I’m still holding my breath…

Garth Coffey - Band Manager for the National Band of New Zealand

Greetings all. I write this addition to The Blog section with some lingering nervous trepidation. As the Manager for this esteemed group of highly talented brass band players, I am both excited and anxious for our upcoming tour. Let me explain.

When I was appointed to the role about three years ago it was my intention, along with the Musical Director, to have the band perform in every banding district throughout the country. Plans were put in place with this goal in mind and everything was looking rosy until COVID-19 arrived causing the landscape for performing to be changed completely.

Our proposed tour of the North Island in 2020 was derailed but we managed to salvage something out of the ruins by holding our first concert together as a band in Hamilton. Likewise, our proposed tour of the South Island for 2021 was constantly modified in the hope we would get to share our music with audiences there. In the end all we were able to achieve was a very successful joint concert with the NZ Army Band in Christchurch at the conclusion of last year’s National Contest.

Now this year our planned historic joint concert series with the NZSO in Hamilton has been cancelled, although we are very grateful the orchestra has found a way for us to still perform together. We will now be recording selected pieces with the orchestra to be broadcast at a later date.

If anything, COVID has taught us to be flexible and I have lost count of the number of tours, mini-tours and individual concerts I have planned without ever getting to execute these plans. This isn’t a complaint, rather more frustration that our audiences haven’t been able to hear this fantastic group perform.

Not only has COVID robbed us of being able to perform to eager audiences, but it has also dramatically dried up sponsorship and grants we rely on to function as many organisations go about recovering from the interruptions to their business they have endured the past few years. I know this is not just an issue for the National Band, but for all bands and artist groups throughout the country. We are determined to get through this, and we are forever grateful for our current family of sponsors who go a long way to helping us achieve our goals. To make the tour a success we strongly urge all those that can come and see us at any of our upcoming concerts in Wellington, Upper Hutt, New Plymouth, and Palmerston North, you won’t be disappointed. We’ve kept the ticket costs to as low as we can and the band loves to perform in front of a full concert venue so to avoid missing out, get your tickets now.

So here we sit less than two weeks away from finally getting our tour underway yet I’m still holding my breath COVID doesn’t decide to intervene yet again. I’m confident this time though it will all come together. See you there!!