Hello and welcome to the November 2019 E-Letter from Feilding Brass.

Sunday afternoon it was, the band was due to play.

A bit of a dreary Sunday, but people came anyway.

In the Feilding Civic Centre, where Carissa led the band.

A concert called “Sing & Toot”. It really would be grand.

Starting off the concert, we played the famous “Ticket To Ride”.

And Nadia played the solo “I’m Yours”, on her very musical slide.

We also had a sing-a-long, with the audience taking part.

Good old songs from yesterday. They were singing from the heart.

Our special guest artist Erna, sang her little set

With such amazing talent, a performance not to forget.

She graced us with her presence, in the second half as well

Once again with her vocals, and a musical tale to tell.

In the midst of the second half, a new soloist this time.

Michael played “Benedictus”. A beautiful tune of all time.

Another chance for a sing-a-long. Who could so no.

“It’s A Long Way To Tipperary, It’s a long way to go…”

“Deep Inside The Sacred Temple”, a duet for E Flat bass.

Played by Keenan and Nigel. Such beauty and grace.
(The music, that is).

To end our amazing concert, Sir Duke echoed the hall.

Thank you to our audience and our sponsors.

Thank you one and all.

Feilding Brass would also like to acknowledge long service awards this year to band members Terry Lowe, Karen Willis and Murray Coffey who all got 25 year service awards, presented to them by the Manawatu district Mayor Helen Worboys.

Please click on Gallery to see these and more photos from our Sing & Toot concert, taken by photographer Jarod Carruthers.

On Monday 2nd December 2019 at 7pm at the Feilding Brass Bandroom, our Training Band led by Catherine Duxfield is having their end of year concert. Come along and see what they have been up to during this year, and have a chat with Catherine.

Coming up in December the band is once again in full Christmas swing with parades in Dannevirke, Ashhurst, Levin and Feilding. As well as Carols by Candlelight in Feilding.

Hope to see you at one of them.

Feilding Brass in the warm up room prior to going on stage.

July 12 & 13 saw Feilding Brass participate in the 2019 New Zealand Brass Band Championships which was held in Hamilton.

It has been 6 years since the band attended a National contest, and it was the first one that Musical Director Carissa Davies has taken the band to, so was a very proud moment for her.

On Friday 12th July the band played the Hymn “Mid All The Traffic” and set Test Piece “Penlee”, on day one of the C Grade competition at Claudelands Event Centre in Hamilton.

During the days leading up to and during the contest, the weather was not playing very nicely and due to the ongoing rain, the organisers decided to call off the traditional Street March part of the competition.

However, since the Claudelands Event Centre is so huge they decided to have an impromptu  “Indoor Parade of Bands” to those bands that wanted to have a march, which would not be judged. So around 7 bands including the visiting Chicago Brass Band from USA took up the offer, which pleased the public.

On Saturday 13th July, Feilding Brass played their Own Choice test music “Dark Side Of The Moon” which was well received in the auditorium, and the band came off stage feeling very proud of what we had played.

Competition results for a band that has not competed at this level for 6 years, was a good result for the band. Feilding Brass came 3rd= in the Hymn, and 4th in the Test and Own Choice with an overall placing of 4th in New Zealand for the C Grade competition for 2019.

A great deal of thanks has to go to Carissa Davies and Stephen Lawton for steering the band in the right direction leading up to and during this National contest. The band appreciates the hard work behind the scenes that was put in to getting the band into contest mode and seeing it through.

As always, getting to competition is made easier with the support of local businesses to get us there, so the band would like to acknowledge the financial support of the above businesses for backing the band.

Our next competition will be the Central Districts Association Contest, which will be on Saturday August 31st & Sunday September 1st 2019 in Palmerston North, so we look forward to seeing you there. More information about the contest will come next month.
For more photos of Feilding Brass playing at the Nationals, please click on Gallery.

Would like to say a big thanks to Tim from Brassbanned for the live streaming of this event which allows for these great photo shots.

Today, members of Feilding Brass head up to Hamilton to compete in the C Grade section of the New Zealand Brass Band Championships 2019.

Months of hard work with practice, practice, practice will see the band competing on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th July which will be live streamed on http://www.brassbanned.com

Behind the scenes our MD Carissa Davies has done alot of work getting the band prepared for this competition and we are very grateful for what she has done.

