The Herald on Sunday have run a story about Kiwis in Abbey for the Wedding. Sorry Michael you didn't make the cut, well you did actually they cut you out. Perhaps you should be pleased. Wonder what your real job is when not also playing in the band.
This is a totally unedited version of what was in the paper!
New Zealanders who were inside Westminster Abbey
Hamish Dean
During the one private moment of the ceremony all ears were on Coporal Hamish Dean.
The 35 year old trumpter from Whanganui led the Royal Airforce Fanfare playing the Valiant and the Brave as the royal couple disappeared from the glare of the TV into the shrine of St Edward to sign the register.
Dean studied music at Victoria University of Wellington and joined the RAF in 2004.
He lives on the base in Northolt, where he works as a librarian as well as being a member of the Central Band of The Royal Airforce.
This was accompanied by an earlier photo from the Herald with Michael chopped out.
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Friday, 29 April 2011
And Now for the Real Thing
The fanfare trumpets of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force have performed a brand new piece of music at the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
The RAF Fanfare Trumpeters performed the specially written 30 second piece of fanfare music after the couple signed the register to officially confirm their marriage.
The music, entitled ‘Valiant and Brave’ was composed by Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs, Royal Air Force Music Services Principal Director of Music who began his career with the Central Band in 1983.
‘Valiant and Brave’ is also the motto of 22 Squadron, in which Prince William is currently serving as a Search and Rescue pilot at RAF Valley in North Wales.
The Central Band is generally regarded to be the premier military band in the United Kingdom. It is always in great demand, undertaking more than 370 engagements a year and travelling a distance of more than 64,000 miles.
The band has represented the Royal Air Force at every major military event and performed at all of the principal concert venues in Britain.
The RAF Fanfare Trumpeters performed the specially written 30 second piece of fanfare music after the couple signed the register to officially confirm their marriage.
The music, entitled ‘Valiant and Brave’ was composed by Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs, Royal Air Force Music Services Principal Director of Music who began his career with the Central Band in 1983.
‘Valiant and Brave’ is also the motto of 22 Squadron, in which Prince William is currently serving as a Search and Rescue pilot at RAF Valley in North Wales.
The Central Band is generally regarded to be the premier military band in the United Kingdom. It is always in great demand, undertaking more than 370 engagements a year and travelling a distance of more than 64,000 miles.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Playing Among the Big Brass By Paul Brooks
When Kate and William make their solemn vows before an illustrious congregation and a worldwide viewing audience, a young Wanganui man will be right there, in Westminster Abbey, witnessing the event first hand. More than that, he will be playing a vital part in the ceremony. Corporal Hamish Dean, member of the RAF fanfare party, along with his former Wellington flatmate, Senior Aircraftman Michael McGowan and six other musicians, will play a 30-second piece while the royal couple sign the register.
For Hamish, son of Alan and Mary Dean of Wanganui, the music began when he was a pupil at Aramoho School, learning recorder from the late Barry Samuel. ‘‘He really took to playing the recorder,’’ says Mary, ‘‘He had us up all night, getting everything right.’’
From the age of 9, Hamish moved on to piano, learning from the late Mary Boobyer and achieving a grade a year. ‘‘I let him stop at Grade 4,’’ says Mary, ‘‘as long as he took grade five trombone.’’ He also had a year learning violin from Helen McLean and a stint on saxophone with Russell Shaw. ‘‘He could have been really good at any instrument,’’ says Alan.
But it was in the direction of brass that Hamish wanted to travel. A call from Mary to Bruce Jellyman followed and a short time on cornet led to his lifelong love of the trombone. Bruce sent him to his brother, Errol Jellyman, who lived nearby,... ‘‘So Hamish would bike down there for a half-hour lesson and come back two hours later,’’ says Mary. Those lessons were part of his membership of the Tenderkist Brass Band, one of the many names leading to the current incarnation of Brass Wanganui.
When Hamish attended City College, the music there was really big, says Mary, which was the reason he went to that school. In 1990, he accompanied Ray Russell and the City College band to Malaysia, the first of many overseas trips to play music.
