JULY
2021
|
ISSUE
4
THE BOOMER TIMES The newsletter for members and friends of the Golden Kangaroos Hornsby Concert Band
Editorial
Image: The Golden Kangaroos
After a short hiatus, the Boomer Times returns! Since the last issue came out, all of our bands have been incredibly busy bringing music back to the community. But, as
Also in this Issue:
Greater Sydney has gone into lockdown to minimise the spread of the latest outbreak, this bumper edition will cover everything the Golden Kangaroos has been up to over the last few months (which you can navigate around to your hearts content to the
Marching Band Brings Home a Grant - 2
right).
Marching Band at the Show - 2 Anzac Day - 2
From the appointment of our new Marketing Director to the securing of funds for the Marching Band, our members have been just as busy behind the scenes too.
GK's Bring 'Simple Joys' to Epping - 3 New Marketing Director - 4 Senior Band x Engineers - 4
You’ll also find out more about our featured GK for this issue, Dawn Nettheim, who has been one of our longest-serving and most valued members.
Executive News
- 5
Marching Band Musings - 7 Ask a Conductor - 8
With the onset of tougher lockdown measures and the potential for their continuation, I
Meet a Golden Kangaroo -
9
Upcoming Events and News - 10 hope you are all staying safe and that we can continue to play together again soon.
Yours, masked-up and socially distanced, Rachel
Marching Band Flyer - 11
Marching Band Brings Home a Grant Our relaunched band will receive some vital funds
Following the band's application for the Stronger
Image: James McLeay
Communities Programme grants in March, the Marching Band Steering Committee is pleased to announce that our application was successful!
Following their performance, the Marching Band formed up and showed off their marching prowess. The band led the
With the success of the grant, the committee will have
procession to and from the cenotaph, where Caroline and
until the end of the year to use the $7,500 awarded to
Ximena represented the Golden Kangaroos in laying a wreath
purchase new marching band jackets and percussion.
during the outdoor service.
The grant application and expression of interest were
To find out about what else Marching Band has been up to
written up by the committee, with Matt O'Rourke and
lately, check out this month's Marching Band Musings.
Stephen O'Doherty working particularly hard to ensure the best chance of success.
Marching Band Wows Easter Show Crowds The band's debut hit all the right notes
With our new Drum Major at the helm, the Marching Band showed off their musical and marching prowess at the Image: Stephanie Lane / Facebook
The Golden Kangaroos Commemorate ANZAC Day
Sydney Royal Easter Show on Saturday, April 10.
As its first performance for the year and following the relaunch, the band marched through the crowds and showed off its newly-honed drill techniques.
The gig went off without a hitch, and the Royal Agricultural Society has already booked the band in to do it all again next year.
From marches to hymns, the Epping RSL service tested our musical chops
In Senior Band's first performance post-COVID, the band captured the solemnity of Anzac day and brought audience members to tears.
After welcoming attendees with an upbeat program including Invercargill, Africa, and The Eagles on Tour, Senior Band served as the backing for hymns during the Anzac service.
Image: Siobhan Murray / Facebook
GK's Bring 'Simple Joys' to Epping Our first concert of the year came at the perfect time
Following a year of separation and several months of socially-distanced rehearsals, the Golden Kangaroos Discovery, Explorer and Senior bands performed in the organisation's first concert for 2021.
Despite the restrictions brought in mere days before the big day, the concert saw a huge turnout of audience members.
"It was clear the audience really resonated with the simple joys theme, which reinforces just what a significant thing it is in people's lives to be able to enjoy live music," Stephen O'Doherty told The Boomer Times.
"The response was so pleasing. I know we made people cry with Shenandoah - that's always good music!"
The time away from music was also noticeable, with both conductors picking up on the change.
"Matthew and I had a long debrief afterwards," Stephen said. "We both feel all bands played better than prelockdown, and the difference can be felt as much as heard. The musicality of the performances was so
Image: James McLeay
The timing of our concert couldn't have been better either, with Greater Sydney entering lockdown less than a week later.
fulfilling for us, and I could tell players and the audience felt similarly."
