I’m looking forward to a great time at Generations again next year. We had a ball this year hearing all the bands, the future finalists and of course the scholarship finalists.

Emma Pask was wonderful as an adjudicator for the vocalists and I heard great reports about her vocal workshop too, so I’m happy to say she’ll be back next time.

There was some talk of starting a new division apart from division 1 that would cater to a kind of ‘State of Origin’ band. These would be made up of players from different High Schools but all from the same state – kind of like the NSW performing Arts Unit band. Although I’m always open to any new idea for Generations (especially if it means more music being played!) I don’t think we’ll go with this idea at the moment. The current version of the Stage Band Award is working really well and there seems to be no need to mess with it at present. We had discussions about the various advantages and disadvantages bands from a single school might have as opposed to a ‘mixed’ school band and I feel that they both have their difficulties (and advantages) to deal with. The main thing is that we are hearing such great music each year - and the winners of any division are so often a surprise!

This year will also see our first Band Director’s workshop happening in November, this is very exciting and I’m looking forward to hearing the results from this new component of Generations in Jazz.

Apart from that, the really big news is that the GIJ Academy at Tennyson College is starting it’s ‘year 13’ program in the new year and we will hear from them on the Generations weekend too. This will really be a treat, as when a band get to spend a weekend with Graeme Lyall you can hear the difference – what will it be like after a few months?

Looking forward to seeing (and hearing) everyone at the Mount!

Keep Swinging,

James