The mountains meet the sea at a wonderful massed band enrichment event

Members of Blue Mountains Concert Band and Mountains Youth Band enjoyed a wonderful outing to the Northern Beaches area of Sydney on Sunday 31st August, performing alongside several other concert bands at the Pittwater Massed Band enrichment activity, hosted by the Northern Beaches Concert Band.

Each band attending performed their own items, followed by an excellent enrichment activity under the guidance of Scott Ryan, artistic director of the Sydney University Conservatorium of Music, during which all bands worked together on two new pieces as a combined ensemble. For our band, it was a perfect opportunity to rehearse some of the items to be performed at our upcoming major concert, EPIC!, held a few weeks later. We performed Alice in Wonderland, Mission Impossible, 99 Red Balloons and the spectacular arrangement by Vince Gassi, Legends of the Yucatan. The opportunity to perform our concert items in public was very important to all players, and the enrichment activity led by Scott Ryan was regarded by everyone as a valuable experience in performing in a massed band setting, guided by a different music director, and working with many other instrumentalists. It was also valuable to hear other pieces played by the different concert bands, and some of these items are being explored by our organisation as new pieces for our repertoire.

Engaging in the Arts builds strong and vibrant communities, inspires people, builds resilience, and provides a sense of belonging to a community or a group. This enrichment activity and the collaboration with other music makers is very important to all players, but especially to our young band members. Intergenerational music making, collaboration, teamwork, and the joy of hearing and performing music in a safe and supportive environment cannot be underestimated.

We are very grateful for the funding support provided by the Band Association of New South Wales, through the Create NSW grant scheme. Activities such as the Pittwater massed concert day are not possible without this critical support.