The City of Wollongong Brass Band has shone on the national stage.
At the 2023 Australian National Band Championships, held from 7 to 10 April in Newcastle, both its Junior Brass Band and its Wind Band took out first place in their sections, while 16-year-old euphonium player Julian Eckermann, from Edmund Rice College, excelled in a “brilliant and dynamic” solo performance of Freefall by Australian composer Jared McCunnie.
“Our junior band’s principal euphonium came second in the junior solo euphonium contest,” said City of Wollongong Brass Band president Alan Wilkie. “So we currently have the second-best junior euphonium player in Australia, which is fantastic.”
The national championships were the first live event since 2019 and Alan said the City of Wollongong Brass Band did “extremely well”.
“Our Wind Band won their section, which was the Open C Grade Concert section. They award places in each of four categories. So, they have to play a hymn, they have to play a test piece, prescribed by the contest organisers, and then you have an ‘own choice’ and a stage march. Our concert band came first in each of those four sections, so we also came first overall.
“And our Junior Brass band achieved the same result in their section. They won the Junior C Grade Brass in each of the categories as well as the overall championship.
"I’m super proud of our junior band.”
The junior brass band has about 34 members ranging in age from nine to 18. They placed first in the Hymn (In Perfect Peace), Test piece (Fanfare, Theme & Finale for the HPs!), Own Choice (Neverland) and Stage March (Slaidburn).
“They played really, really well,” Alan said. “The audience loved it, and obviously the adjudicator liked it as well.”
Alan – a Bulli local who plays the trombone and took on the role of band president two years ago – said it was “a real thrill” to be at the first national championships to be held post pandemic.
“The week after I was elected president was when we had the first of the really serious lockdowns,” he said. “And so getting the bands through that and online rehearsals and having to defer concerts and do concerts outdoors when there were restrictions … [we’ve had] lots of challenges, but the really exciting thing is that having come out of that we've still got full bands and they're really strong.
“It was pretty exciting [to perform in Newcastle]. And the band played extremely well. We pushed ourselves pretty hard. I think overall we played really well, both as individuals and collectively.
“Being in the wind band and winning that section was a real highlight. It was the first time I've ever participated in nationals. The last time it was in New South Wales was 2015, which was just before we started with the band.
“I played piano and guitar [as a child] and it wasn't until my kids got involved with the brass band that I picked up trombone. So for me, it's only been since 2016 – I’m a relative newcomer to the whole business."
The City of Wollongong Brass Band is a not-for-profit organisation that welcomes new players, be they beginners or musicians with years of experience. Carrying on the tradition of British-style brass bands, the band has a proud history in the community. It was founded before the Second World War by steelworkers who rehearsed in a tin shed on Ellen Street in Wollongong and chipped in kerosene to light the lamps so they could read music at night.
“The City of Wollongong Brass Band has been in operation since 1937,” Alan said. “It started out as the steelworks band and it's now branched out – we have a brass band, a junior brass band and a concert band, or a wind band, as they're sometimes called. Each band has about 30 people. The concert band has a few more, about 40 people.
“It's all community bands, so we're not professional musicians. We’re just ordinary people, who enjoy getting together and playing music.
“We support events like Anzac Day. You'll see us every year participating in the Wollongong march. We also play hymns at the services and we supply the buglers for some of the dawn services.
“This year we will be at Shellharbour and Port Kembla at the Dawn Service. There's a service and a march at Windang and then we'll be at the main march through Wollongong. We have to split up into different groups and we all come together for the [Wollongong] march.”
As well as Anzac Day performances, the band also plays at concerts during the year. Rehearsals are held weekly at their band hall on Church Street in Wollongong.
After their triumph at the Newcastle nationals, Alan said the band is looking forward to the NSW State Band Championships, which will be held in August at Penrith's Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre.
There are always opportunities for new players to join the band, with the brass band including tubas, trombones, horns, trumpets and percussion, while the concert band adds woodwind instruments, such as the flute, clarinet and oboe, to the mix.
For more information, visit the City of Wollongong Brass Band’s website. You can also phone their answering service 4288 6328, email contact@wollongongcityband.org.au or follow the band on Facebook
