Songs of gold wended from the brass and wood of a local high school band this past week.
The D.P. Todd secondary school Concert Band under the direction of band teacher Susan Klein attended the MusicFest Canada national performance competition in Toronto and came home with top marks.
Of the 81 ensembles from across Canada in the Concert Band division, fewer than half reached the gold standard, and only 16 joined D.P. Todd's group in attaining gold at the 400-level or higher (songs are assigned a degree of difficulty at the 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 levels). The feature piece performed for the panel of judges was Fantasy On A Japanese Folk Song by Samuel Hazo, but each band also had to do an impromptu selection provided by the judges with little more than five minutes to discuss amongst the band members, and none of that can involve playing the notes.
"When we were performing our prepared music, it was feeling really good," said Klein.
"Yeah, we were really killing it," said student Kian Draper.
"But," said Klein, "that sight reading component is what really establishes your mark with the judges.
"It's not the biggest part of your mark, but it can quickly separate you from the gold level if you can't work quickly together to perform that piece the judges give you.
"Some bands sound great because they rehearse only three pieces all year, they can nail those pieces, but I think it's more important for the students to be able to read music and read a new situation, and we did quite well on the sight reading.
"It wasn't without its glitches, but we held our own, we finished together, and it helped our final mark."
Klein has been to MusicFest Canada more than once in the past, each of which is an accomplishment in itself.
This national-level competition is not a festival a school can enter with an application form, only by earning an invitation through preliminary performances.
Klein herself was video taped, her conducting skills recorded and evaluated by a panel of experts, so she gets personal professional development as a band leader.
That gets infused into her future students as a legacy element from the MusicFest Canada experience.
Part of her leadership skills is being able to read her ensemble. In Draper she spotted a particularly strong flute player, and there were others as well who could handle the solo challenges of Fantasy On A Japanese Folk Song. Knowing she had those parts covered gave her the confidence to enter at the 400-level this time, and it worked.
The trip to Toronto included 61 students and nine adults, all of whom came home richer in experience.
At the end of the school year is a point Klein ponders in particular. Her Grade 12 band veterans like Draper are graduating. "There are new leaders waiting underneath," Klein said.
"They are younger, but they are not lesser players.We have such a legacy of Grade 12 players mentoring their peers, leading the ones in younger grades, and in September they get their chance to step into those roles, and we have some exciting players coming up."
She is also excited to see where the graduating players take their next levels of playing. Very few hang up the instrument for good. Many of them join groups like the Prince George Community Band, some even get to work with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, and no one ever forgets the music they made on the national stage.
There are some local stages still to perform on as a D.P. Todd group. The band's year-end recital happens June 11 at the school, there are some lunchtime lawn concerts scheduled for some of the lunch hours in June, and the Senior Jazz Band plays at the graduation ceremonies.
At none of those performances will a panel of judges force them to play a surprise piece of music on a moment's notice.
Student stands out in Toronto
Kian Draper gets to retire from high school band on a high note.
The 17-year-old has been playing music since she was a small child, and worked her way through several instruments in order to stay with the program. In Toronto at the MusicFest Canada competition she was rewarded heavily for all the rehearsals and practice and lessons.
Each ensemble at MusicFest Canada has one member chosen for an honours award. As a member of D.P. Todd's concert band, which won gold at their level of difficulty, she was selected by the national judges, in consultation with band conductor Susan Klein, as their recipient.
"My parents encouraged me to start with piano when I was five, but then I saw Natalie MacMaster playing fiddle on TV and that clicked for me," she said. "I still play violin now with the Northern Orchestra but there is no place for that in the high school band so I picked up flute and saxophone so I could play at school too."
In fall Draper begins the next phase of her life, science studies with a four-year scholarship at UNBC. Music may be less of a consideration when that happens, but it will always be a part of her life.
"A big part - it has always been more than a hobby for me," she said.
This is the third major trip Draper has been on with the high school ensemble, having also toured California and Alberta in previous years. She was enjoying the thrill of winning 400-level gold when the additional surprise came for her individual talents.
"It was a complete surprise for me," she said. "I was actually thinking right then that, oh, this was the last time I'd do anything like this with the band, I was feeling quite emotional actually, and suddenly there was a commotion around me and people were looking at me, and I realized my name was being announced. It was really nice, and completely unexpected."
It was Klein she was most excited for.
"She has been to MusicFest Canada multiple times before, and she has gotten gold before, but never at the 400-level," said Draper. "I was so proud to be part of such an awesome band, Mrs. Klein has been the driving force for everything this band is, and to come home with that gold for her was really special to me."
