The Band Loses an Icon
18/06/2010
It is with great sorrow that I pass on the news that Bob McCaskill passed away this morning. Bob, aged 88, was a major part of the City of Bendigo Brass Band over many years, starting when his father was the conductor back in the 1930's. All band members are saddened by his passing and pass on our best wishes to the McCaskill family. Below is an excerpt from the published historical text that Bob himself wrote more than ten years ago. This was the chapter that modestly described his contribution to the band...
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Born in 1922, Robert McKenzie McCaskill (Bob) began his musical education at the age of 10 years, when as a member of the Bendigo Boys Band, conducted by his father, R.J. McCaskill, he soon became a lover of brass band music.
At 18 years, when the bandmaster R.J. McCaskill joined the armed services, Bob was given the task of Bandmaster of the Bendigo Boys Band, after which he also joined the army and became solo cornet in the Royal Park Military band. In 1942, he transferred to Wagga in New South Wales, into the Royal Australian Engineers Regimental band, and played under noted bandmasters, “Scottie Armour”, and “Albert Baile” (who was conductor of the Commonwealth band in 1924).
After 4˝ years service, Bob returned to Bendigo, but didn’t take up banding seriously until 1958, when he joined the Eaglehawk Citizens’ Band for 12 months. He then returned to the Bendigo Municipal Band. He was elected Bandmaster in 1960-61, after which he was transferred to Frankston in his employment as a teacher, until 1968.
On his return to Bendigo, Bob again played with the Bendigo Municipal Band and in 1969 he was again elected Bandmaster, the position he held until he retired in 1980. He still plays cornet with the band.
During his years as bandmaster, Bob’s aim was to make the organisation socially sound, to entertain the public at concerts with music that appealed, while gradually building the band to “contest” standard. Bob started many learners’ classes and his capabilities as a teacher were evident by the numbers who advanced to the senior band.
Bob has given much of his life to the love of music and especially to the City of Bendigo Brass Band.
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