Islander band invited to perform in Australia

Published 11:07 am Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Over a hundred Mercer Island band students made the 24-hour journey to the land down under March 31, as the Mercer Island band will be the invited international guest at the 2015 Australian National Band Championships, taking place April 3-6 in Sydney, Australia.

The event is billed as the Centenary of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrating 100 years of ANZAC.

It won’t be the first high-profile trip for the band, which traveled to London in 2010, participated in the Tournament of Roses parade in 2012, and was the halftime performance at a Seahawks-49ers NFL game in December. But MISD band program administrative assistant Jen McLellan says helping usher in a 100th anniversary that will have national press coverage in Australia adds a new wrinkle to the world-class program.

“We’re really excited but it’s a little daunting to be wine and dined in that regard,” McLellan said, adding the trip was 15 months in the making, rounding up various paper work and clearances.

For band director Parker Bixby, the trip marks an experience coming full circle. As a senior at California’s Arcadia High School, Bixby did a similar exchange to the Australian town of Newcastle with his band program, a stop the Mercer Island band will make on its trip. He said the city council of Newcastle was so enthralled with a performance by Arcadia’s marching band, they went ahead and created their own, called the Marching Koalas. Bixby said music in schools is not as ubiquitous in Australia and is more extracurricular.

“Mostly what’s exciting is the opportunity to provide an experience that was so powerful for me,” Bixby said. “As a director, it’s really exciting to know how our students are able to bring our brand of music and music education to this experience when I know the community of Newcastle chose to try and incorporate that in what they’re doing.”

Other stops on the trip will include a rehearsal at St. Patrick’s College, which is a private boys school for grades 6-12, a performance at the Royal Easter Show, which Bixby said was akin to an event like the Puyallup Fair, and a joint performance with the Marching Koalas in Newcastle Beach before returning Friday, April 10.

Bixby said a repair person will meet with the band to get instruments in playing condition, which are all district-insured. He estimated final costs for the trip were around $4000.

The band program has traveled enough to know how to limit the chance of damage and risk to its instruments, and Bixby acknowledged the students are aware they will be representing Mercer Island and their country on this trip. But the Mercer Island band director isn’t at all worried about relying on his students.

“These kids deserve an enormous amount of credit for the work they put in,” Bixby said. “They put in hundreds and hundreds of hours and I’m really proud of them.”

Islanders can stream the performance at http://brassbanned.com/ausnationals.

Students will be blogging throughout their trip through the Mercer Island schools website at www.mercerislandschools.org/Page/11622.

For more on the event, visit the Australian National Band Competition 2015 Facebook page at www.facebook.com/2015CentenaryofAnzacNationals.