By Staff
March 28th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Two solid days of students and their instruments learning a new piece of music and then coming together as a massed band to perform what they have learned.
The event is part of what the Halton District School Board calls a Band Extravaganza taking place in Burlington Tuesday and Wednesday.
The students paid close attention tot he instructions they were being given.
Listening to the students as they warm up with their instruments and get instructions on instrument specific clinics from instructors that were donated by Long and McQuade.
There was this beautiful deep sound that just enveloped the room. Then the other instruments joined in.
Being in a room with 15 to 40 students who are being directed by an experienced musician learning to get the best sound possible from the instrument is quite an experience. The rooms were on the small side where the sound bounced off the walls.
Boys being boys – talking up what they were being taught?
Students start each day with a concert by the Halton Junior Jazz Band. Afterwards, students go to breakout clinics specific to their instrument. Later they convene for a massed band rehearsal, with guest conductors on both days.
Concentration and getting it just right.
The board has commissioned two original concert band compositions for the event: The Call to Adventure by composer David Marlatt, and The Conquest by Ryan Meeboer, a teacher at Alexander’s Public School in Burlington.
The pieces will be directed by the composers and played for the first time by Halton students.
Rebecca MacRae, the board’s instructional program leader (the arts, K-12) is overseeing the event.
