The Mosgiel Brass Band has blown its rivals out of the water by winning all three categories in the C grade of the recent Otago Southland Brass Band Competition.
The band took out the hymn, test and entertainment categories.
Conductor Philip Craigie said the band's performance had exceeded expectations.
‘‘Sometimes we win one or two of them. This year we won all that we could, so that's a wee bit different.''
While brass bands have traditionally been quite conservative in outlook, this had changed with a diverse array of popular tunes now incorporated into the genre, Mr Craigie said.
‘‘There's a lot more variety available for brass bands today than there used to be 10 to 15 years ago.''
Playing popular songs helped to expand the appeal of brass bands. The band played Pharrel Williams' Happy, David Bowie's Life on Mars and Creedence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary for their entertainment section entry.
Mr Craigie said the songs were chosen to suit an overarching theme of tributes.
‘‘Those pieces sort of popped out as ones that would fit with what we were trying to do.''
Mr Craigie said he was open to playing a wider range of popular tunes.
‘‘There's not much that I don't enjoy having a go at and getting the band to get something out of.''
Individual band members also experienced success, with Karen Blick winning the novice category, Stacey Ward, the open air variation and Barbara Cooper, the senior event.
While playing popular music broadened appeal, Mr Craigie said the pieces were ‘‘fairly straightforward'' and band members enjoyed the challenge of technical pieces in the ‘‘test-piece'' competition.
‘‘Having competitions keeps the quality and standards up.
‘‘If nobody has anything to strive for they get a bit casual about it.
‘‘Having a competition forces you to focus and practise a bit more.''
