A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy
A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy
A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy
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- 178 –<br />
RAN BAND NEWS EDITION NUMBER 12<br />
11 JULY 2008<br />
RAN BAND DETACHMENT ON DEPLOYMENT IN AFGHANISTAN<br />
FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK<br />
As I stated in the previous edition of RAN Band News, ‘the history of the <strong>Navy</strong> Band has<br />
continued to develop at full pace’, and its record of service is no where more clearly<br />
demonstrated than in this edition.<br />
Over the past six months we have deployed 12 musicians to the Middle East including to<br />
Iraq and Afghanistan, embarked 11 musicians in HMAS Tobruk and deployed a technical<br />
team to Timor to support a Force Advisory Committee on Entertainment (FACE) tour. We<br />
conducted a number of benchmark activities including a ‘direct to air’ broadcast, one ship<br />
decommissioning ceremony and one ship commissioning ceremony, and a number of ship<br />
Farewell and Welcome Home Ceremonies. We also deployed a small musical element to<br />
support HMAS Arunta for ANZAC day in Mumbai. Throughout all of this activity we still<br />
managed to do our usual business within and around the Nation.<br />
Feedback that I have received about the contribution made by our people to the recent<br />
deployment to the Middle East has been nothing short of outstanding. The quality of our<br />
people and the capability that they bring to any event is clearly evident. I know that the<br />
people who manage these FACE sponsored tours value very highly our contribution.<br />
The ‘direct to air’ broadcast on ABC Classic FM reached more than 700,000 people and<br />
inspired the musicians with an exciting and challenging music program. We remain grateful<br />
to the team at ABC Classic FM for the confidence that they continue to show in the <strong>Navy</strong><br />
Band and for their willingness to support wind band music in Australia and, in particular,<br />
our unique performances.<br />
The band’s contribution to ship Farewell and Welcome Home ceremonies continues to<br />
deliver a strong sense of national and naval pride to those occasions: it’s hard to imagine<br />
what those important ceremonies would be like without the <strong>Navy</strong> Band.<br />
<strong>Royal</strong> <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Navy</strong> Band: A Musical Voyage
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