A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy

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RAN BAND NEWS EDITION NUMBER 7
9 JANUARY 2006
RAN BAND DETACHMENT ON DEPLOYMENT IN IRAQ CHRISTMAS 2005
FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK
The articles in this edition of RAN Band News highlight a very high period of activity. All of
our detachments were busy with the usual remembrance ceremonies, ship open days and
social functions, and public engagements. Many were involved in some way in supporting an
unusually high number of ship commissioning and decommissioning ceremonies. In and
amongst all of this activity, the band played an important role in ceremonies marking the
200 th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the 60 th Anniversary of Victory in the
Pacific. Interestingly, the band’s national output (tasks within Australia) for the July to
December 2005 period was twice the level for the same period in 2004.
During this period we commenced recording music for All Hands on Deck and released our
first Christmas album, Do You Hear What I Hear? All Hands on Deck, scheduled for release
in March 2006, will contain tracks featuring each of our detachments and will showcase the
full range of our music capabilities. Our first Christmas album was released just in time for
Christmas, and showcases our choir (the Sea Chanters) in company with the Wind
Orchestra. The album has been distributed to libraries across Australia.
During this period, elements of the band performed with a large number of high profile
civilian artists and bands including, the Hoodoo Gurus, Yothu Yindi, Little Pattie, Beccy
Cole, Marcia Hines, Todd McKenney, John Paul Young, Guy Sebastian, Deborah Cheetham
and Jane Rutter. This level of exposure broadens our reach within the music industry and
adds to our usual range of activities promoting music within schools and the community.
Despite the heavy demand for its services, the band continued its sea deployment initiative
with elements from the Sydney and Melbourne detachments embarking for short voyages in
HMAS Stuart and HMAS Kanimbla. These two sea deployments followed on shortly after we
welcomed back eight of our people from their posting to HMAS Anzac for its highly
successful NORTHERN TRIDENT deployment. We look forward to continuing our direct
support to the Fleet during 2006 with planned deployments in HMAS Tobruk and HMAS
Manoora.
Two particular highlights for the period were our involvement in supporting Australia’s
Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, and our deployment to the Middle East
Area of Operations (MEAO). The deployment to the Solomon Islands in July, sponsored by
the Forces Advisory Council for Entertainment (FACE), was a resounding success.
Royal Australian Navy Band: A Musical Voyage