Sunshine Coast high school bands hit a high note at a Western Canada music festival earlier in May, earning gold and silver recognitions for their performances.
The SD46 (School District No. 46) Concert Band, made up of students from Chatelech Secondary School in Sechelt and Elphinstone Secondary in Gibsons, earned a gold-standard rating from the judges at the Con Brio Festival at Sun Peaks resort near Kamloops May 10 to 12, where another two dozen school bands from B.C. and Alberta were also playing.
The festival is not technically a competition, but an adjudicated performance event. “Gold standard signifies that an ensemble has achieved excellence in all facets of its performance,” according to the festival’s website. The SD46 Jazz Band earned a silver, which signifies “an exceedingly high standard” of musical performance.
“The concert band really did earn its gold,” said Tom Kellough, who is the director for both bands and music teacher at the high schools.
Each band gets to perform three numbers. “You put together a performance set and make sure it’s varied and shows the group at its best,” Kellough told Coast Reporter.
The concert band played The Melody Shop, by Karl King; Rhosymedre, by Ralph Vaughan-Williams; and Jitterbug, by Robert Buckley.
“The Jitterbug was really outstanding for a Grade 9 to 12 band,” Kellough said. “This is an exceptional band this year.”
The trombone solo by Grade 10 student Delamare George in Jitterbug is outstanding and well beyond his years. (You can hear both bands’ performances online at YouTube by entering SD46 Con Brio in the search bar.)
The jazz ensemble played Knuckleball Blues, by Paul Baker; Nice Work If You Can Get It, by George Gershwin; and The Jazz Police, by Gordon Goodwin.
Next year, Kellough plans to take the bands to the national event, Music Fest Canada, which involves about 10,000 students from across the country. It’s staged in a different city each year and will be held in Calgary in 2020.
“Everybody’s there by invitation. You can’t just sign up for the nationals, you have to be invited, and we’ve had an open invitation for a couple of years,” Kellough said. “It’s also not a competition, but the gold standard there is going to be higher than anywhere else.”
The bane of all high school band directors is that many of their most mature players graduate and move on. “I’m losing nine this year. But that’s the nature of the game,” Kellough said. “It’s all about looking to the future and building and pacing – and making sure the seniors are mentoring the juniors all along.”
You can hear the SD46 Jazz Band – one last time as it’s currently comprised – at the Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival, Saturday, June 22.
