Western Brass Launch

Following the successful launch of Western Brass on the 20th November, it was decided that our next rehearsal will be held at 7:30 on Tuesday 29th November at the band hall – 10a Hyde St, Footscray. Download and share the Western Brass promo with anyone who may be interested in participating with Western Brass.

Western Brass is an exciting new brass band that was recently launched in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Following the successful launch, our regular rehearsals will be at 7:30 on Tuesday nights (starting from 29 Nov).

Our aim is to provide an opportunity for people of all cultural backgrounds and various musical experience to participate in a quality music-making organisation, and engage in regular music making activities in the Western suburbs. This brand new band gives the players that graduate from the Youth Band the opportunity to further develop their musical skills in a more advanced ensemble and also provides the opportunity for people of all ages to kick start and/or reinvigorate their music making ambitions in a fun and friendly environment.

As the band grows and develops, more and more opportunities for public performance will be provided and if desired the possibility of competitions will also be incorporated into the activities of Western Brass. Regular performances are planned for the western region and will include many local festivals and events including the Christmas Carols Concert in Yarraville Gardens on Saturday 17 Decemeber.

Come along on Tuesday 29th and be part of this exciting new venture.
For more information and to register your interest please email contact@fycb.com.au or call Brenton Burley on 0412 231 929

FYCB gets a wild surprise!

At Saturday’s Performance outside the Art Centre celebrating the National Gallery of Victoria’s 150th birthday, FYCB was ambushed by a large rhinoceros with an estimated weight of 2 humans. The beast was able to cross St. Kilda Road undetected from band members until it was too late. It struck the trombones in the trio section of George Allan’s “Jupiter”, disrupting the music and causing tempers to flare, particularly from our bass trombonist. Faced with very disapproving glares from all band members, and harsh accented splat noises from the trombones, the rhino retreated and was last seen southbound towards the NGV building. A bystander was able to capture images as it fled. Fortunately, no harm came to to any players or instruments.

2011 Nationals Results

Over the Easter Weekend, the fine city of Adelaide was treated to an array of talented soloists, ensembles and bands from all over the country competing in the Yamaha 2011 National Band Championships. Footscray-Yarraville sent in the most handsome band thus far in the competition’s long history, with great hopes and aspirations of a victory in the open A Grade brass band section.

On the Thursday, soloists from the band and the world famous FYCQ (Footscray-Yarraville City Quintet) competed against the best of the best, finishing in very respectable places. A special mention goes out to the FYCQ, who placed 4th. Well done to all our magnificent and extremely attractive soloists and ensembles!

Friday saw the start of the open A Grade brass band section, beginning with the hymn and test piece. FYCB were quietly confident, having won the hymn section at last years nationals. Of course, we certainly did not disappoint! The hymn soared through Elder Hall with beautiful solos from Jamie and Paul. Next came the test piece, Vienna Nights. Few can recall Mozart ever being this exciting, with excellent stylistic contrast between classical and contemporary and wonderful solos from Brenton, Jamie, Chris, Stuart, Nicole, Rachel, Kathryn, Steve, Paul, Patricia and Laszlo.

On Saturday morning was the street march, and FYCB lived lived up to it’s reputation! Performing the brass band classic, A Fifth of Beethoven, with a full line of percussion and Tim Kelly’s famous “Tattered Tinsel Tuba”, Footscray managed to secure the (self-invented) peoples choice award!

Later that day came the own choice and stage march section. St. Magnus went quite swimmingly with great solos from our amazing players. This was a great achievement given the difficulty of the piece. Lastly came our stage march, The Wizard. Footscray played with absolute metronomic precision and excellent dynamic contrast, a great finish to our nationals campaign!

When the results were finally announced (After an hour of yelling, random applause and an excerpt from St. Magnus), FYCB took out 2nd place overall! Other awards included the “Peoples Choice Street March” award, the “Most Handsome Band” award, the “Best Uniform Colour Scheme” award and the prestigious “Most Alcohol Consumed” award!

After a long few days of intense playing, nearly every FYCB member gathered at a local pub and indulged in a victory dinner. Many laughs, congratulations and drinks were shared, followed by a raucous round of karaoke till the wee hours!

A huge pat on the back is owed to all the players for their continued effort through thick and thin, and of course a huge thanks to our maestro musical director, Phillipa, for making us sound as amazing as we did! Go Scraggers!

Best of British a huge success!

A wonderful night was had by all who came and saw the Best of British last Saturday hosted by Jonathan Welch. Footscray-Yarraville, THE CHO!R, the Sunbury Divas and the Sons of Sunbury came together to produce an excellent evening of the best music from the motherland. Playing to an audience which packed out the floor of the Melbourne Town Hall, all acts were of the highest calibre, ranging from Edward Elgar Elton John. A huge congratulations to all who worked so hard to make the night such a special occasion! Due to the success of the Best of British, there are plans to organise another collaborative concert next year, the theme being a sing along for the audience! We hope to see you there!

FYCB Wins 2010 VBL Championships

On the evening of the 21st August, while most were glued to their television watching the election unfold, Footscray-Yarraville put on a performance that won them the Victorian Bands League 2010 Open A-Grade State Championships held in Ballarat. Footscray opened the competition with the hymn “Nicaea”. The adjudicator was most impressed, quoting “If you’re not Christian beforehand, you’d be Christian after that”. Second was the major work, “Music of the Spheres”. This challenging piece was well managed by the entire band, featuring excellent solos from Jamie, Brenton, Nicole, Kathryn and Paul. Third came our concert item “Helter Skelter”, featuring the virtuosic talents of Leon on the xylophone. And finally, Footscray closed with the march “The Cossack”. A big congratulations to the entire band for putting on such a great performance and a special thanks to Phillipa for all the hard work she put in to make the band sound as good as it did.

FYCB going to FABB

After a committee meeting last week, the band has decided it will accept the invitation to attend the 2010 FABB Contest in Coolongatta at the end of October. The band was initially unsure due to numbers, but we’re confident we’ll have the required numbers and that we’ll put on a great show! We have not been notified of the test piece thus far, but we have some excellent ideas for our entertainment section. Go Scraggers!

Tim Kelly Band Member of the Year

BBb tuba player Tim Kelly was awarded Band Member of the Year shortly following our Hobart nationals campaign for his continued effort put towards the band. When asked why his carved wood trophy was still in the rehearsal room during practice, Tim replied “I’ll lose it!”