The last public concert from students at the ninth annual Sunshine Coast School of Celtic Music nearly took the roof off the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons last Saturday night, July 11.
The youth trad band under the direction of Celtic music school teachers Harris Playfair and Iain Fraser let loose a big band sound that fused Celtic with jazz and even managed to blend some klezmer into the mix.
"This concert is a project that started last Sunday (July 5), with youth from Scotland, the U.S., across Canada and some of our own Sunshine Coast youth," said school co-ordinator Ann Law.
The students worked on their music all week under the direction of the two teachers who were hard taskmasters, Law said. Yet the 36 students were still smiling. In fact, they were thoroughly enjoying it. Trad band is a popular class, and it was completely filled, along with piano, guitar and fiddle classes, by last April, two months before the school's start date.
With a larger fiddle section than usual, three percussionists and a brass section that included alumni from the Coast's own String Fiddlers, the band showed their ability to develop interesting arrangements of traditional tunes. There were a few blunders causing some of the performers to wince, but, in all, the musicality stayed on track.
They demonstrated their versatility when the entire band turned vocalists while instructor Mairi Campbell led them in a lovely ballad. Two other school teachers, Ruaridh Campbell on fiddle and Angus Lyon on accordion, also performed briefly giving the packed house a taste of the week's music.
The previous evening on July 10, the school's international roster of teachers performed at the annual gala concert in Sechelt. Rockwood Pavilion was full, with many of the audience dancing in their seats, said Law. The school, which is held at Roberts Creek Elementary School during the first week of July, had one of its biggest years yet with nearly 200 students, youth and adults.
"It was an amazingly great week," Law said. "An army of volunteers always comes forward to help."
A few of the teachers have been involved since the early days nine years ago, including local piano instructor Heather Cattanach, who was in the audience last Saturday to watch daughter Holly Beckmyer's performance. A recent high school graduate, Holly will now go to Vancouver to continue her music studies.
Fraser, who hails from the border region of Scotland, was part of the original brainstorming session, along with Law, that decided to include a traditional band component in the school's curriculum. He regards it as a privilege to return each year to teach the class along with Playfair.
"They always rise to the occasion," he said of the students.
