love it. Sorry, I should have led with that. That's a ripper.
I hate double dented. We're going to re-edit that, so that's what you lead with.
Don't worry. Please. Thank you.
All right. I've got to keep this clean. What's the biggest, and this is kind
of hard to answer. Biggest mistake. Biggest mistake that you've been involved with on stage.
(20:57):
Like it could have been you. Something went wrong. Like at a concert where something
really went completely awry. Or you personally made something go wrong.
Something could have fallen over. Yeah, no. I did have like all the classic
YouTube percussion fail videos.
I did have, I think it might have been the same performance as the timpani solo,
but we did an Eric Whittaker piece with the concert band and I sort of,
(21:18):
it was a bit hot under the lights and I sort of got slippery hands and had a
bass drum mallet fly across the stage nearly in our marimba play or something.
But that's, yeah, that's, yeah, that was, yeah, that was okay.
I don't think any, yeah, it might have been a rehearsal actually in retrospect,
but that's okay. Look, all roads lead to Rome, but yeah.
All right. We're going to get your opinion. Now, we've come down into Tim's
(21:39):
studio and seen these beautiful ergonomic chairs.
What's your opinion on chairs? We started chatting about that.
Oh, from a tuba perspective, it is actually paramount.
I think tuba players need to be first ones at rehearsal just to choose the right
chairs because every band room, there are always chairs that are too squishy,
too forward-leaning or too reclining.
(22:00):
Too reclining, yeah. I think they're all serious issues that other bands,
people, they don't get. Quarter players, oh, I need a comfy chair.
It's like tuba players, we do not need comfort, we need support.
And if you're playing a B-flat tuba and you're trying to rest on the chair in
front of you, if you've got like the chair shape, sometimes it goes down. It falls down.
It falls down and it's, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Or like in an outside gig and there's those plastic garter chairs with arms. Oh, arms.
(22:25):
No, no, that is a shocker. Shout out to Michael up in Bright.
He used to play with the state youth band with a piano stool and I actually
think it is a superior chair experience.
You've got room to move from a tuba playing perspective. Well,
how often do people lean back when they're on stage?
Does anyone play when they're leaning? I need a back. I feel weird on a stool.
(22:48):
I'm sure Harmon gets bars rest with Sydney City and leans back.
But when you get your rest, it's like, ah, I'm going to lean back.
I don't think I do, I think. So you're saying you don't need a back on a chair?
I don't think I need a back on my chair. I must admit, I could be a stool player.
Yeah, you're right. You have a little foldy thing you unfold.
But you've already got such a big instrument, it seems unfair,
like we were talking about the other week, if you're bringing your tuba and a chair to a gig.
(23:12):
Oh, I need someone to bring the chair for me, I guess. It's a bit,
yeah. Best solution, great. Yeah.
No, I did think with Siege, the test piece from last year, I thought the minute
of silence. Great piece.
The minute of silence at the end for most players, I thought Newcastle could
really have set up some squeaky chairs, people recline too much and you get
a squeak during the, you know,
(23:33):
flugelhorn gorgeous vibrato and then you squeak. I thought that could have been awkward.
That would be amazing. I think last year's Nationals was spectacularly organized.
Great event. Great event. Even if we didn't quite get the squeaky chair.
Yeah, no, that's okay. It was really good last year. It was really good.
I particularly liked, my favorite part was like that the two halls came out
into that one courtyard where the pub was.
(23:56):
But you could just sit there and it's like, I just sat there for about two,
three hours and all these people I know wanted past.
It's like you couldn't go half an hour without seeing something.
Exceptionally planned. Whereas sometimes they're like all separate out and you
don't really have a one area of conglomerate. I hear Adelaide's going to be
a very central city. It does sound very good.
So I don't know if there's a pub nearby, but I'm sure.
City of churches. Yes. Will be looked after. Yes.
(24:21):
Dear. All right, Jared, if someone, maybe think of your own band here, Western Brass.
All right, and you've had a new person come along to a rehearsal and they're
just like. And they never come back. And they've never come back.
