News, stories, memories and musical moments from the Toowoomba Concert Band community
Washington Square
Can You Help?
We are missing the score of Washington Square (Concert Band) composed by Nancy H. Seward. Piccolo (if written), Alto Saxophone 1 and 2, F Horn 1 and ALL Trombone parts. Please contact Mac via email, [email protected], if you can help.
We are missing the score of Washington Square (Concert Band) composed by Nancy H. Seward. Piccolo (if written), Alto Saxophone 1 and 2, F Horn 1 and ALL Trombone parts. Please contact Mac via email, [email protected], if you can help.
Hypatia
Mac's Composition
The band performed their first formal concert for the year on the 8th May 2022. One special music piece was Hypatia which was composed by our conductor Mac, the first time this piece was played in public. The score for Hypatia is available for purchase - please email [email protected]
The band performed their first formal concert for the year on the 8th May 2022. One special music piece was Hypatia which was composed by our conductor Mac, the first time this piece was played in public. The score for Hypatia is available for purchase - please email [email protected]
The Benefits of Listening to Music
An Interesting Read...
The effects of playing it yourself are even more rewarding. Note the source of this - "Good Housekeeping".
The effects of playing it yourself are even more rewarding. Note the source of this - "Good Housekeeping".
WHY MUSIC MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD
Whether it's Diana Ross or the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, music can pump up your mind and body. The second you press play on a song, lightning-fast sound waves pass through your eardrums and jiggle the bones of your inner ears. Those vibrations trigger nerve signals, which speed through your brain, setting off a series of reactions that can affect your...
● Brainpower
Listening to music is an intellectual experience; in order to understand and appreciate its complexity, you need to use your brain. Specifically, you engage your prefrontal cortex, the brain's centre for executive thought. This may be why listening to music is often linked to better brain function.
● Metabolism and immune system
Relaxing sounds may increase your body's production of growth hormones, which in turn promotes a healthy metabolism. They can help keep dangerous inflammation in check, too, which is crucial for a healthy immune system.
● Stress and heart rate
Hearing mellow music might help your body dial down the production of stress hormones, such as cortisol or adrenaline. This is good because, over time, high levels of these can harm your health. Calming tunes – similar to those you'd hear at a spa – might also prompt your heart rate to slow and your breathing to deepen.
● Pain perception
All types of music seem to have an in-the-moment crushing effect on pain and anxiety. So, if you're in the dentist's chair for some scary drill work, pop in your earphones and power up your favourite playlist.
● Memories
Nerve cells that fire together wire together, so when you play a tune, your brain may call up what you were doing and how you were feeling when you heard it last. It's a powerful connection, so if you're feeling down, play a song from a happier time.
● Mood
The amygdala, one of the brain's emotional depots, analyses chords and tones to determine whether the music appeals to you and just how passionate your response will be. If you enjoy that beat, your nucleus accumbens, a major player in the brain's reward system, releases the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine.
Source: Good Housekeeping, Christmas 2022 and New Year 2023, p. 81.
Whether it's Diana Ross or the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, music can pump up your mind and body. The second you press play on a song, lightning-fast sound waves pass through your eardrums and jiggle the bones of your inner ears. Those vibrations trigger nerve signals, which speed through your brain, setting off a series of reactions that can affect your...
● Brainpower
Listening to music is an intellectual experience; in order to understand and appreciate its complexity, you need to use your brain. Specifically, you engage your prefrontal cortex, the brain's centre for executive thought. This may be why listening to music is often linked to better brain function.
● Metabolism and immune system
Relaxing sounds may increase your body's production of growth hormones, which in turn promotes a healthy metabolism. They can help keep dangerous inflammation in check, too, which is crucial for a healthy immune system.
● Stress and heart rate
Hearing mellow music might help your body dial down the production of stress hormones, such as cortisol or adrenaline. This is good because, over time, high levels of these can harm your health. Calming tunes – similar to those you'd hear at a spa – might also prompt your heart rate to slow and your breathing to deepen.
● Pain perception
All types of music seem to have an in-the-moment crushing effect on pain and anxiety. So, if you're in the dentist's chair for some scary drill work, pop in your earphones and power up your favourite playlist.
