Brass Whanganui performing traditional concert before festive season hits

The band "cleaned up" at last month's Central Districts competition. Photo / Michael Davis

Brass Whanganui is capping off an impressive year of competition with a concert for the purists.

The band finished seventh in the A-Grade at this year’s national competition, guaranteeing its place at the top table for next year.

Musical director Bruce Jellyman said it “cleaned up” at last month’s Central Districts competition where six bands took part.

“We managed to put some distance on everybody and that was good to see,” he said.

“The band played a piece - Bipolarity - that we played at nationals. It’s extremely difficult but we’ve had a really good time with it.

“We also did From Dawn to Dusk by Hamish (Jellyman), which is 20 minutes long. It’s great to play pieces written by our own members and have them be really successful.”

Brass Whanganui’s only traditional show of the year - A Very Brass Band Concert - takes place this weekend.

“This is for our brass band enthusiasts, really,” Jellyman said.

“There will be five people coming up from our number two band playing their first-ever senior gig. They’ll be panicking but that causes people to rehearse.”

The other major concert this year was the poetry and art-infused Sound Canvas, held over three days at the Royal Whanganui Opera House.

Jellyman said four band members - Bryn Morgan, Toby Clark, Connor Rooke and Mitchell Cosford - recently attended the National Secondary Schools Band programme in Cambridge.

Clark has also been selected in the New Zealand youth band.

“That is quite extraordinary,” Jellyman said.

“It’s an under-23 band and he is 16,17. It’s a big win for him. He is actually that good.”

Jellyman said kids were still picking up brass instruments in Whanganui - so much so that the band often ran out of those instruments.

It was a very good position to be in but more money was needed to keep up with demand.

“If you create access for kids to instrumental music, some will go and do it,” Jellyman said.

“It’s that access that holds them up most of the time, and often, parents don’t know how to access it.

“If anyone wants to play, all they have to do is get in touch with me.”

A Very Brass Band Concert is on at the Jane Winstone Chapel this Sunday, October 15.

It starts at 3pm and entry is $20.

Concerts act as fundraisers for instruments and for the band’s room itself - located next to the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment on Queen’s Park Pukenamu.

Brass Wanganui owns the building and leases the land from the Whanganui District Council.

A parapet wall needed to be repaired, with quotes so far around the $170,000 mark, Jellyman said.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.