2021 Australian National Online Festival of Bands - Preview

14/3/2021

It is nearly Easter, and for the Oceanic banding community, that normally means the Australian Nationals are coming up. Last year, COVID-19 might have stolen host city Perth's first Nationals in seven years, but the NSW Bands Association were set on hosting an event of any description in 2021, and have organised an entirely virtual national band contest: the Australian National Online Festival of Bands. It will not be run as a typical National contest, but I am sure there will be many bands taking the event just as seriously as any prior contest so it should be quite the spectacle!

What's Different?

Despite Australia's promising control over the COVID-19 pandemic, bands will not be congregating upon Newcastle as originally planned. Rather, bands have submitted video recordings of them playing any combination of four works (as discussed below). These recordings will be independently adjudicated, and then premiered over the Easter weekend on our favourite streaming service BrassBanned (and later published on the BANSW YouTube Channel).

What is unusual is at time of publication (14 March 2021), all submissions for the Nationals are done and dusted... It will have been a shorter run up than usual for all competitors, particularly those who had not seen a band room for most of 2020. The unavoidable differences in video and sound recording qualities in entirely different performing acoustics have been accounted for in the contest rules. Points and placings will not be awarded for performances. Rather, adjudicators will label a performance with a grade based on the quality of the performance, ranging from Platinum through to Bronze. It can only be anticipated that some bands-people will be frustrated by an absence of winner trophies, but perhaps the adjudicators' comments will facilitate important self-reflection for bands prior to a return to tradition 'competitive banding'.

The four types of works that can be submitted are as follows: sacred item, on stage march, own choice major work and own choice concert item. The Australian Nationals regularly features the first three, with the own choice concert item taking the place of the set test work. Personally, I most look forward to what the bands have planned for this concert item, and hope the bands' repertoire choices will showcase some unbelievable music making. If the event is popular amongst players and audiences, perhaps we could see a greater push for a National entertainment contest, which may draw crowds which traditional competitions rarely seem to attract!

Preview

While the competing bands are still unknown at time of publication, it will be an even field of events right through the weekend. In the Open Brass, there are about 10 bands in each category, with the B Grade attracting the widest spread with 14 bands. In the Open Concert Bands, you can anticipate about 5 bands in each category, with the B Grade once again attracting the healthiest competition with 6 bands.

The event's digital presence has seemingly attracted some fresh faces to the National event, with notable competitors from Northern Territory and the United States of America. New South Wales bands have certainly brought the greatest presence, with 34 entrants, followed by Queensland's 15.

Adjudicating from the comfort of their homes will be three very experienced Australian musicians. Howard Taylor, Ron Prussing and Steven Stanke will oversee the events, each bringing a comprehensive wealth of musical knowledge, and plenty of guidance for the spectrum of junior and open age entrants.

Wrap Up and How to Tune In!

This will be the first digitally-run National banding event in history. Recent digital contests (including the 2020 New South Wales State Championships) have proven to be popular. It will be interesting to see whether the digital contest will be a long-term addition to banding calendars or a pandemic-only specialty. I would love to hear your thoughts of the future of digital banding post-pandemic.

Schedules are yet to be announced, but the contest will be live streamed by Brassbanned between April 2-5. I will be tuning in all weekend; let me know if you are listening in and what you think of the festival format!