● Memories
Nerve cells that fire together wire together, so when you play a tune, your brain may call up what you were doing and how you were feeling when you heard it last. It's a powerful connection, so if you're feeling down, play a song from a happier time.
● Mood
The amygdala, one of the brain's emotional depots, analyses chords and tones to determine whether the music appeals to you and just how passionate your response will be. If you enjoy that beat, your nucleus accumbens, a major player in the brain's reward system, releases the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine.
Source: Good Housekeeping, Christmas 2022 and New Year 2023, p. 81.
TCB Tribute to Sister Janet Mead (1938 - 26th Jan 2022)
TCB tribute to sister Janet Mead (1938 – 26th Jan 2022), the arrangement is by Tol Vi and adapted for concert Band by Mac.
Bandie Catchups
Catching up with “Sir Mac”, who was the bandmaster of 2 Wing AAFC band, at a recent TCB rehearsal are Ethan McDougall, Sabastian Rowe, Kim Nguyen, Don Nguyen and Matthew Harris. The “kids” travelled up from Darra, Ipswich and Plainlands to join in with the TCB members and re-lived old memories playing their favourite march, Toothpick.
Brand New Instruments
Can You Play?
We have a brand new 4 valve Euphonium and a 4 valve E flat Tuba but sadly, no one to play them. We'd love to hear from you if you play either of these instruments.
We have a brand new 4 valve Euphonium and a 4 valve E flat Tuba but sadly, no one to play them. We'd love to hear from you if you play either of these instruments.
Bringing Cultures Together
The Toowoomba Concert Band is proud to provide a welcoming space for instrument players from different backgrounds to come together and fine tune their music skills.
Aaron and Jochen, two band members provided their responses to the questions below, detailing their music journey. Aaron is studying Medical Laboratory Science at USQ and Jochen is an Agricultural Engineer working at the USQ.
1. At what age did you became interested in playing music?
Aaron (Flute): I have been interested in playing music since primary school, when one of my best friends joined school band. Then I asked my music teacher to let me join the band. However, I didn’t have any experience with any instrument so my music teacher taught me to play recorder.
Jochen (Trumpet): My mother taught me to play the melodica at a basic level when I was a child. As a teenager, I learned to play a few chords on the guitar, like everyone else back then. As a young adult then, I started with trumpet
2. How did you learn to play your instrument?
Aaron (Flute): When I was in high school, I joined my high school concert band and chose to play flute. I didn’t have any knowledge of playing flute so I did my research about how to play flute, reading books, watching videos or asking high school seniors who play flute.
Jochen (Trumpet): I had a few lessons with the person who taught the beginners in the local church brass band, but because I already could read music and quickly picked up how brass instruments work, there was not much he could teach me after a while. I suppose playing with others in a band is a great motivator to continuously try to get better.
3. What country are you from?
Aaron (Flute): I am from Taiwan.
Jochen (Trumpet): Germany
4. What differences are there in music playing/music sheets/music genres from your home county to Australia? What have you noticed is different?
Aaron (Flute): In my hometown, concert bands are popular. The music we are playing is influenced by Japanese, so we play many Japanese classical. But we still play some well known western classical or rearranged movie themes and pop songs.
Jochen (Trumpet): The style of music here in Australia is almost identical to what I grew up with in Germany. A challenge was reading sheet music. Because I learned playing trumpet in a church brass band, where they have all the music in concert C (unique for Germany), I had to relearn how to read music in Bb. It was like learning a new language. The writing is similar, but the fingering is different.
5. How has playing in Toowoomba Concert Band improved your playing?
Aaron (Flute): Playing in Toowoomba concert band has improved my music language which I never use in English.
Jochen (Trumpet): The weekly rehearsals and constant exposure to new pieces of music with the pressure to prepare for a public performance helps to stay focused. Most brass players need to practice frequently to stay in shape. Being part of the Toowoomba Concert Band gives practising the trumpet a purpose and goal, with weekly indirect feedback at rehearsal.
6. What genre of music do you like playing?
Aaron (Flute): I like classical music.
Jochen (Trumpet): I probably have a lot of favourites. From classical to jazz to rock and contemporary, and that is what we play in the Toowoomba Concert Band, a bit of everything.
7. Did you play in a band in your home country?
Aaron (Flute): I used to play in the Taiwan army band.
