As Christmas Day draws near, holiday music fills the air wherever you go, setting the perfect tone and helping everyone get into the festive spirit.
With this in mind, we here at Classic 107 invited students from Westgate Mennonite Collegiate to drop by our Classic 107 Studio and spread some holiday cheer.
Ross Brownlee, the School’s Band Director, countered the offer and invited Classic 107 to the school to hear all the amazing things the students in the band at Westgate had accomplished over the past few weeks. The school had its annual Holiday concert on Tuesday, December the 10, and the opportunity to hear what they had done was irresistible. Additionally, the size of Westgate's band room seemed more contusive to displaying the number of driven, talented students in Westgate's band program.
Westgate has a small student body, only about 330 students ranging from grade 6 to grade 12. Out of that small number, the school has made music a priority, offering 18 ensembles that students can participate in.
The Senior Band at Westgate is made up students from grades 10 to 12, and as Brownlee says, there are some wonderful things that happen when you blend the grades and level of playing experience together. As he explains, “There is some really interesting peer learning. The students that come in Grade 10 obviously do not have the experience that those older students do...but it is just marvelous to experience how the older kids draw the younger ones up. And of course, the younger ones are keen to go. They are very motivated, but there is so much learning that happens without a word being said.”
The musical opportunities the school offers benefit the students across disciplines. There is a very string strings and choral component to the music department at Westgate, and this is experienced in the band room. As Brownlee states, “Each program benefits the other incredibly well. We are constantly referring to how you would vocalize a phrase, and because all the kids sing... we sing our parts frequently, and they are really good at it. And then you transfer that idea of a sung phrase onto your instrument.”
Ross Brownlee Interview
Nick Oliver is a trombone player in the Senior Band at Westgate. He has been playing trombone for just six months, but it is his experience as a cellist in the strings program that has helped him learn the instrument quickly. “Cello carries over very well. On a cello you use your finger to hit certain notes, and it goes by semi-tone per finger, and each slide position, all seven of them are each semi-tones, so that carried over very well. And the partials are just like the strings backwards on the cello.”
Nick Oliver Interview
At the end of the day, making music is all about having fun, and this sense of enjoyment is a common thread that runs through the students at Westgate. Annika is a bassoonist in the senior band, as she says, “It’s always fun to make music. In our school ensemble we see each other every day, so it is really fun to be making music with people I see every day.”
Interview with Annika
Amalia Hickerson is a trumpet player in the Senior band, and for her it is the life lessons she has taken from being part in the music program that she values. “One of the things I have learned through music is how to work with people and how to be able to slot myself into places. I’ve already been able to do that in some of the jobs I have started doing. It is not only just about learning music, but also about working with people, and learning together.”
Amalia Hickerson Interview
Hear what the students have learned together here:
A Flemish Christmas by Jan Hadermann
And Heaven and Nature Ring Arr. Patrick Roszell