The Geelong Concert Band

Congratulations to the senior band members who performed at the State Band Championships on Saturday August 21st at the Wendoree Performing Arts Centre in Ballarat. The band performed a challenging program under the direction of guest conductor Jemima Bunn and received excellent feedback from Adjudicator Graham Lloyd.  It is a great shame that other bands were not competing in the competition this year, however a score of 96/100 highlighted the playing capabilities of the Senior Band.

Congratulations to the Youth band members who made the journey to Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash Univeristy on August 15th and who performed their chosen works exceptionally well. The band received many positive comments from Robert Sheldon who was our critical friend. Well done to Kate Zampatti for preparing a varied program to such a good standard.

The Youth band will be performing as a community band at this years Melbourne Schools Band Festival. Their performance will be during the evening section on Sunday August 15th at Monash University.

The State Band Championships will once again be held in Ballarat on the weekend of August 21st & August 22nd. The Senior Band will once again be defending their Open A Grade title at this event. It would be great to have some supporters come along and cheer for the band. Details of performance times and venue will be advised as soon as they come through from the VBL.

We have a number of performances scheduled for term 3 which include the Melbourne Schools Band Festival for the Youth Band, the State Championships for the Senior band and an in-house concert at Robertson Hall for all three bands. Dates are as follows:

Sunday August 15th – Melbourne Schools Band Festival – Youth Band only – will need to leave Geelong at 4pm and will return around 1030pm.
Saturday August 21st VBL State Championships Ballarat – Senior Band Only – times to be confirmed
Sunday September 12th at 2pm.

The Workshop, Youth and Senior Bands will all perform at the Geelong Wind Bands Festival on Friday May 28th at Costa Hall. Entry is free, however if you would like to make a gold coin donation that would be appreicaited.

This is a premier concert for school bands in the local region and on this evening the following schools will also be performing – Belmont High School, Christian College, Clonard College, The Geelong College, Geelong High School, Kardinia Internation College, St Joseph’s College.

The concert program is full of varied musical works which are guarenteed to please your ears. Please come along and support all of these local groups – the concert will be held in two halves – 4:30-6:30 and 7:00-9:30pm.

We hope to see you there.

The GCB Senior Band will be performing as part of the Friends of the Gardens concert series on Sunday February 7th in the new 21st Century Gardens at the Botanical Gardens from 5:00 – 7:30pm. Ticket prices are $10 for singles or $25 for a family of 4 and can be purchased at the gate or from GPAC.

This is the first time that there has been a musical performance in the natural amphitheatre provided in the 21st Century Gardens and weather permitting we are looking forward to performing in this new environment.

So pack a picnic, bring a rug or chair and come and enjoy an outstanding music performance.

A huge thank-you to everyone who assisted at the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle on December 19th. Many thanks to Amanda for all of her hard work in organisating the day for the band. It turned out to be a very busy day with the sale of 110kg of sausages and 25kg of onions between 9am and 5pm. Many thanks to Heather for running around and organising an extra 50kg of sausages when we ran out at 1pm!

All in all we made a profit of just over $2400.

Congratulations to Steve Horman and John Adams for all of their hard work in putting the Triva Night together. Just under 100 people attended the night which was full of lots of fun trivia and games. Many thanks to all of the companies who sponsored the event and provided fantastic prizes – including Novo Shoes Waurn Ponds, Subway Geelong, Cold Rock Belmont, Jetts Gym, The Chocolate Room Geelong, Panache Waurn Ponds, Donut King Waurn Ponds, Bakers Delight Waurn Ponds, Panini Geelong West and Ferguson-Plarre Bake House.

Many thanks go to the Belmont Bowls Club for the use of their excellent facility and to the two gentlemen behind the bar who kept the drinks coming at a very cheap price all night!!

Thanks to Mark Irwin for organising the video projector and Dan Zampatti for the use of his sound equipment.

A great night was had by all.

The Workshop,Youth and Senior bands of the Geelong Concert Band will present their final in house concert for 2009 on Friday December 4th at 7pm at Robertson Hall, Geelong College Prep School, Minerva Road, Newtown. Tickets can be purchased at the door – Adults $8 and Concession $5.

Raffle tickets will be sold on the night – 50c each or 3 for $1 – there are multiple Christmas Hampers to be won and a Christmas Cake.

Could all Youth Band members be at Robertson Hall by 6pm – Katie would like to do a quick run through before the concert. Workshop Band members need to be present by 6:15pm and Senior band members by the start of the concert. All band members must be in full band uniform for this concert.

If you have items for the hamper, please bring them along, we will leave a hamper open to add extra items on the night.