Why do you think? Why, in your band in particular, would someone come along
to one rehearsal and never come back?
Just pick one reason. Okay. Uniform has been known to be polarizing. Really?
(24:44):
Especially because we're now running out of jackets. And the jackets that aren't
there, we don't have the logo, the Western Brass logo on top.
And I think those jackets haven't been dry cleaned.
So, I think they could be a bit smelly. I don't want to make it all about these jackets.
There's more to our band than these lovely mustard jackets. Are these jackets
bought from a previous band?
(25:05):
I believe two previous bands from regional Victoria. I'm not going to name names because I don't know.
But I'm sure I could. Mustard. Mustard coloured bands.
Yes. But, you know, if there is, I will do my homework this week and find that
band and say thank you again for the jackets.
They predated my involvement with the band. But to let them know that they're
(25:26):
leading. Go down under the patch to see what the patch below the patch is.
Yeah, they're there. They're there. Yeah, and- History.
Yeah. So someone could say, I can't play in this band because of your crazy
jacket. I can't possibly. Yes. No, I think it's going to be- Yeah.
I'd say it would be the jackets. There's got to be the lady reason. Yeah. I'm sure.
Yes. I don't think my similes and metaphors, when I conduct,
(25:47):
are particularly attractive.
I did describe trombone playing as they need to approach it more like a ratatouille,
as a layer of multiple delicious things. But, like, no one needs to stand out.
And I think if someone came to a rehearsal and heard that, they'd be pretty scared.
So- But then they'd see the jacket.
We don't rehearse in the jackets It'll lead up to a gig Do you think you should
(26:08):
rehearse in the jackets?
It's a different feeling, you want to practice all the variables I think it's
going to be 38 degrees next Tuesday night I'm not getting into the jacket Do
you practice in a jacket Tim?
No, I don't practice But maybe I do.
Alright, what do you think is the best instrument? Or if you could play a different
(26:31):
instrument so you can't include the tuba.
If you play a different instrument, what would it be? Within banding?
It could be anything. Worldwide.
Anything. Yeah, I picked the bassoon. That was weird. That is weird.
It's pretty weird. I don't know.
Do I want to be successful or do I just want to be like- No, no, for fun.
Like a gamelan or something. Yeah. No, I did do a stint at gamelan at uni. That's pretty fun.
(26:52):
If you like gongs, they've somehow mastered not dampening the gong with your
buttocks. Oh, yeah. They're pretty good with that.
Instrument that I want to learn. I don't know, I kept on leaning towards...
Not just knowing, just like if you could instantly be good at it too.
Yeah, like I leaned towards like a theremin or something odd,
synthetic, like a keytar. But I think that's...
(27:13):
We can stop at keytar, I think. Okay. It's a great image. You could have been
in the 80s. You seem like a man out of time.
I reckon you would have fit in. Okay. I feel insulted.
Not that you don't fit in right now, right here. Yeah, no.
I can really see you playing a keytar in like, you know, with one of those bands.
Rock bands. Cheetah, yeah. Yeah, the bands with the like.
(27:34):
Wham. Yeah. Wham. Wham 90s? 80s. They're before my time. I'm just going to show off my age.
They wake you up before you go-go. That's 80s. That could be 70s. No.
I don't know. Okay. Could be. Could be. All right. All right. Keith.
That is an awesome answer. No one else is going to come up with an answer.
I don't know if Keith's and I dissed your bassoon. I'm awfully sorry. No.
(27:57):
There's no. We're in a safe space. There's no. You can ask this one.
Okay, yeah the next question.
It's the one with the smiley. Okay, do you practice your instrument?
I've definitely been practising conducting. The tuba? The tuba.
When did you last practise the tuba?
At home? Not in a rehearsal hall? Like long notes. Long notes.
(28:17):
See, long notes, okay, so not played in a tune.
Yeah. Long notes is going to be before Christmas. I must be honest,
I'm sorry, Danny, but I haven't got a nationals campaign to work towards.