"I can't believe how fortunate we were to choose the last possible week before a new lockdown," Stephen added.
With a repertoire covering everything from traditional tunes to medleys of music from Dr Who and Porgy and Bess, there was something everyone could enjoy following our long hiatus.
The raffling of our various prizes and the giveaway of one of our limited edition 50th anniversary bottles of wine also went down a treat with our audience.
The musicality of the performance was so fulfilling for us, and I could tell players and the audience felt similarly.
Image: James McLeay
Image: The Golden Kangaroos / Facebook
A New Marketing Director James Mcleay will captain our Marketing Team Image: JMC Academy / Instagram
After months of advertising for a new Marketing Director and Matt O'Rourke holding down the marketing fort in the meantime, we're excited to announce that James Mcleay has been appointed as our next Marketing Director!
Golden Kangaroos Vice President, Matt O'Rourke, said of the appointment: "We're very happy to have James on board. For some time we have been looking for a
Senior Band Helps Next Generation of Audio Engineers JMC students recorded, Senior Band
Marketing Director with the right skills and experience to really further the band's brand and we believe that we
played
have found that person in James." While Senior Band might be used to getting miked up for In this role, James will be taking over from Matt and
a performance, it's a whole different experience during a
heading up our efforts across marketing, rebranding, and
rehearsal.
social media. This also means that our Marketing subcommittee will now become our Marketing team.
Students studying sound engineering at JMC Academy are required to record a large ensemble that can blend
Having just started his Honours year of his Bachelor of
their sound together, and Senior Band was all too happy
Industrial Design, James brings a wealth of experience in
to oblige.
marketing, design, leadership and more and has some big ideas for the marketing efforts for the Golden
Instead of regular rehearsals, two groups of students -
Kangaroos.
including Stephen O'Doherty's son Daniel - set up their equipment and recorded Senior Band playing Porgy and
The Marketing team has already had their first meeting
Bess and And Tears No Bitterness in late April.
too, where plans were made to update the website, branding and general look of the Golden Kangaroos.
After multiple takes to get key moments of each piece just right, two recordings of the band members putting
If you have any ideas for our marketing efforts you can
their best notes forward have been produced and are
get in touch with James at:
now available courtesy of Stephen.
j.mcleay@goldenkangaroos.net.
Executive News New term, new decisions
With the term just beginning, the Executive Committee is already working hard to improve different aspects of the band's organisation.
Annual strategy meeting The Executive Committee recently held an annual strategy meeting to discuss and plan the band's direction for the next three years. The committee placed a special focus on defining the band's core values and what the ideal culture of the band should look like.
These key values are:
Growing together as an organisation and as
Image: The Golden Kangaroos / Facebook
musicians Fostering a love of music among members and in the community Inclusion of players of different skill levels and music from different genres and composers
Suggestions for potential names are welcome, and if you have a great idea for one please let one of the Executive Committee members know via email or by catching them at rehearsal.
Providing musical education to any who want it Performing live music post-COVID in styles that most
PayPal
won't usually hear live Following the recent issues with PayPal, the Executive After realising that these strengths are aligned with what the band provides to the community, the committee decided those were the values that should be reinforced and strengthened.
Rebranding The band's rebranding is still in the works, and the committee is excited to share the final results with you! As the process is being finalised, the result will give the
Committee apologise to members for the inconvenience caused and have since rectified the administrative issues that resulted in the temporary shutdown of the band's payment gateway.
Upcoming AGM As we approach the latter half of the year, our Annual General Meeting draws ever nearer too. Our AGM will be held during a special meeting on Thursday, August 12.
band a more professional look while still recognising our heritage. This has mainly been developed through a redesign of the font and logo, spearheaded by James McLeay, which will provide the basis for new designs for the band's flyers, advertising, and social media.
Interesting in joining the Executive Committee? Keep an eye out for correspondence from our secretary Carreen Botha, who will be sending out information about what to expect and how the nomination process will work this year.
