Music for Jenny
Our dear friend Jenny Morrish has recently passed away, and our thoughts are with Jenny's family and close friends during this time.The planned benefit concert is going ahead on Sunday 23rd August, and together we will share in an afternoon of remembering and celebrating Jenny's life.What an incredibly cool, kind, and talented woman she was.Jenny, we miss you.x-PROGRAM-3:30 PM Jacob Abela- Piano4:00 PM Footscray-Yarraville City Band4:30 PM Percussion Ensemble----------------------------------------5:00 PM DINNER: BBQ, drinks, cake stand. (GF/ Vego options available) Gold coin donation.-----------------------------------------6:00 PM Combined Orchestra with Simon Thew:-Candide Overture, Bernstein-Don Giovanni Overture, Mozart6:30 Combined Orchestra with Fabian Russell:- Symphony No. 7, Beethoven-VENUE-Orchestra Victoria, 25 Albert Dr Rd, Albert Park VIC 3206-TICKETS-Adult $20U 17 $10Tickets available at the doorAs chosen by Jenny and Jenny, donations will be given to The Alfred Hospital and Peter Mac.-WHAT ELSE?-There will be many other things happening throughout the event:BLIND AUCTIONRAFFLEFUNDRASING HEADSHAVESo make sure to bring plenty of spare change :)See you there!For more information please contact:louisa_trewartha@hotmail.com
2015 Victorian State Solo & Ensemble Championships
The 2015 Victorian State Solo and Ensemble Championships were once again held at Our Lady of Mercy College on 25-26 July, and many of Footscray's finest competed again this year.Nearly all the open sections contained a Footscray player in them, with up to 5 Scraggers in some sections!! All performed to an excellent standard with many placing 1st or 2nd in their sections, which meant we won the Open Aggregate Trophy for the second year in a row!!!2015 Results:Open Slow/Sacred Melody - Alison Teece 1st place.Open Bb Cornet - Jamie Lawson 1st place, Brenton Burley 2nd place.Open Trumpet - Marcus McLaughlin 1st place, Madeline Anderson 2nd place.Open Flugel - Marcus McLaughlin 1st place.Open Baritone - Kathryn Cooper 1st place.Open Euphonium - Andrew Heading 1st place.Open Trombone - Emily Furlong 2nd place.Open High Tuba - Emily Hansen 3rd place.Open Low Tuba - Iain Fisher 1st place, Emily Hanson 2nd place.Open Quartet - Scraggers Tubas 1st place, Scraggers Trumpets 3rd place. A big congratulations to all who competed!!!We hope to see FYCB represented by even more players next year!
ANZAC Centenary Commemorative Concert
ANZAC Concert 26-4-15Join us for an afternoon of wonderful music to commemorate the Centenary of ANZAC.The concert features the mighty Footscray-Yarraville City Band with internationally renowned Contralto Liane Keegan, Geneva Instruments™ artist Jamie Lawson, and International Organ soloist Thomas Heywood on the fabulous St Andrew's Church organ.
Workshop with Professor David King
Last Thursday evening, Footscray-Yarraville had a workshop under the world-renowned Professor David King, sharing his amazing musical insight and offering extremely valuable advice on the major work for the state championships, "Dances and Alleluias" by Philip Sparke. Some members of the band chose to have a one on one lesson with David, and all found the lessons to be extremely beneficial to their playing. We are very lucky to have such a magnificent musician giving the band his time, and eagerly look forward to another workshop in the future!
