Music in Gayndah
A History by those who were there
A conversation with Vin Schmierer held in Gayndah, 03/06/22
Geoff
This is a recording of a conversation with Vin Schmierer held at his home in Gayndah on the Third of June, 2022. Vin would you mind letting us know what year you were born in and where your were born.
Vin
I was born in 1944 and I am a real Gayndahite born at the Gayndah hospital.
Geoff
That makes you pretty special.
Vin
I’m a real Gayndahite, true blue.
Geoff
Because we are talking about music and where music had gone in Gayndah, where did you start learning to play music?
Vin
Well Gayndah had a town band way back in the sixties. My grandfather played in a brass band in Brisbane and my parents encouraged me to join up with the town band. I would have been about twelve years old. They gave me a cornet and I took to it like anything and learned to play up and down the scale. I think the first sone I ever learned to play was God save the Queen. I was in the town band for several years. We went away to Maryborough to a contest, A or B, C or D grade and we also went to Bundaberg for a brass band competition. Then the brass band broke up. The band master left town for work and they gave away all of the instruments. What happens then I just started work at a very young age.
Geoff
Before you get on to that, how did you learn? How did they actually teach you? Did you have one on one lessons?
Vin
There was two or three young lads, I was one of them, that went along to the band master, to his house to learn cause he wanted to build up the brass band. I took to it but the other two faded away when the brass band broke up. I enjoyed it and got the grip of it and so I continued playing. Palings came to Gayndah, a salesman and opened one of the shops in town. They had on display trombones, saxophones, guitars, drums and the trumpet. I had just started work so I went and bought a trumpet. I just learnt my self. I knew how to read music and play the notes.
Geoff
Do your remember what tutor they originally used?
Vin
No I can’t remember that.
Geoff
But there was a book that you practised out of.
Vin
Yes the brass band gave us an exercise book, yes. I learnt to play from that and as I said, the brass band disbanded and I went and bought myself a trumpet and went on to play for dances for over thirty years.
Geoff
How many cornets would have been in the band then?
Vin
Oh there would have been four. There would have been four. It was a pretty good brass band. We did a lot of travelling, played at Monto Dairy Festival and at the opening of the Biggenden new Show Hall and different functions around town. We used to get on the back of a council truck and drive around Gayndah playing Christmas carols under the street lights. So that was a lot of fun as a young fellow way back then. It was good.
Geoff
Did you play first second or third cornet?
Vin
Naturally third cornet when I started out cause I had all the third cornet parts. But then as we went on, I went up to second cornet or solo cornet but then the band just disbanded and I bought myself a trumpet.
Geoff
I wonder what they did with all of the instruments?
Vin
I think they were given away to a Nambour brass band. I am not too sure about that. I was only a young fellow then. But that’s how I got involved with music from day one.
Geoff
Did the band master leave town did he?
Vin
Yes he got transferred away. No one could take it on then so we all went our different ways.
Geoff
How many people would have been in the band back then?
Vin
Oh easy fifteen or twenty. We had everybody, ephors, tenor horn, bass drums, kettle drums, trombone players and three of four cornets.
Geoff
People respected the band master?
Vin
Oh yes. He was very good. I learnt a lot from him as well. That’s how I got into music. He made me enjoy it so I kept going.
Geoff
How old were you when you started playing at dances?
Vin
Well I started learning the cornet when I was about twelve and I bought my own trumpet and there was a dance band in Gayndah called the Rockets. They knew I was playing the trumpet and there was another young land in Gayndah who was playing the saxophone so we go together and started playing as a little group and I think the first song I played at a dance was “Under the Bridges of Paris”, a waltz. And “Spring Time in the Rockies". So that just happened. I got the gift of playing for dances. That dance band broke up and I got together with some other young lads around Gayndah and we formed a little group and started playing for dances.
Geoff
What age do you think you were then?
Vin
Oh seventeen or eighteen when we first started playing as a little group around town. We started playing for dances and as the years went on we got a little bit better and got more work and I went on to play for dances for about thirty years. In the Central Burnett those days they used to have gala show balls in every town and deb balls as well. We played for all of them. I was fortunate enough to play for about thirteen Orange Festival Balls. So that is a great record and when this dance band broke up I played for about three years in a dance band in the South Burnett called the HotShots. They were very popular so I played for the HotShots for about three years.
Geoff
What instruments were in the first band that you first got together with?
Vin
Drums, keyboard, guitar and I played trumpet and did a bit of vocals. We moved on from there. We added a bass guitar.
Geoff
What kind of music did you play?
Vin
Well this was in the seventies so it was all old time dances and we played old time dance music. It was very popular, all the show balls and deb balls in every town. With the different band I have even in we have played as far up as Biloela, Monto, Mundubbera and the South Burnett way down to Nanango and those places. We played at Cunnamulla for their big Opal Festival. I forget the year it was.
