West Gate Neighbourhood Fund
In 2024, Westgate Concert Band was excited to be a recipient of the Victorian Government’s West Gate Neighbourhood Fund. With the support received, we have been able to carry out much needed repairs on our percussion instruments, notably on our timpani and snare drum. Having our percussion in good working order allows us to continue to deliver rich musical performances to the community as well as providing instruments for our community musicians to play.
Timpani are large drums of the percussion family, which can be tuned by use of a foot-pedal. Westgate is extremely fortunate to own four timpani (a ‘console’) in a variety of sizes, allowing us to achieve four different tones throughout a musical piece. Famous works such as ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ (which opens ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’) are known for their grandiose timpani solos and the percussion instrument adds a unique timbre and value to an ensemble. These instruments, however, suffer significant wear and tear, not only due to the required unbridled enthusiasm of timpanists, but also due to the complex tuning mechanisms within and their bulky forms which make them difficult to move and transport. With the support from the West Gate Neighbourhood Fund, our timpani have been dismantled, extensively cleaned (for the first time since the 90s!), the pedals and gauges regulated and realigned, and the Timpani Heads replaced.
We gave our refurbished timps a run at our recent concert, ‘Galactic Grooves: music from across the cosmos,’ and they stole the show!
Westgate Concert Band thanks ‘Ready Please Mr Musig’ for their expert servicing of our percussion instruments and ongoing support of the band. With these repairs undertaken, we can continue in our mission to improve community wellbeing and connectedness through music.
This project would not have been possible without support from The West Gate Neighbourhood Fund, which is a Victorian Government initiative that is helping not-for-profit organisations in Melbourne’s inner west to support their communities while the West Gate Tunnel Project is being built.
You can read more about the fund here.