In that time, have you been to a rehearsal where the conductor said,
oh, has everyone practised? And did you nod?
I haven't been to a rehearsal with a tuba this year. It's a bit sad.
(28:38):
I've sort of got our jail-free card.
Oh, that's okay. Sorry, committee. Mine was like 15 years, so that's all right.
Yeah, okay. That's fine.
So, and we're celebrating Lunar New Year. Correct. Lunar New Year.
Yes. What's your opinion on Year of the Dragon?
Is it your favourite piece ever? If not, why not? Year of the Dragon is not
(29:00):
my favourite piece ever, but it is a spectacular piece.
Anyways, it is, I have tried doing a side-by-side comparison of many of Philip
Spark's wind band and brass band works.
I am going to say Year of the Dragon is best served in brass band format.
Because of the trombone solo in the second movement? Correct.
I don't think the cor anglais really does it justice.
(29:23):
No, the version he put it in the saxophone. Oh, okay. Well, that sounds like fun.
But yeah. Hi, Philip. He did a 2019 version of the wind band. Yes. He did, yeah.
Yeah. But you love a trombone in there. Yeah, no, the trombone.
I think it's more spectacular.
He writes the scorings much, I think, more evocative in the brass band.
I think so. I think so. Yeah. There's some of the other music of the spheres,
(29:47):
controversial opinion, I think is best served in wind band.
There's many brass banders that might not like me saying that,
but I think the colours are much better and the blend with the percussion.
Well, on the topic, what are your thoughts on Extreme Makeover, concert band music?
Have you heard that? Yeah, I have heard the – I haven't heard it live.
So, I don't know. I think I want to hear it live.
(30:10):
Yeah. But – I love the toots in that song. I can only add that I love the toots.
The toots. That's all I remember.
Isn't that the one where you go toot, toot on the bottom? Do they all go toot,
toot in the wind band version?
Toot, toot. Yeah, they do. I don't think I've seen a live performance of the wind.
Was it 2010 when Johan de Mey came out to – because he composed Extreme Makeover.
He came and was a communicator at the Hobart. Yeah.
(30:32):
And he came out the week before to do a concert with the Granger Wind Symphony.
But something went wrong and he couldn't be there to conduct the concert and
I was meant to play, but I was also not there. I think it was like his.
It sounds very suspicious. You two ran off to the pub.
Oh, I love some Year of the Dragon. That's all right. So I've got one more question. Okay.
What's the weirdest thing someone has brought to a rehearsal?
(30:57):
There's been many good excuses. I don't think that counts. Yeah,
no, someone had their car stolen with their cornered in the back.
Oh, yes. But the thing brought to rehearsal.
We've had a blow-up pumpkin. We had that Western Brass had a performance last year.
For Halloween or something? No, we had a spin on Cinderella.
(31:19):
It was called Cornetella. It was a ripping show. We were narrowly beaten by
Geelong West on entertainment value.
But, yes, we dressed our soprano corner player, Jim, who's a Footscray He's
the current Australian National Cornet Champion Exactly B-Flight Cornet Champion
He's so good on B-Flight Cornet but such is the depth of Western's B-Flight Cornets,
(31:39):
Couldn't get a seat Yeah We had to give him E-Flight Cornet but yeah he dressed
up as an inflatable pumpkin for part of the show to rescue Cornetella from a
disastrous evening at the Brass Band Ball So it had one of those like.
Fans in it exactly inflated exactly can't sit down on no
alien thing and he couldn't sit down in it
at halloween when we all dressed up yeah no he just stood up
(32:00):
the whole concert yeah no i i make all my corners stand up
for the majority of all concerts i don't know how it's gonna work for nationals
no no we'll sit them down we don't we haven't got um inflatable pumpkins planned
for the nationals but i actually we let's see if we can borrow it because harmony
it would suit you with the orange yeah we're orange yeah on the street much
you need a whole set of them yeah Yeah, a whole set.
(32:21):
This, this, Halloween with the pumpkins. That'd be pretty good. Yeah. I'm all for that.
