5 Achievable New Year's Resolutions for All Community Bands-People

30/12/2018

2018 is now well and truly coming to a close. 2019 brings us new performing opportunities and a possibility of growth, but it should also provide us with a chance to evaluate what we did in 2018 and how we can improve our own banding movements. Unfortunately, community banding is not growing, and unless the current players and bands change their ways, there is every chance community banding may become less and less relevant.

That is why I am challenging you all in 2019 to take on at least one of my 5 achievable New Year's Resolutions for 2019. I know I will be tackling all of these with my involvement with my own band, as well as my compositional career. If everyone took these steps on board, we would find our banding movements to be more enticing and enjoyable for non-bandspeople.

1) Attend 5 events hosted by other community bands

All bands invest plenty of time in hosting events; whether they be performances or fundraising efforts. However, I have noticed how few bands-people attend other bands' events. I think it is disappointing to see little support for what other bands are undertaking. If every bands person attended 5 events a year hosted by different community bands, they would not only get the enjoyment of 5 fantastic evenings entertainment, but they can also enjoy the wonderful music making that happens in community banding across the world, meet more musicians similar to themselves, and maybe even reconnoiter their competing bands prior to contests!

Bands rely on these events to raise money for their expenses and purchases, but without attendees the bands cannot grow their instrument collection, purchase new music, travel to a new contest or update their band attire. However, if us banders attended other bands' performances, that would be a bonus 20+ guests at each event, contributing a healthy amount towards the other band's growth. As much as we may be enemies at the competition stage, no one wants other bands to dissipate, and we should be doing what we can to support other bands.

So, find a bunch of your own band, and look at the 2019 events in your area. Book out a table at a Trivia Night. Dress up for a Cabaret night! Check out another band's Pre-Nationals Concert! The more we help each other out, the more likely other bands are likely to help your band!

2) Invite non-banding friends/family to your band concerts

Flowing on from number 1), there are many bands-people that rely on others to get crowds along to their events. While I wouldn't expect any of my family or friends to attend every one of Darebin's events, I think every bands-person can make an effort to invite someone unfamiliar to the banding movement along to a concert. Sometimes it can be scary that someone might reject your invitation, but sometimes a genuine invitation (and not just a Facebook share!) can work wonders you never thought possible. Make the invitation personal, and tell them a song or two they should expect to get them excited.

If you don't think your friends or family would like the music you are performing, have a word with your Musical Director about the programming to see if there can be any pieces added that will entice friends and family to come along. Ask for a solo, and then invite everyone along to show off what you can do! Arrange some choreography to wow the crowd! The more engaging we make our performances, the more likely our attendees will want to come back (and in turn, entice more people to play within our movements!)

3) Learn/improve upon a new instrument

This goal is more achievable for more experienced musicians (feel free to prove me wrong!), but I think it is important for all bands-people to have an understanding of what other people in their band are playing, to better understand the relationship between their primary instrument and others. The best way to do this is to pick up such instrument and learn to play it, even just to a beginner standard. I have recently got a set of drum sticks and practice pad and am teaching myself basic rudiments, hopefully to a standard where I could fill an auxiliary percussion part for a moderate level band. In doing so, I am discovering the challenges that come with being a percussion player, such as the extensive combination of mallets and sticks they have to bring to rehearsals, the difficulty of reading poorly notated passages and the challenge of playing quietly while maintaining time.

However, especially for well-established musicians within the banding movement, having a moderate ability on a second or third instrument can prove to be a real asset in helping out other bands. How often do we see a desperate last minute call for a 2nd horn player or a spare percussionist? If we could help more of our fellow bands out, while also improving our musicianship, a couple of minutes practice a day on a second instrument could be the most rewarding New Year's Resolution a musician could make!

4) Play smarter

It's easy to set a resolution to 'play better' in 2019. However, playing better takes practice and rehearsal, and the most effective musicians learn to play smarter rather than harder. In 2019, I challenge you all to think about how you have rehearsed or practiced in 2018, and how you can improve upon those techniques. If all players and conductors thought about how to make the time in the band room more effective by being more effective outside the band room, our banding movements would likely see higher quality performances more often across all bands.

For instance, I believe all bands people are more than capable of familiarising themselves with test works well in advance (most pieces have recordings available on the internet). If all players listened to the test works closely (and I don't mean listening to it once while mindlessly emptying the dishwasher!) and considered how their part fits into the grander context of the work at each stage of the piece, the time spent at band rehearsal can involve less questions and queries to the conductor, and more time about unifying the band's sound and turning a good performance into a great performance! Similarly, working closely with your section to ensure you are all unified in idea with how certain passages should be played prior to a rehearsal make rehearsal processes all the more smoother and effective.

5) Listen to other bands on contest day and learn from their performance

It is VERY easy to complain on contest day about your band's placing. However, very few people (sometimes only the adjudicators!) sit through every performance, and judge their merits over others. For those that thought they were "robbed" last contest, I'm challenging you to sit in to at least a couple of bands at your next contest, and listen to their performance. After you have listened, have a think about what the bands did better than your band, and perhaps where they could have improved. The more we think about how we play music and the execution of other bands, the better our own playing will be.

Furthermore, the more we listen to other bands, the more we realise there is plenty of awesome music making out there, and sometimes your band isn't the best on the day! This would mean less whinging on social media or at the pub, and in turn, a more attractive and positive banding movement!