His early years of tuition read like a Who’s Who of Wanganui musicianship. Kevin Jarrett conducted the Warnock’s Wanganui City Silver Band (as it was called then) when Hamish moved to the senior band in 1990. Both Kevin and the late Jay Neal tutored Hamish and in 1993 he won the NZ Junior Trombone title at the National Champs and that was the year the band competed at the Edinburgh Tattoo. Hamish was just 17 at the time, also passing his Grade 8 exams with distinction and gaining the Leslie Holland Memorial Scholarship for the highest marks of the year in Royal Schools. With his scholarship money he signed up for lessons from Peter Maunder, trombonist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. That meant trips to Wellington; a chore that mum and dad undertook readily.
In 1994, not ready to attend university, Hamish attended the Wanganui City College Music School under Kevin Jarrett and Bruce Jellyman, and passed his LTCL. The following year, he still did not go on to university because he was chosen to be in the National Band of New Zealand and went on a six-week tour of the US.
In 1996, he finally went to Victoria University, emerging four years with an Honours degree (firstclass) in Performance Trombone. His university years were spent studying (of course) and playing freelance wherever he could, performing lead trombone with the NZ Youth Brass Band, playing in the NZ Youth Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra, and playing principal trombone with the Wellington Synphonia until he left for the UK in March 2004.
That’s one heck of a CV and we haven’t mentioned he was on casual contract with the NZSO and in 2000 he was one of six young bandsmen chosen from New Zealand to be among the 2000-strong marching band to perform at the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games.
In 2000, Hamish enlisted in the Royal NZ Navy and got a trip to Korea during his service. It was not for him so he returned to Wellington to freelance and to study jazz with Rodger Fox. ‘‘From 1996 right through until 2004, apart from that year off in 2000, he was a member of the Central Band of the RNZAF. He got to be a corporal in that band and was their principal trombone,’’ says Mary.
Seven years ago, Hamish unexpectedly was asked to fill a late vacancy on a NZ Brass Youth Band Tour to the UK. He was a little over age at 27, but filled a spot on bass trombone at late notice.
The highlight of the tour was playing at the ANZAC service in Westminster Abbey. This was a once-in-a-lifetime gig, or so he thought at the time, getting to play in Westminster Abbey in the presence of the Queen.
In 2009, Hamish returned to New Zealand to complete some ‘‘unfinished business’’, as Mary puts it. It was to compete in the Open NZ Tenor Trombone Solo, a win he had never achieved ... until then.
Hamish now holds the rank of corporal and is principal trombone in the concert wind band and the elite big band The RAF Squadronaires. Both groups made CDs with Decca last year. The Squadronaires recorded ” In the Mood, The Glenn Miller Story” at the famous Abbey Road studios. The CD went to No 5 in the British pop charts; the concert wind band’s CD followed later in the year. Released to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Reach for the Skies went into the charts at No 4.
Hamish performs with the brass quintet, trombone quartet, fanfare trumpets, the dance band and the soul band, all of which are smaller groups within the main band. He is a regular soloist with the concert band and the Squadronaires, performing all over the UK and other European venues. The band changes the guard at Buckingham Palace over the summer and does the same at Windsor Castle. Trips to perform at Edinburgh Tattoo are regular, and there are trips abroad as well. In 2005, the band travelled to Sydney to ‘‘The Edinburgh Tattoo’’.
Hamish is studying ICT at the Open University ‘‘for the day when he finds it too cold to stand out in the British weather on parade’’, says Mary.
On April 29, he will perform to his biggest audience ever when the Fanfare Party from the RAF, , will Perform a fanfare at the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. As William is a working officer in the RAF, the formal fanfare will be played by the RAF fanfare trumpeters. There will be two fanfare parties in the Abbey, one drawn from the Household Cavalry , and the other from the RAF.
This will be one royal wedding that Hamish’s family will be watching carefully, just in case they get a glimpse of their boy from Wanganui.
From Wanganui Midweek April 20th 2011
Trumpeters Chosen for Royal Wedding
But 10 years on, Corporal Hamish Dean and Senior Aircraftsman Michael McGowan have been chosen as with six other trumpeters from the Royal air force’s Central Band to strike up the first notes toasting the newlyweds at Westminster Abbey.