The Executive Committee is also considering a rebranding of the bands themselves through a name change. The committee hopes this will change the perception that Senior Band is the endpoint of our members' musical development and encourage members to get involved across the different bands.
Photo Call-Out We're compiling our history and need your help!
Because we're celebrating 50 years of making music, the Executive Committee is looking back at our history and trying to collect as many memories of the Golden Kangaroos as we can. This means that we're looking to collect any historical documents, photos, and videos to build a digital archive of our history. If you have anything that you would like to see in our archives, please send them through to Matt at matthew.o'rourke@goldenkangaroos.net. Need some inspiration? Head here and take a look at our old school (now archived) website!
Classifieds Submit ads to marketing@goldenkangaroos.org.au
Music Lessons Danny McNeall (Discovery/Explorer Bands, Oboe) is on the lookout for new piano students! Danny welcomes beginner to advanced-intermediate level students of all ages, so if you've always wanted to learn (or know an aspiring pianist), check out his website here, shoot him an email at dannymcneall1@gmail.com, or give him a call on 0419 653 880.
Meme of the Month Submitted by: Amanda Irving
Image: Liz Hamilton
Marching Band Musings
Coming up:
With our new Drum Major Gerald already
shaping us up to be in our best form for many years, the small changes in form-up and responses to the new mace
The latest updates from our Marching Band Manager
signals are visibly making all the difference in our presentation – after all we are on show and we are the GKs! We are keen to get out in the community as much as possible too, so stay tuned for upcoming events. As we
What a wonderful start to a promising year with the relaunch of our dynamic Marching Band now in full swing.
throw our performance calendar open for the year, do let me know of any performance opportunities you may think of.
2021 has been a very busy year already, starting with a full dress rehearsal, two Easter Show performances and the honour of leading the march for the Epping RSL Anzac Service.
Sydney Royal Easter Show performance Saturday, April 10: 10.30am / 2pm What a cracker of a start back into the public eye for the
Recruitment:
Although there will be a little fluctuation in
numbers as members try us out, it’s great to see we have formed a solid core of about 20 members with a good cross section of instruments, including young ones starting to come through. Especially exciting, we even have two volunteers to bring our freshly cleaned and repaired Boomer to life!
Marching Band!
Marching from our base under the Sydney Olympic Park stadium we played four abreast from the moment we stepped off, all the way up the Grand Parade.
Arriving at “the intersection” with a shout of “Tequila!”, attention was already on us. With our precision practised move we unexpectedly turned to face the crowd, where the drum corps donned instruments and our Drum Major picked up the drum sticks! Straight into the full concert
Image: The Royal Agricultural Society
band version of Dr Who, Boomer and our colour guard
Having established our core of willing marchers from the
entertained the crowd with the appearance of Daleks
Concert Band ranks we are now setting our sights on a
and Cybermen (hidden behind the banner) and the Tardis
community recruiting drive. All suggestions of who to
appearing out from the crowd.
contact are more than welcome as we get the word out and start to build our numbers. Anywhere you are able to
A massive hit, we were inundated with people all wanting
send, pin on a noticeboard or include in a newsletter the
photos with Boomer and the girls. Such an incredible
attached flyer please do so, we want to spread the word
piece and great entertainment value – this performance
far and wide.
was totally out of this world! Leaving the audience wanting more we threw in a counter march and played
We are also calling for any videos and photos of our
our way back to the stadium to do it all again three hours
performances we can use for training review and possible
later. Both performances were very popular with
use in a future “show reel” to send to prospective events.
comments like “that was awesome!" being heard from the
Simply upload anything you may have to this link.
crowd. The RAS were very pleased and we are booked again for next year!
After the success of Dr Who we are keen to try some more great music and are very fortunate to have both Stephen
Epping RSL Anzac service - Sunday April 18
and Gerald working together on refreshing our repertoire.