Will I get copyrighted for singing that? Or was that singing?
No, it should be all right. It's fine. Yeah, all right, all right, all right.
Fair use. So do you have a question that you think we should ask our next guest?
We don't know who the guest is. Well, some of us do. Okay.
Yeah, it depends who it is. No, no, no, it doesn't. Yeah. You can think about
(32:43):
it if you want and come back to us later.
You could email us at awesome at brassband.com with ideas. Awesome at Brass
Band. Yeah, funny. It's funny, we want to keep our podcast light.
We're not getting too into the depths of the, like, we was robbed type.
Yeah. I did want to call the podcast that, but like in a joking way.
We was robbed. We was robbed. You know, like when you do.
For the crime spinoff, I'd say we was robbed. True crime. Brass band edition. Yes.
(33:08):
Oh, yes. 2009.
Sorry. What happened to that in 2009? The dove really descended. Oh, gee.
Look, you can ask what's a socially acceptable. When does it become a true pedal note?
I think that's all about. I don't know if that's too serious.
I think it comes down to the fundamentals, right? Yeah.
(33:29):
But some people have questionable views on what pedals.
I had one person think anything below the low C is a pedal. And I was like,
no, I think you've got to drop an octave at the very least. I think so. I don't know.
I hope a Bocassianist gets asked that question next. What's an acceptable pedal?
Where does the pedal range start? Yeah.
(33:50):
We're going to ask the next person that. I guess it depends what sort of timpani
you're playing. Can you please make sure they don't know who asked that question? Timpani have pedals.
Oh, okay. Well, I'll write it on the list and I'll say, preface,
this is a stupid question. Preface.
Preface. Preface. Yeah. I would love it if, like, if someone discovers our podcast
(34:12):
at, say, like, you know, episode seven, and they're like, this is pretty good.
I'm going to go listen to all the previous ones.
But we keep telling them what's going to happen in the next one.
Like, it's a bit spoilerish, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Because they're going to listen to them backwards.
Like, they'll listen to an episode where they're like, we're saying,
what do you accept to be a pedal note?
And they'll be like, that's a weird question. And then they'll listen to the
next one. I reckon we probably need to just scrap the pedal note question just
(34:34):
for the sake of the podcast. I'm writing it down. I'm awfully apologetic.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. That might be a good one for Adam Arnold.
If you want to talk about, you know, primary school bands. Not that I'm dubbing him podcast guests.
Yeah, we are. We're getting him after nationals. Oh, good. Post-nationals.
Well, Adam doesn't know that if you're listening. Okay. Hey,
Adam. Cool. I gave him a mouthpiece the other week.
(34:54):
Everyone's getting on our podcast. We're going to have like 200 episodes.
Actually, that's a good question.
Whose gear have you got that you probably ought to give back? Gear? Yeah.
Because I reckon I've got a mouthpiece that I'm fairly- I, it was definitely
given to me, but there was a while there that I had some tuba straps that I
really need to give back.
And I have given them. We've got so many liars at our house.
(35:14):
Yeah. We moved house and I found like six of them. And that's not my fault.
Ben, he just like takes a liar to March and then goes home and then doesn't
put it back in the liar box.
And then the band's always like, where are our liars, Gordon?
I've got a confession. Yeah.
Hello, Footscray, Arable City Band librarians. Mm-hmm.
When I play with a band and when I'm streaming at the same time,
(35:34):
I quite often just leave the stage and run off with all my stuff.
I found all of these folders of music. Photocopies are all photocopies.
For the past, how many competitions have I been in? No originals.
All photocopies, which is legal for practice purposes, which I then burn because
that's what you're meant to do. That's what you're meant to do.
(35:57):
Hi, Emily. That's a good question. You've given us two questions, so that's pretty good.
All right. Well, that's the end of our questionnaire. Thank you.
Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
End of the test. Oh, yes. Is it time for me to rate? It's time for the march.
You can stop. It's time for the march.
Oh, my goodness. Here we go. No. Do I need to rate the questionnaire, though?
