Carman Collegiate’s senior band students recently received a superior rating for their performance at a music festival in Minnesota.
The school band participated in the Trills and Thrills Music Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota, in partnership with Sanford Collegiate. Band teacher Paula Kirkland learned about the festival from a colleague who had recently taken his students there and thought it would be a great experience for her group.
The festival ran over three days — Friday, May 16, Saturday, May 17, and Friday, May 23. Carman and Sanford students travelled from Wednesday, May 21, to Saturday, May 24, with their performance taking place on May 23.
The Trills and Thrills festival gives bands a chance to perform professionally and receive adjudicated feedback from experienced evaluators, offering insight into how they can improve. It also allows students to hear and connect with other bands from across North America.
“We like to go somewhere and make an event out of performing to give the program a bit more of a boost,” said Kirkland. “We just haven’t been able to do that in recent years.”
The COVID-19 pandemic halted much of the school’s travel opportunities, including band trips. Kirkland, who aims to provide her students with more touring experiences, made it a priority this year to get the band to Minnesota.
Though the current political climate has made travel to the U.S. feel uncertain for some Canadian groups, Kirkland said their experience was welcoming and music-focused.
“We were able to just go down and be there for the music,” she said.
Band class is an elective course at Carman Collegiate. On the school’s six-day cycle, the senior band meets every other day for about an hour. The group of just under 20 students spans Grades 9 to 12 and includes flutes, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, percussion and more.
Due to the pandemic, many older students missed out on earlier band opportunities, so the current senior band is made up mostly of younger students. There is one student in Grade 11 and four in Grade 12.
“They have really done a good job of adapting to the challenging music we’ve played and taking ownership of the band itself and where they want to see it go,” said Kirkland. “They’ve really kind of gelled as a group.”
Despite being a younger ensemble, the senior band received a superior rating at the festival. They performed two pieces — Midnight Zoomies and Dark Matter — earning scores of 91 and 92 per cent, surpassing their own expectations.
“It was a lot of positive feedback,” said Kirkland. “They encouraged them to try more challenging music. They felt like our band had the potential to play at a higher level than what it was.”
The band had already been working on a more advanced piece — Northern Lights — and the encouraging feedback gave them the confidence to perform it. They showcased it, along with another selection, at Carman Collegiate’s Arts Appreciation Night on Tuesday, June 3. The event also featured visual art from students in the school’s art program and from a French class Kirkland teaches.
Now in her third year at Carman Collegiate, Kirkland hopes to continue expanding the arts program. Along with more travel opportunities for the band, she’s also hoping to start a choir at the school.
