Just being awarded their "long service" badges from Mac are
BRINGING CULTURES TOGETHERThe 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. |