In September we staged a concert at St Paul’s church that I thought was one of our better performances – well done everyone.  So how do I rate our playing as “one of our better performances”?

Firstly the overall competence of how we play our instruments.  Can we start well, every time?  Do we play together through the entire tune (or bracket of tunes)?  Do we play without mistakes?  And then do we finish cleanly and together?

These skills come with practice of course, both our individual practice and the preparation we do together as a band which requires commitments of time and energy from us all.  There are different ways in which people’s energy and enthusiasm is re-charged: for some it’s a parade that contributes to the community, for some it’s a performance like a concert, for some it’s individual improvement and achievement, and for some it’s a sense of competition, whether solo or band contesting.

Secondly, the variety of music and the way it is presented is important.  The ultimate test for me is not what people see or hear but what they feel as a result of our musical performance.  If our music can stir the emotions of our audience then we’ve succeeded.  I remember one New Year’s eve up by the Masonic Hotel, we’d been playing for a while and a young lady kept pestering the band to play Amazing Grace.  We’d already played it but in the end we relented and played it again.  As soon as we started this young lady broke down with tears streaming down her face.  What memory we had evoked for her I don’t know but it was how she felt.  How often does our music do that for you?

To achieve a variety of music we must keep adding to our repertoire which again requires a commitment of time and energy to learn the music to a performance standard.

It was Maya Angelou  who said “life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”  I hope our music takes your breath away sometimes.