Geoff
If you had a gig on Saturday night, dod you come home on Saturday night after you finished?
Vin
When we played in Biloela for their big show ball or a big CMF Ball, they put us up over night. But when we went to Cunnamulla, we should have stayed but a couple of blokes wanted to drive home so we drove home. All the way from Cunnamulla. But you could do it in those days.
Geoff
You would think differently now.
Vin
Yes you would thing differently now.
Geoff
You first cornet from the brass band what brand was it?
Vin
From the brass band it was a Boosey and Hawkes. The first trumpet I bought was a Selmer. Then with wear and tear later, I used Yamaha, a very good brand.
Geoff
That went well?
Vin
Oh yes. That got me through all those years of playing for dances and balls and so. Quite good.
Geoff
Do you still get it out and play it at all?
Vin
Well no not really. I have played for a few concerts since then but like at the moment, there’s no musos around town at the moment to get a group together. So it is all packed away nicely at the moment.
Geoff
Most of the music you played, did you read it or was it by ear?
Vin
I could play a full dance without music. I memorised most of the songs. All those dance band songs I just memorised them and played.
Geoff
What do you remember about the set for the evening?
Vin
In those dance band days it was Gypsy Taps, Pride of Erin, Oxford Waltz, Evening Three Step and Barn Dance and all of those things. That’s what would happen. Big crowds go to to those old time dances way back in the seventies and eighties. We had different set programs for different parts of the night. It was very enjoyable and the big thing was watching the people enjoy themselves dancing. That was the big thing.
Geoff
Do you dance yourself?
Vin
Yes and no. The wife says “He is a terrible dancer” but I think I was pretty good.
Geoff
What were the regular dance venues around Gayndah?
Vin
When I first started playing, the Woodmillar and Reids Creek had dance halls and we used to play there once a month. Around Mundubbera, Boynewood and Riverlee. Every Saturday night there would be a dance at one of those dance halls. Coulston Lakes had a dance hall and Gorulbra had a big dance hall. We played for all of those and as we became well known we started getting big bookings out of town, Biloela, Monto and in the south Burnett. So its been a very wonderful time.
Geoff
And financially, was it supportive?
Vin
Well I don’t know. We might have started getting a couple of pounds just to play and I thought that was pretty good. As they years rolled on, the amount of money you could ask for you could get. Went from pounds up to dollars. Well we did it for enjoyment. The committees would say “We are having and dance, how much will it be”? You would give them a price and that is how it all happened.
Geoff
Did you rehearse?
Vin
No. In the early days we did to get new tunes for different dances. We would rehearse every week but as the years went on we just knew what we were doing. I have been with a lot of good musos through out the years. Had a lot of fun. It was great, good to have music in your life.
Geoff
What were the hours of most dances?
Vin
I think we used to start playing at eight o’clock and finish at one or two o’clock. While the people were there dancing we keep playing.
Geoff
Did they have a supper during the evening?
Vin
Oh yes, the old supper at the dance halls when the ladies would bring around wash tubs full of cups and saucers and the men would walk around with pots of tea or coffee, all freshly made sandwiches.
Geoff
Where did alcohol fit into the whole thing?
Vin
When we first started playing the pubs used to have to close at ten o’clock. We knew when the pub closed because everybody would go to the dances then. After licences venues started, I don’t know what year it was but all of a sudden committees could get a licence to sell alcohol.
Geoff
I just remember up until ten o’clock it would be all women dancing.
Vin
Yes all the ladies used to sit around the hall and all the men would gather at the front door. You would announce a dance and they would go everywhere.
Geoff
I can remember before ten o’clock, the guys would be out the back drinking.
Vin
In those days the men used to ask the ladies to dance.
Geoff
What else do we need to know?
Vin
Oh just that I have been playing music for well over thirty years at all of those show balls and then the little country dances all around the place. Its been very enjoyable.
Geoff
The show balls, were they pretty up market affairs?
Vin
Yes big crowds go to the show balls. The ladies get their hair all done up, a new dress and jewellery. In those days the men used to wear a shirt and tie and a suit and just enjoy their fun of the night. It was really good.
Geoff
Have you got your trumpet we can have a look at?
Vin
Yes I will go and get it.
Here is my old faithful. Been to all of the dance halls right around area.
Geoff
Looks like it is still is good condition. Where about did you buy that.
Vin
I am not too sure. I bought my first Selmer from Palings. I think I must have bought it from another young lad who bought a trumpet. He asked me if I wanted it so here it is.
Geoff
Better than the original?
Vin
Oh I have got a lot better at playing so I would say yes. But the old Selmer did good for me as well.
Geoff
So you kept that for quite a while?
Vin
The Swelter, yes. I might still have it somewhere in the shed out the back.