After the indoor service, the GKs marching band had the honour of leading the street march from The Epping Club
Thinking of joining us? It’s never too late to join and you
to the Cenotaph and back.
are always welcome to come try with no obligation – come check us out!
This year our trumpeter Darien Sim continued the honours by stepping out of the marching ranks to be the lone
Next rehearsal: Sunday July 18th from 2-4pm at Pennant
bugler for The Last Post. Our congratulations to Darien on
Hills Park.
a job well done.
- Caroline Deane
Ask a Conductor Senior Band conductor Stephen O'Doherty talks stamina and music theory
A trumpeter of Beecroft asks:
"How can I improve my
stamina as a brass player?"
You know, one of the most incredible, frustrating and yet encouraging things about playing an instrument is that technique is so counter-intuitive. You want more stamina? You want to go higher, longer? You exercise your lips right? You push harder into the mouthpiece, or pull the
Image: Unsplash
instrument tighter against your face (which is the same)? Well the best brass teachers would say no. Work smarter, not harder.
Y Zguy of the Upper North Shore asks: "Is
F# the same
as Gb?"
Arnold Jacobs was perhaps the most influential brass
No.
pedagogue of the 20th century. His techniques liberated generations of brass players from the bondage of working too hard and blowing themselves out. From 1944—1988 he was Principal Tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, widely regarded even today as having one of the finest
S Peranto of no fixed address asks: "Is global
music truly a
language? Surely different cultures have different
pitch and tuning systems so like it's random?
sounding brass sections around. Music can be played in random ways but pitch is certainly His genius was to strip things back to simple physiology and psychology. He taught students to think the notes they were playing, in other words sing their parts, but with their lips responding to the brain’s stimulus instead of their vocal folds. He changed people’s thinking about breathing by arguing for a relaxed technique using the diaphragm muscle to open the chest cavity, letting air naturally rush in because of the change in partial pressure. It’s as easy as… well breathing.
not random. It follows physical laws relating to the nature of sound as a vibration. When you change a vibrating object to twice its volume or length it halves the pitch: an octave or ratio of 2:1. A ratio of 4:3 gives a fourth (like CF). 3:2 gives a fifth (like C-G). Say what? Well let’s say you fill a bottle with 400mls of water, and another with 300mls and you and a friend blow across the top of them like a flute. The one with less water will be lower in pitch. The one with more water will sound higher and together they should make the interval of a fourth.
I well remember when my clarinet teacher John St George
Do try this at home.
used what I now know was the Arnold technique to completely remake my technique (Chris McLeay was also fortunate to have the same teacher).
The point is that while tuning systems (the way pitches are organised) do differ in different cultures, these fundamental physical laws always apply, so you’ll find
There are some very good videos (albeit old and scratchy,
octaves, thirds, fourths and fifths everywhere.
transferred from film) of Jacobs teaching on Youtube, and brass players could spend many productive lockdown
Next time, more on the harmonic series
hours watching and applying his wisdom. I like this one on breathing: https://youtu.be/P2iTKTdVdoU.
[Ed: you promised that last time] [Me: yes but it’s only half written, sorry].
Stamina starts (and perhaps ends) with breathing. A great supportive air column will take the pressure off your embouchure and make all the difference. (that’s the counter-intuitive bit).
Here is another brilliant video on
the same subject from our own Master Brass player James Morrison: https://youtu.be/nkbxa8LcZj4.
Got a question for Stephen? Submit it here and it could be featured next time!
Meet a Golden Kangaroo Introducing: The Golden Kangaroos' in-house arranger and multi-instrumentalist We're a pretty big organisation, so it can be hard to get to know the people outside of our respective sections and ensembles, in fuzzy Brady Bunchesque Zoom calls, and behind the names in emails.
To combat this we've started this segment, Meet a Golden Kangaroo, where we'll sit down with a different member of our community, ask some musical questions and share what they have to say. To start us off, we got to know: Dawn Nettheim.