The 2 band events that Feilding Brass is in on Friday start at 9am and 12.30pm, and the one on Saturday starts at 10am. Click on the pictures below for details.

A light hearted event was held last Friday when MD Carissa and Eb Bass player were on Manawatu 92.2 More Fm radio station talking about the band and upcoming contest, and having a bit of a tune on the Tuba. Was a lot of fun.

For a small town band going to a National Contest not only is a big commitment from band members musically, but also financially. So Feilding Brass would like to acknowledge and thank the following businesses for their support of our band to help us get to the Nationals.

We look forward to sharing our results with you, and wish to thank you all for your support of Feilding Brass.

March 24, saw the first official gig of 2019 for Feilding Brass at Brass In The Park in Levin, hosted by Levin & Districts Brass Band. This included performances by Levin & Districts Brass Band, Feilding Brass, Porirua Brass and Kapiti Brass throughout the afternoon.

Feilding Brass’ set included two vocal numbers by Steve Mackley, singing Mack The Knife and Carissa Davies singing And All That Jazz.

A great afternoon was had by everyone, and the weather was perfect for the occasion.

15 March 2019, New Zealand saw its darkest day, with the terrorist event that happened in Christchurch killing 50 people. Feilding Brass wishes to send its condolences to the families of the victims taken from them.

The Feilding community held a vigil at the clock tower on Monday 18 March, and Feilding Brass was asked to play hymns for half an hour leading up to this event. A very solemn and heart felt evening in the square from all that came together.

Due to the events in Christchurch, the Palmerston North Council decided to postpone the New Zealand Tattoo, which was to be held  on 12 & 13 April 2019 out of respect. Hopefully they will come up with another date at some stage.

With our hearts in our hands, we are one.

Saturday 10th November 2018 at 2pm saw Feilding Brass performing our End of Year Concert – A Musical Matinee, which was a huge success with the band playing music such as A Salute From Lucerne, As The Deer, Georgia (Featuring Dan Griffiths – above photo) and Happy, to name a few.

Our Guest Artists this year were Six to Sixty, from Palmerston North who gave us two performances during the afternoon. Wonderful to have them here.

Our first soloist for the afternoon concert was from Annika McBrearty on Tenor Horn who gave a beautiful performance of Make You Feel My Love.

Our second half began with Mike Ashdown playing the beautiful Irish tune, Carrickfergus on Euphonium.

A Feilding Brass concert is never complete, without a vocal number and we did not disappoint.

The wonderful voice of Steve Mackley, performed Beyond the Sea. Superb.

During the concert there were three long service certificates awarded for outstanding service to the brass band movement in New Zealand.

Left to right: Terry Hammond – 45 years service, Steve Mackley – 35 years service and Nigel Towers – 40 years service. Congratulations from the band, well done.

A concert is never a concert without sponsors, and we could not have done ours without the generosity of the following sponsors who contributed to this event.  From the members of Feilding Brass and all our supporters we say thank you very much for your contribution to our concert.

To finish the concert, the band played Band of Brothers and Calling Cornwall. A brilliant way to end an amazing concert by the Feilding Brass Band.

We still have a few more Xmas gigs coming up in 2018, but look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Would like like to say a big hello and welcome to all the new Friends of Feilding Brass. Welcome to our family.

On a very windy Sunday afternoon in Palmerston North, three bands came together to entertain at the Palmerston North Salvation Army Citadel.

Levin & Districts Brass Band and Palmerston North Salvation Army Band joined our very own Feilding Brass in an awesome concert this afternoon.

Palmerston North Salvation Army Band played first with traditional Salvation Army music, with Levin & Districts Brass Band playing second with their array of music and Feilding Brass bringing up the rear with a bouncy segment of brass band magic.

Once each band did their individual mini concerts, they all came together to play 3 pieces – Theme From Impromptu No.2 Opus 142, Happy, and A Celtic Blessing.

Such a lovely afternoon of music and fellowship, as we head into Feilding Brass’ End of Year Concert – A Musical Matinee on Saturday 10th November 2018 at 2pm at the Feilding Civic Centre. Tickets available at Feilding Information Centre, and door sales on the day.

Hope to see you there.