Thus reads the motto of Harmoniemusik Welden, who visited SCWB in September 2000. For those of you whose German is rusty the motto proclaims "because good music is fun!" A band after our own hearts!

Markus Schoenheits - Harmoniemusik's conductor

Harmoniemusik hail from the small Bavarian town of Welden, about 50 miles northwest of Munich. They are an impressively sized band (80 members) supported by a society comprising 230 non-playing members. The main band are conducted by Markus Schoenheits (see picture). In addition they have a youth band and small ensembles within the main band specialising in brass and woodwind music.

Harmoniemusik Welden's repertoire is not dissimilar to that of SCWB. The band see themselves as "focusing on contemporary concert music whilst not neglecting the traditional German/Bavarian style of wind band music". A quick look through their playlist reveals pieces by Holst and Sousa as well as the 007 Theme and an Ennio Morricone medley.

A fantastic amount of organisation went into the visit, not only from a musical point of view but also from a logistical one, and everything went very well! The barn dance in the evening was a great success, with one of Harmoniemusik's ensembles providing some traditional German music to dance to. This had the added bonus of giving Markus Schoenheits the opportunity to play some music in addition to conducting in the afternoon. After the barndance band had finished some more of Harmoniemusik's musicians jumped onto the stage and provided some more music to dance to and the music for a conga-style progression around the hall at the end. Everyone left very late and very tired!

Gifts and congratulations were exchanged in a presentation cermony during the evening, with conductors, organisers and even the webmaster receiving presents. Thank you very much Markus and all of Harmoniemusik from the band and from me. We shall look forward to seeing you all again.

Pictures from this event can be found here.

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