May 23, 2014
Kingaroy musician Rhonda Smith is heading to England next month for a 10-day musical tour, and it’s all thanks to the saxophone and the small town of Mungindi.
Rhonda was born in Kingaroy but headed out to western Queensland as a nurse after her marriage, where she spent the next 30 years.
About seven years ago, a music festival brought well-known New Zealand musician Mark Walton to Mungindi, a tiny town that straddles the NSW and Queensland borders.
This led to the formation of a music group, known as the Bated Breath Mungindi Music Ensemble.
“It took some time for me to pluck up the courage to ring them. I had been told I should play the saxophone as a child because of my asthma, so I asked is there a spot for a saxophone left?” Rhonda said.
There was, and Rhonda joined.
She was soon playing the sax, and enjoying shopping trips and lunches with her fellow musicians.
She formed some firm friendships with the other women in Bated Breath, friendships that have lasted post-Mungindi.
And her love affair with the saxophone blossomed to the point that she now owns six – including tenor, alto, baritone and soprano models.
Back in Kingaroy, Rhonda has kept in touch with her old friends from Bated Breath – in fact, a small group of former members travel from all over south-east Queensland every fortnight to meet up in Brisbane to play together, shop together and lunch together.
She has also kept in touch with Mark Walton, who started it all off so many years ago.
Now Mark is leading a musical tour to Chichester in the UK. About 40 musicians from Australia and New Zealand are going, including a small group of Mungindi and ex-Mungindi players.
They’re be playing at various locations in Chichester and Lavant, and with town bands from Adur and Petworth. A highlight will be the Lavant fete!
They’re not the biggest venues, but Rhonda knows she’s going to have a lot of fun, and it will give her an opportunity to combine her two greatest loves … playing the saxophone and taking long walks in the countryside. And, of course, there’ll be her friends from Mungindi …