Dan and Elle from Fox FM's Suprisal
FYCB was honoured to be a part of a surprise proposal on an epic scale! Read the full article here. Have tissues handy![envira-gallery id="541"]
Surprisal on FOX FM
Matt and Jo, popular hosts from Melbourne's Fox FM, had been busily planning a proposal on an epic scale for Dan and Elle, dubbed Mr. and Mrs. Right. FYCB floated past during proceedings playing a specially arranged version of "Marry You" by Bruno Mars. Words can only go so far in describing the effort that went into pulling off this massive proposal! Check out the videos and photos of the whole proposal here.Here are a few photos of Footscray (Plus some lovely helpers) in action![nggallery id=3]
2013 National Band Championships Wrap-Up
Perth put on it's very best weather for the 2013 national championships, which saw a very healthy turnout, despite the distance for many east-coast bands. The competition was tough in the A-Grade section, with last year's champs, Brisbane Excelsior and the RASWA band, led by brass band legend Robert Childs looking like the favorites. The A-Grade section took place in Winthrop Hall at UWA, a stunning stone hall with a towering wooden ceiling.For the Hymn, FYCB played "Mid all the Traffic", an arrangement that had no bells, whistles or shiny things, just a pure and gorgeous melody with rich harmonic accompaniment. The final note filled the hall and all that was heard after was a release of air from performer and audience alike. From such a serene end, the first epic chord of the test piece, "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" nearly blew the roof right off! It was a performance of soft and lyrical passages followed by furious and driving passages finally ending in a stunning chord that resembled the end of the hymn.The street march, which was rehearsed for about as long as the course itself, once again received a great response from the crowd, and questionable looks from the adjudicators! Performing the 12 bar shuffle "Mardi Gras in New Orleans", our 'unique' style of marching was in top form, featuring kazoos and a sung chorus, not to mention a dropped trombone slide (caught on film in HD!), one side drummer jumping in half way through (brushing one of the adjudicators), and a few players strutting like their uniform is in style (Got them moves like scragger)!Back in Winthrop Hall, the venue was filled with eerie sounds from the percussion and a mysterious and powerful horn solo, followed immediately by a musical rendition of the bang. That's right, it's Sparke's famous "Music of the Spheres", a whirlwind of colossal explosions followed by deep emptiness, asteroids and shooting stars, a hommage to the tones of the universe finishing with an exciting outlook to the discovery of the unknown. The many solos and soli, designed to test the best in the business, were played excellently by our principal chairs. The march, "O.R.B" was played with absolute technical finesse, with a stunning cornet solo from our principal cornet Jamie Lawson.Overall, Footscray placed 5th in the A-Grade section, a respectable result for a band made of almost all core players. Unexpectedly, Footscray placed 2nd in the stage march, a definite change of fortunes for that section!Well done to all players for their commitment in striving to make top class music, and of course to Phillipa Edwards, our esteemed MD, for putting in so much work. The band is already working towards Brisbane in 2014, so look out A-Grade sections, next year is the year of the scragger!
Hello, Internet!
Welcome to the new (and under construction) FYCB website! Sure, it may not look pretty now, but just you wait!!!
2012 Recap
What a year it has been for the Footscray-Yarraville City Band! We have been involved in some amazing projects, both in contest and in concert.This year we were declared the 4th best brass band in the country from our participation in the Melbourne national contest. This was a great result for the band. Most notable was our excellent performance of the selected test piece, Cambridge Variations. We also showcased the ability of the band to push the boundaries of brass band repertoire, with a performance of Beyoncé in the street march!Soon to follow the nationals was the Best of British, where our collaboration with Dr. Jonathon Welch and THE CHO!R filled the Melbourne Town Hall with some of the best old and new music from the motherland. The concert was such a success that it was repeated later on in the year a few blocks away!The ball continued rolling after the first Best of British. The very next rehearsal the band knuckled down to prepare for the New Zealand national championships. Braving the cold, Footscray-Yarraville certainly showed the potential of the mob across the ditch, which was particularly evident in our rendition of the brass band classic, Harmony Music. An excellent time was had by all, and every band member refrained from making sheep jokes (A feat not to be looked over!).With no FABB contest this year, Footscray-Yarraville put on a Spring concert with the Hyde st Youth Band, the recently formed Western Brass, and many others at the newly refurbished St. John’s church in the heart of Footscray. Due to such a positive reception, there are plans to make it an annual event!Moving towards the merry end of the year, Footscray-Yarraville once again joined Jonathon Welch and 2 of his marvellous choirs for a truly festive carols evening which packed out St. Michaels in the city. The festivities continued with the annual carols in the Yarraville Gardens, playing with the Hyde st Youth Band, Western Brass, Jonathon Welch and THE CHO!R and many other special guests to 2500+ merry local folks, concluding with an amazing display of fireworks backed by the Hallelujah Chorus.With many other performances in between these, the year has certainly shaped up to be a busy time for the band. A massive thank you to all the players for their ongoing commitment, the committee for making all the important decisions for the benefit of band, to all the wonderful musicians/groups/people we’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with over the year. Finally, a huge thank you on behalf of everyone to Phillipa Edwards, our esteemed musical director, whose expertise has made all of our endeavours this year possible.Looking into next year, we already have some very exciting projects in the works (to be announced soon), and several contests we are looking forward to competing in. If next year is anything like this year, we will be sure to have another solid year of fine brass band music. Keep on Scragging!
Bright Oktoberfest 2012
Sun, beer, german sausages and Oom-pah-pah brass playing. What more do you need? A great weekend away had by all![envira-gallery id="525"]