(36:18):
No. Okay. We weren't asking. Wasn't that the deal? Yeah, yeah.
I thought, yeah, rate the questionnaire out of 10. I'll give it 8 out of 10. Yeah.
Cool. Good chat. Good chat. All right. All right, we're up to the march,
and so what's going on around town?
This is when we're just doing a talk about current, so we've talked about the
past and then we're talking about the future. Yeah, fantastic.
(36:39):
Yeah, so. Does Western have any gigs before Nationals?
We'll do a pre-Nationals concert, which will hopefully be with Footscray,
a format to be confirmed.
But please head to Footscray or Western's social media, Facebook, Instagram.
I don't know if we've got TikTok yet or if we would. I want to get TikTok,
but I think I'm too old for it. TikTok is very helpful for conductors.
(37:02):
Okay. Yeah, it keeps you in time. No, but if I sign up to it,
then I'll be, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Isn't it very addictive? I don't know. I haven't got TikTok.
Yeah, no, it's never. Do you have TikTok? Only bands. Only bands. Only bands.
Oh, man. Robin, what's going on with you? What's coming up?
Oh, I don't think so. It's got to be in the next seven days.
(37:24):
My son plays in the Dandenong Youth Band.
He plays the timpani and they're doing a little gig before an outdoor cinema thing.
But I'm like, aren't you just going to rock up and take a drum kit?
He's like, no, we're not going to be having full percussion at this gig,
so I don't know what he's going to play. I'll have to give him a tambourine. That's triangle.
Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't really care. His favourite part of going to rehearsal
(37:45):
is spinning around on the timpani wheelie chair. Yeah.
Yeah. Stop spinning. Yeah. You're not ready when it comes in. Yeah.
The conductor had to tell me that during my timpani solo back in the day. Yes.
And as we sit here on spinny chairs, I'm like, oh, spinny, you're out.
So, I really can't. You know, that's a pretty fair criticism of my poor kid. Yeah.
Vanessa, how about yourself, Tim? Great. In the next week or so, what am I?
(38:06):
Not much. I've got a Footscray rehearsal. Yeah. Monday night.
I might do some practice, do some buzzing. We're doing breathing practice,
actually. Okay. In the actual rehearsal?
Well, yes, we've got a super secret special breathing technique pattern that the whole band's doing.
Which reminds me of being back at uni when we went to learn how to breathe.
Oh, no. We had breathing pipes.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. From Bunnings.
(38:27):
It's been good. They didn't have those in conducting class. Breathing pipe?
Composing class, yeah. A different type of class.
Oh, I love it. Have you had sectionals yet? Yes.
Okay. Last Thursday. On Thursday. Coke and Cokes. It was really good. Cool.
We played a lot of good notes together, but we made sure to save some for the
performance as well. Yeah. Of course. I like a sectional. Yeah.
(38:49):
It's like, get a bit more bonding in, don't you?
I'm all up then for the social connections. In case you didn't notice this,
I'm talking about all serious things. I'm like, no, I love a bit of bonding
in a sectional. It's the best part of banding.
We're at 45 minutes. Oh my goodness. These episodes are supposed to go for 20
minutes. Oh, it's true. All right. I'm going to have to cut out a lot.
This could be two episodes.
(39:12):
We're not getting into like you know Hunger Games part 3 Plus by the time you
add all the ads Okay if you got bored halfway through this Don't feel bad if
you turn it off after 20 minutes It's okay,
Switch it to next guest That episode will be good,
Thanks Robin Yay I will Jared thank you so much for joining us I hope you enjoyed
(39:36):
yourselves It was great to get to know you a little bit better Always a pleasure
Yeah We still don't have an exit theme music Do you want to sing Year of the Dragon?
We've got to sing Year of the Dragon together I'll do the snare drum At the
start First movement Do we have to do third movement?
We can do first movement together Oh yeah okay It's good double tonguing practice Okay Okay,
(40:03):
Good stuff thanks guys Bye everyone Bye Oh stop Bye-bye.
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