Heather Latter
The Fort Frances High School senior band will have an experience like none other.
As part of its biennial trip, the 40-member group will be travelling to Whistler, B.C. to participate in the 16th-annual Whistler Music Festival from April 23-26.
“It’s a festival for bands of all ages,” noted Fort High music teach Lisa Loney, adding she’s just putting the finishing touches on the plans.
The Whistler Music Festival is presented by Con Brio Festivals, which is an associate member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.
Loney said the festival is a four-day event that takes place in Whistler Village.
“They perform, they get adjudicated, and then the band goes into a clinic and there are all these doctorates of music that are there,” she explained.
The students also will attend additional workshops designed to build on the strengths of each ensemble.
Loney, meanwhile, will attend professional development workshops for band directors.
She is very excited for the trip because she thinks the band will learn a lot.
“It’s really student-centered and about building skills,” Loney stressed, noting the band also is required to watch other ensembles.
“They guarantee an audience,” she remarked.
“So our band has a scheduled time where we have to listen to another band perform.”
Then on the Saturday night, the students will take in the gala concert.
Each year, Con Brio Festivals brings together outstanding professional musicians to perform and provide music that will engage and inspire the young musicians.
A number of ensembles and individuals are scheduled to perform, including Christopher Bill, a trombonist from New York who has become a YouTube sensation with his knack for looping and his extraordinary talent playing pop songs.
“I like that idea because sometimes they bring in really talented groups but they can’t relate to the kids, so I’m really happy that they are doing that,” Loney enthused.
Other performers will include the Malcolm Aiken Ensemble and Marcus Mosely.
Then at the end of the festival, they all pile into Millennium Place Performance Hall to play two songs together.
“There will be 1,200 kids all playing at the same time,” Loney noted.
“They’ve sent us some music,” she added. “They make it so that it is reasonable for all groups to be able to play and they ask us to practice that so we can perform it.
“So we will play two pieces of our own and then we will learn those two pieces.”
Loney said the students also will be doing some fun things like zip-lining and taking in a First Nations’ dinner experience at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, which will include a welcome ceremony.
That will be followed by a film, guided tour, cedar bracelet-making, and a First Nations’ buffet-style dinner.
“I think they really try to get the kids to get to know other kids so they have a mass scavenger hunt,” Loney added.
“And the nice thing it is Whistler, so it is an enclosed village with mountains around, so there is a safety factor.”
She also said it will be great for the Fort High students to be around other young musicians.
“It’s a really good thing because we just don’t have anyone close to us,” Loney reasoned.
“And so these kids don’t get much of a chance to see other groups, other music programs.
“We just don’t get that opportunity so it’ll be really good for them,” she said.
