My First National Band!!
I think it’s pretty cool to say that both my first-ever National Youth Band and National Band selections were for a tour of Australia!
My brass banding journey pretty much started the day I was born, with Mum and Dad (both Northern English) keen brass players it was almost inevitable for me to pick up an instrument eventually! Being dragged along to two rehearsals a week, I was around the age of 8 when I thought “I'd like to have a go at that”. My first musical experiences date back to year 6 (approximately age 8), where I remember playing in the school production performing Trumpet Voluntary while standing on a table petrified... I've still got the video somewhere. However, my interest in performing was ignited and led on through intermediate school and through to high school, where I attended Westlake Boys, who had a particularly strong music program. It wasn’t until Westlake that I realised my passion for performing, which encouraged me to compete at the New Zealand Brass Band Championships, as well as auditioning for the National Youth and National Secondary Schools Brass Bands of New Zealand.
A little Liam trying out the cornet for the first time…
My first National Secondary Schools Brass Band was in 2017, selected on Repiano Cornet. Shortly after this, I got a late call-up for the 2019 National Youth Brass Band tour to Australia on bottom Third Cornet, conducted by David Bremner. This has to be one of my most special and memorable brass banding moments to date, as this is where I met many of my friends who I look forward to catching up with at annual brass band camps and competitions. Since then I have been a member of several National Youth Brass Bands, one of the most memorable being Principal Cornet for the 2023 National Youth Brass Band of New Zealand, where we performed the challenging test piece “Arabian Nights”. I am also looking forward to performing “Extreme Makeover” in Wellington with the recently selected 2024 National Youth Band this Summer.
Liam having a toot with his Mum & Dad, as well as ex-National Band members Kay MacKenzie and Andy “Smurf” Appleton
Being selected as a member of this year's National Band and having the opportunity to tour Australia with Phillip Cobb will be both a memory and an experience I’ll never forget. Not only will I enjoy performing at different venues across Australia, but I’m given the opportunity to learn as much as I can from our guest soloists. It is my great ambition to one day be able to not only perform with brass bands but to also play trumpet with some of the world's best symphony orchestras, and therefore this tour allows me to gain as much experience as possible in order to achieve these goals.