Jochen (Trumpet): Yes, church brass bands and while at university in a student brass ensemble.
8. Did you have a break from playing? How hard did you find getting back into playing after a break?
Jochen (Trumpet): After starting a family it became harder and harder to find time to practise and when moving to Australia my level of skills was so low that I didn’t dare to consider joining one of the community bands here in Toowoomba. Over the years then I managed to dust off my instrument and work up the courage to show up at a rehearsal of the Toowoomba Concert Band. No audition required (I would have failed), but “here is the music, see how you go”. I must have been terrible for the first few years, but nobody ever complained, and I am thankful for this and the opportunity for a second chance.
Toowoomba Concert Band always welcomes new players to come and join their rehearsals at St Luke’s Church Hall every Monday from 7:30pm.
Aaron and Jochen, two band members provided their responses to the questions below, detailing their music journey. Aaron is studying Medical Laboratory Science at USQ and Jochen is an Agricultural Engineer working at the USQ.
1. At what age did you became interested in playing music?
Aaron (Flute): I have been interested in playing music since primary school, when one of my best friends joined school band. Then I asked my music teacher to let me join the band. However, I didn’t have any experience with any instrument so my music teacher taught me to play recorder.
Jochen (Trumpet): My mother taught me to play the melodica at a basic level when I was a child. As a teenager, I learned to play a few chords on the guitar, like everyone else back then. As a young adult then, I started with trumpet
2. How did you learn to play your instrument?
Aaron (Flute): When I was in high school, I joined my high school concert band and chose to play flute. I didn’t have any knowledge of playing flute so I did my research about how to play flute, reading books, watching videos or asking high school seniors who play flute.
Jochen (Trumpet): I had a few lessons with the person who taught the beginners in the local church brass band, but because I already could read music and quickly picked up how brass instruments work, there was not much he could teach me after a while. I suppose playing with others in a band is a great motivator to continuously try to get better.
3. What country are you from?
Aaron (Flute): I am from Taiwan.
Jochen (Trumpet): Germany
4. What differences are there in music playing/music sheets/music genres from your home county to Australia? What have you noticed is different?
Aaron (Flute): In my hometown, concert bands are popular. The music we are playing is influenced by Japanese, so we play many Japanese classical. But we still play some well known western classical or rearranged movie themes and pop songs.
Jochen (Trumpet): The style of music here in Australia is almost identical to what I grew up with in Germany. A challenge was reading sheet music. Because I learned playing trumpet in a church brass band, where they have all the music in concert C (unique for Germany), I had to relearn how to read music in Bb. It was like learning a new language. The writing is similar, but the fingering is different.
5. How has playing in Toowoomba Concert Band improved your playing?
Aaron (Flute): Playing in Toowoomba concert band has improved my music language which I never use in English.
Jochen (Trumpet): The weekly rehearsals and constant exposure to new pieces of music with the pressure to prepare for a public performance helps to stay focused. Most brass players need to practice frequently to stay in shape. Being part of the Toowoomba Concert Band gives practising the trumpet a purpose and goal, with weekly indirect feedback at rehearsal.
6. What genre of music do you like playing?
Aaron (Flute): I like classical music.
Jochen (Trumpet): I probably have a lot of favourites. From classical to jazz to rock and contemporary, and that is what we play in the Toowoomba Concert Band, a bit of everything.
7. Did you play in a band in your home country?
Aaron (Flute): I used to play in the Taiwan army band.
Jochen (Trumpet): Yes, church brass bands and while at university in a student brass ensemble.
8. Did you have a break from playing? How hard did you find getting back into playing after a break?
Jochen (Trumpet): After starting a family it became harder and harder to find time to practise and when moving to Australia my level of skills was so low that I didn’t dare to consider joining one of the community bands here in Toowoomba. Over the years then I managed to dust off my instrument and work up the courage to show up at a rehearsal of the Toowoomba Concert Band. No audition required (I would have failed), but “here is the music, see how you go”. I must have been terrible for the first few years, but nobody ever complained, and I am thankful for this and the opportunity for a second chance.
Toowoomba Concert Band always welcomes new players to come and join their rehearsals at St Luke’s Church Hall every Monday from 7:30pm.