The colour of their jackets is really the only thing that sets these men apart.
David Lawrence, in his sober green jacket, plays in the Tauranga Brass band. He's a Salvationist.
David Ansell, in his vibrant turquoise jacket, plays in the Tauranga City Silver Band. He's a Methodist.
The Salvation Army has its roots in Methodism and so it was inevitable one day the two men would bring together their combined 120 years, or thereabouts, of brass banding and play harmoniously from the same music sheet.
It's a watershed moment for the bandsmen. 'As good Methodists and Salvationists we are quite happy with each other,” says David Ansell. And as veteran lifelong bandsmen they are quite happy with each other too.
'It had to happen” says David Lawrence. 'Tauranga needs a good brass band and the only way to do that was to combine the two groups; the two bands. And I'm looking forward to the concert, oh yes!” says David Lawrence.
The concert being The Combined Brass Concert at the Wesley Methodist Church in 13th Ave this Sunday afternoon, December 11. The coming together of two brass bands after more than 50 years of steadfast separation.
'There's been a totally different feel at rehearsals,” says David Ansell. 'There's more sound; there's more capacity to do the things you need to do to have a living band. I'm really looking forward to the concert.”
When either band practised there would only be just a handful of players. Lately there's been 23 players at rehearsals. 'But there's room for plenty more,” says David Lawrence.
Pragmatism is at play here too. Two bands, proud and independent but with dwindling numbers and dwindling interest. One band asset rich; the other cash rich. 'So the coming together was one of those very necessary things to happen,” says David Lawrence.
But tradition dies hard and there was some collateral damage. 'We lost one or two along the way. They weren't happy for whatever reason. And that's fine,” says David Lawrence.
So a concert on one hand and a celebration on the other – a celebration that brass banding just may have been brought back from the brink in Tauranga by men with a lifelong commitment to their music.
There are signs it may even flourish. Because playing the cornet, 65 years David's junior, is Annabelle Stewart of Mount Maunganui College. She's 16, the youngest in the band, and a violinist who's dabbled with piano and guitar and teaches the recorder.
'There are some interesting characters,” says Annabelle. 'That's half the fun. The jokes, the laughing and the music of course.” And the stories Annabelle takes home to the family dinner table – for example when the old buffers were bootlegging at band camp in their youth. They would smuggle beer into the camp in a tuba case.
The manager got wind and tried to catch them red-handed. The boys also got wind and replaced the beer with a small girl who was at camp. When the tuba was intercepted, out stepped the girl. The shipment of beer was smuggled successfully.
There's an infusion of youth in the band, a couple of 17-year-olds and a 20-year-old euphonium player.
With Annabelle, they are the future of the band while the two Davids are the foundations; the history and the experience. 'The reason I joined a brass band was because I was a very poor piano player, a failed pianist,” says David Ansell. 'Then I took to brass like a duck to water. It was the whole feel, what I could actually do with a brass instrument.”
David Lawrence, who started ‘caroling' with the Salvation Army when he was just nine, turns 80 next February. 'All boys in the Salvation Army want to play in the band.” So naturally he also progressed to the band and has given 71 years' continuous service to brass banding. Like his great grandfather, his grandfather and three of his grandfather's brothers before him.
'There's a photo of the Bannockburn [Central Otago] Brass Band in 1896 – [there were] 14 people in the band and five of them are Lawrences.” There's tradition here.
The Combined Brass Concert is this Sunday, December 11, at the Methodist Church, 100 13th Avenue, Tauranga, at 1.30pm. Entry costs adults $10 and children $3.