Dawn has been a member of the Golden Kangaroos since 1989 and has taught music students for 40 years! Dawn also plays a variety of instruments, including piano, pipe organ, percussion, and bassoon. Her passion for music has also seen Dawn get involved with (and become a life member of) several musical groups and organisations, share her knowledge as a lecturer, and be recognised for her passion when she was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) medal!
Q. When did you join the Golden
Q. How has music in general
Kangaroos?
influenced your life?
D: I moved to Cheltenham in 1982 and
D: I come from “the bush”, and in
used to hear musicians at practice in
1982, aged 40, I packed a suitcase
the old (church) band hall, but did not
and ran away from a truly awful
work up enough courage to go in and
situation there, and came to
ask about joining till two years later.
Sydney to start life all over again.
Merrilee McNaught was giving a drum lesson, and graciously filled me in on
What I did: Gained a Bachelor of
the details and invited me to join. I was
music (S.U.) degree, Post graduate
very poor at the time, so I did all the
diploma of Music (in orchestration),
cleaning (inside and outside) and any
was past Secretary of the
repairs, mending, gardening, etc. in
Fellowship of Australian
lieu of paying fees.
Composers (now disbanded as it Image: The Golden Kangaroos
I have a great need to be a "useful" citizen, and when that can be combined with my great love of music - that's heaven!
Q. What roles have you performed
QUANGO of the government), past
professional and amateur
as a member?
Secretary of the Beecroft
orchestras of Australia (and some
Symphony Orchestra, and a life
overseas ones) until advanced
member, past Secretary of Ryde
computer programs put me out of
Eisteddfod, and a life member.
business in the year 2000.
D: I volunteered for all sorts of jobs as well:
Wardrobe mistress for a few years, Librarian for a few years, relief conductor for a few months when Mr Grieve was away, and the GK’s permanent “in-house” band arranger and copyist. I am a certified member of MAGA (Music Arrangers Guild of Australia) – and also a life member of that organisation.
Q. Alongside your involvement in the Golden Kangaroos, Beecroft
Now retired, after some illness, but
Symphony Orchestra, and Ryde
still lecturing at U3A and still
Eisteddfod, how has music
available for spot jobs, coaching,
factored into your professional
etc.
life?
Q. What has been your philosophy in life?
D: [I was a] lecturer at Parramatta Conservatorium for a few years,
D: I have a great need to be a
private music teacher for 40 years,
"useful" citizen, and when that can
had a registered business as a full-
be combined with my great love of
time as copyist for the various
music - that's heaven!
Upcoming Events From committee meetings to Zoom catchups, there's still plenty happening with the GKs
July 6 - Zoom Get-Together & Trivia! (here's the link) 12 - Discovery & Explorer Band rehearsals* 13 - Senior Band rehearsal* 15 - Executive committee meeting 18 - Marching Band rehearsal* 22 - Stage Band rehearsal*
August
Member News
1 - Marching Band rehearsal* 12 - Annual General Meeting (AGM) 19 - Executive committee meeting
Where we celebrate the achievements of our
22 - Stage Band rehearsal*
members
26 - Stage Band rehearsal* 28 - State Band Championships*
Achievements & News *Subject to COVID-19 restrictions
Rachel Fieldhouse (Senior Band, Tenor Sax) started a new job as a Junior Content Producer at OverSixty!
Contributors Rachel Fieldhouse - Words and design
Have you had some exciting news recently? We'd love to
Caroline Deane - Marching Band Musings
hear about it!
Stephen O'Doherty - Ask a Conductor columnist
Whether it's a music-related or something exciting has
Stay Connected
happened in your personal or professional life, please
Keep the conversation going in our Facebook
send through any details to
group Read and submit to the newsletter Come along to Zoom catch-ups
marketing@goldenkangaroos.org.au, or submit this handy form, so that we can share and celebrate it together in the next issue!
Got some news, ideas, or photos you'd like to see in for issue 4? We'd love to hear from you!
Send any questions, queries, or ideas for future editions to: marketing@goldenkangaroos.org.au or submit them here!
