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.