Off to Riverina, NSW State Band Nominations Released

A couple of things that are happening today. First, and most importantly, it is Anzac Day. Hopefully many people can enjoy this day and reflect on the occasion without drinking too much or losing too much money on two-up.

The second is I’ll be on my way to Tamworth for tonight, then down to Borambola the next day for the second regional band camp of the year; Riverina Band Camp. A lot of us are excited for the camp, especially after what the kids produced from last year. So the blog updates I said I would put up will have to wait, if I can remember them when I get back. Even if I forget the updates there will still be the report from the camp and the journey taken.

Students involved with the NSW State Band were announced earlier this week with letters being sent out in the post. Congratulations to the students selected in the junior and senior bands for this year. Hopefully I will see the lists tonight of who was selected, and I will be quite interested to compare the nominations from the regional areas. In the last few years of the program run, nominations from the North Coast have been an interesting case. It’s been a bit of a “broken Catch 22” situation; you must attend the North Coast camp to be nominated, and to be successfully nominated you must be of a high enough standard to fulfil the criteria. Reluctant nominations have been accepted since the kids attended the camp and numbers needed to be filled, and there have been exceptional children nominated and accepted where they did not attend the camp due to being well above the standard of the camp, offering nothing to take them further (hence why I refer to this Catch 22 as broken, or perhaps loose).

Almost straight after the Riverina camp will be the North Coast camp held in the second week of May. I have not been selected to go on staff for this North Coast, which is probably a good thing since my work would probably not appreciate me taking two weeks off in a row for these camps while students miss out on tuition.

All the best to everyone for the weekend and the week to come!