Coming up on Tuesday, August 6th and going until Friday August 9, the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music in collaboration with the Manitoba Band Association will be hosting two amazing workshops geared for band students who are in middle school and high school.
The Prairie Percussion workshop and the Prairie Brass workshop have become vibrant perennial favorites of the Manitoba Band Community’s summer season. These two camps help students develop fundamentals in their playing and further their understanding of their chosen discipline.
It is also a chance for students to get out and have fun making music with others, while receiving tutelage from some of the best instrument-specific specialists in Manitoba.
The percussion camp has been taking place since the summer of 2012, and was the brainchild of University of Manitoba Percussion instructor Victoria Sparks. She had taught many workshops around the province and realized that when she was brought in for an hour or two to work with students, it was not enough time to cover the vast selection of percussion instruments, and their various intricacies. As she explains, “I built a little schedule where instead of going from math class, to English class, to gym class at school, you from timpani class, to mallet class, to world Percussion class, to drum set class...and make our way through the day learning the skills of all the different areas and facets within the percussion family.”
From that first camp held in 2012 the camp has expanded and become a fixture of the Manitoba Band community’s summer schedule. It has been so successful that it was noticed by brass players. Paul Jeffrey, a trumpet player from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra reached out to Victoria Sparks about the possibility of doing the same kind of thing for brass. It made sense that the camps should be held at the same time in the same venue and in 2023 the Summer Brass camp had its debut.
The students in both camps are taught by the best percussion and brass players and teachers in the province.
The brass faculty consist of:
Trumpet:
Richard Gillis—Faculty Member at the Desautels School of Music
Paul Jeffrey—Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Jeni Taylor—Freelance performer and respected pedagogue
Horn
Patricia Evans—Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Trombone
Steve Dyer—Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Tuba
Justin Hickmott—Instructor at the Desautels School of Music
The percussion faculty consist of
Ben Reimer—Drum Set and Ensembles
Scott Senior—World Music and Afro-Cuban percussion
Alyssah Poiron—Mallets and Percussion
Noah Slusky—Mallets and Percussion
Caroline Bucher –Mallets and Percussion
Victoria Sparks—Mallets and percussion
Students will get the opportunity to learn and focus on aspects of their playing that they want to improve. Brass players will learn concepts and exercises that are meant for their specific instrument. For percussionists, the week offers the chance to play and perform on percussion instruments that they might never have seen before, in addition to honing their skills on traditional percussion instruments such as drum set, snare and mallet instruments.
Small ensembles will also be created so students can learn the importance of mastering their part, while gaining confidence playing in a smaller group setting. When talking about the progress at the end of the week, Hickmott says, “These students take advantage of the opportunity to play more chamber music...they are not afraid of sitting with five students making something rather than thirty...so there is this sort of confidence swagger change in the students...they are really proud of what they did.”
Learning while having fun is what the Prairie Percussion and Brass camps are all about. There are classes and a performance that happens at the end of week for family and friends, but there are also games and activities during the week to help keep students engaged and excited.
These are great workshops to help band students level up and really return to their respective band programs as leaders and musicians who can focus on having fun while playing music.
For details on how to register for the Prairie Percussion and Brass workshops click here