As Prince William and Kate Middleton sign the register on April 29 the pair will play a 30 second piece which will be heard by a worldwide audience of at least 750 million people.
“I’m really excited but a little bit nervous” said Aircraftsman Michael McGowan.
“We will have a really big live audience. But I can’t wait for the atmosphere and the ambience of it all.”
The best mates whose other halves are also soldiers in the band at RAF Northolt in west London, met while completing a Bachelor of Music at Victoria University where they flatted together for three years.
Their friendship endured and the pair have now played for all members of the royal family with more than 370 engagements a year.
Corporal Dean, from Wanganui, joined first in 2004 after chatting to a recruiting officer during a visit to the Royal Manchester School of music with New Zealand’s National Youth Brass Band. The 35 year old, who also works as a librarian for the RAF, lives in the barracks, as does his English partner, clarinet player Louise Bonneywell.
When a vacancy came up in the band in 2006 he looked up his old friend, Aircraftsman McGowan 32, from Christchurch, who auditioned and won the position.
His wife Senior Aircraftswoman Miriam McGowan, 32, born in Cambridge, soon secured a spot for herself playing French horn.
The two couples have undertaken 9 weeks of gruelling training as recruite at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire, southeast England. Like all members of the RAF, the musicians are required to support British forces on operations in Iraq and Afganistan.
Their duties include anything form a guarding or watch-keeping role to driving ambulances or administration."
“It’s usually about nine or 10 years before you are deployed,” aircraftsman McGowan said. “We’re on the list waiting to go out. It’s part of the job. You know it’s going to happen at some stage.”
Both had previously been membesr of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band but were not required to train as soldiers.
The royal wedding music, which will be unveiled on the day, is called Valiant and Brave, which is the motto of Prince William’s 22 Squadron.
It was composed by the RAF’s music director, Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs. He played at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981 and will be conducting the band on their son’s big day.
Eight Household Cavalry state trumpeters will also play at the wedding and more than eight other bands will join over 1000 military personnel along the procession route from Buckingham palace to the abbey.
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| Hamish Dean and Michael McGowan |
Monday, 25 April 2011
Wow what a photo call!
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| This is a very serious business. |
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| I don't want to do this... | r |
Hamish is far left in photo.
Hamish blowing his own trumpet!
The RAF Fanfare line up.
Give em a taste of Kiwi! Hamish centre, Michael right.
The line up...
The Three trombonists turned trumpeters trying to locate the slide.
Proud parents await abbey serenade
From Wanganui Chronicle April 16th 2011
Alan and Mary Dean will be glued to their television set on April 29, hoping to catch a glimpse of their son Hamish serenading Prince William and Kate Middleton during the couple's wedding at Westminster Abbey.
The Wanganui couple's 35-year-old son is part of the Royal Air Force Fanfare Party that will perform a piece called Valiant and Brave as the royal couple sign the register.
Valiant and Brave is named after the motto of 22 Squadron, in which Prince William is serving as a search and rescue pilot, stationed in North Wales.
Mr Dean said he and Mary were fiercely proud and honoured, but not surprised their son had been chosen to play at the royal wedding.
Hamish Dean is no stranger to royal performances, having performed with the New Zealand Brass Youth Band at Westminster Abbey in front of the Queen during an Anzac concert seven years ago.
"We are very proud and excited and will be certainly watching the wedding on television," Mr Dean said.
"Hamish was interested in music right from childhood and attended Saturday morning classes at intermediate school in Wanganui, where he learned to play the saxophone."
Mr Dean said their son had approached recruiters for the British military services seven years ago and discovered there were vacancies for trombone players with the RAF.
"When he got back to New Zealand he set about a long drawn-out process applying for the British military.
He managed to raise the funds for a quick trip between music commitments to audition for a place in the RAF in July 2003."
In March the following year, Hamish entered basic training and graduated as a fully trained serviceman after a 12-week basic training course.
He has now reached the rank of corporal and performs regularly with a variety of RAF bands.
Cpl Dean will not be the only New Zealander performing at the royal wedding. His best friend, Michael McGowan from Christchurch, will also play trumpet at the wedding.
The pair met and became friends while studying for bachelor of music degrees at Victoria University in Wellington.
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