I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend in the company of some of New Zealand's finest brass musicians this weekend down at the NZ Army Base in Christchurch. We were gathered together for a project which aimed to record a CD of music arranged by the great Ken Smith - NZ cornet playing legend.
The project was extremely challenging, not least the aim to record 18 pieces in 2 days with a band that had never played together before and only had a 2 hour run through the music the night before!
But the calibre of the band and the brilliant musical direction of Mr Ken Young and Mr Peter Adams, combined with a brilliant sound engineer Mr Ian Tilley, and under the watchful eyes and ears of Major Graham Hickman, meant that we got it done and I am sure the end result will be fantastic.
It was a very tough weekend both physically and mentally, but a musically rewarding one which I hope everyone will enjoy the results of, and will help ensure the legacy of Ken Smith lives on long after we're gone.
We all look forward to hearing the end result in a few months.
(The photo shows the amazing Euphonium and Baritone section :-) )