"I thought I was in Heaven playing second trumpet in the Tuxedo Brass Band," said Louis Armstrong, and for many young people their introduction to playing music in an ensemble is through the collective of a local band.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Creswick Brass Band has been playing the goldfields and beyond since the days of the rushes. The local historical society records first a Drum and Fife Boys Band, then The Volunteer/Creswick Brass Band; from 1887 to 1910 it had the Jubilee Brass Band; from 1919 to 1925 there was the Creswick Victory Brass Band and from 1932 to 1939 the Creswick and District Brass Band.
Now the band is coming through a period of uncertainty in the pandemic to return to performance. president of the Creswick Brass Band Sheena Johnson says the restrictions of lockdowns and the simple uncertainty of performing as a group has been unsettling - but the band will persevere.
"Each time we've gone back to rehearse, we've been knocked down again," Ms Johnson says.
"Last week was the first time that we got back together again in a long time, and we still had to make sure we only had 20 people plus conductor and a COVID marshal. Everybody likes to get together every week and have a really good play, so it's very discouraging.
"But on the plus side of it, when we did get together for the very first time after the first lockdown last year, and we played outside it was amazing. It was actually really surprising. People have been practicing at home. Of course, the morale is down when you're when you're not together, but we all want to stay safe. Our nickname is The Happy Band. And we haven't lost that."
The band members are even happier now, having received a $1000 grant from Midland Terrace Retirement Village, through the Stockland property group's 2021 CARE grant scheme. The money has enabled the band, which receives no government funding, to purchase the rights to music for performance in competitions like Royal South Street.
"Every year we fundraise to survive," Ms Johnson says.
"We don't get any council grants at all, so we apply for grants for things we require. We desperately needed new Christmas music, and we also needed new music to contest with, because if you go to a competition, you need to buy the music they put as your set piece. So we applied to Stockland and we were really fortunate to get a grant from them. So we've been able to purchase that music."
There are 55 members of the band, ranging, Ms Johnson says, from age 8 to 80.
We're absolutely raring to go; we've got lots of things planned
- Sheena Johnson
"We've got Jubilee brass, which consists of some of our junior members and other members who would prefer maybe not to contest, if we go to contests," she says.
"They compete in the D-grade, and then we've got Creswick brass, which is the C-grade band. People can move from one to the other as well. We don't call them Junior anymore, because there are seniors who like to play in the Jubilee band."
How has the band coped with pandemic lockdowns, which have closed performance opportunities across the state?
"Everybody likes to get together every week and have a really good play, so it's very discouraging. We would have had new young members this year. We just started going back into the schools when the last lockdown happened. Taking members into schools, playing to them - we were trying to start up a drum course and drum tuition because we're pretty short on drummers all over Victoria.
"But that all got brought to a grinding halt after the first week because lockdown happened and we haven't been able to have visitors back in school since then. Normally we'd recruit juniors every year."
The Creswick band draws most of its members from nearby, with some coming in from Ballarat. Wherever they are from, Ms Johnson says, the members have one desire - to play music in front of people again.
"We've got we've got two Creswick market performances in November," Ms Johnson says.
"We're absolutely raring to go; we've got lots of things planned. I think you'll find in brass banding, all of the competitions were cancelled. Royal South Street was cancelled; Mount Gambier was cancelled.
"All of the competitions have been cancelled or they went online, but we are absolutely still raring to go and we'll be bigger and better when we get back again."