Welcome from the Director’s Desk

RAN BAND NEWS EDITION NUMBER 3 19 JANUARY 2004

RAN BAND DETACHMENT AT CAMP VICTORY, BAGHDAD, CHRISTMAS 2003 WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

Much as happened since our last edition. I am pleased to report that our effort to enhance the band’s support to Fleet activities has continued during the July to December period. For a short while we had two elements of the band deployed at the same time with eight musicians embarked in HMAS Warramunga (in the Pacific) and seven in HMAS Tobruk during its North East Asian deployment. The article Good Morning Vietnam by Able Seaman Sharon Jarvis and Missiles and Musicians by Petty Officer Matt Jessop are excellent commentaries on the importance of these deployments; both in terms of how they add value to our image within Navy and to the individuals who were fortunate enough to accept the opportunity for sea deployment. I am also pleased to report that during this period that the band completed 51 more tasks than for the same period last year. We have released two more recordings and funded a number of benchmark activities to achieve very impressive results. The first of these two recordings was a double compact disc which marked the 90th anniversary of the band. The music was taken from two Flagship Recitals held in the Eugene Goossens Hall at the ABC Ultimo on 1 August and 3 October. This double compact disc is an important milestone: As an organisation we had not previously recorded a major symphonic work; we have now released a double CD, A Flagship Recital, which contains two complete symphonies. Disc one is the Third Symphony Opus 89 by James Barnes and disc two is Lord of the Rings by Johan Meij. Each of our seven detachments is represented on the second recording, Cruising Stations. This CD also showcases some of our very talented soloists. Another benchmark activity was the Commissioning Ceremony for HMAS Parramatta. There can be no doubt that the contribution given by the band to ship commissioning ceremonies is nothing less than first class.