CANMORE — Combing forces to fill the Bow Valley with the sound of music, the Canmore Collegiate High School and Banff Community High School bands are teaming up for this year's Vic Lewis Band Festival.
The two school band programs held their first and only rehearsal as a group on Thursday (Oct. 24) at Canmore Collegiate.
The 2019 Vic Lewis Festival marks the first time the bands have collaborated in this manner, said Susan Gerrior, Canmore Collegiate High School (CCHS) music director.
“We’re combining as an attempt to bring our students together, to bring the music together,” Gerrior said. “It’s a chance for the students to interact with each other and play music together and celebrate music.”
The move was inspired by the “spirit of collaboration,” Banff Community High School (BCHS) music director Shane Nizinkevich said, explaining that the Canadian Rockies School Division emphasizes collaborative learning.
The combined concert band features 70 students.
It has been exciting seeing the bands unite, he said, especially because the students are typically rivals in the valley.
“Here though, it's true collaboration from picking the pieces of music, to workshopping the pieces, to mixing the students all up in the ensemble, having them work together,” Nizinkevich said. “I find it inspiring.”
The band selected two pieces to play at the festival and musicians have rehearsed with the pieces September.
The first piece, Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Music by Robert W. Smith, is a technically challenging programmatic piece in three parts, Nizinkevich said, that centres around who Benjamin Franklin was using a melody he created.
“The middle section really looks at humanity and how he’s impacted humanity,” Nizinkevich said. “The ending is his obsession with mathematical magic squares.”
The second piece, Chasing Sunlight by Cait Nishimura, a female composer from Barrie, Ont., is all about starting a conversation, Nizinkevich said. He described it as a metaphor of having a conversation in one’s head that turns into an intimate conversation with a friend.
“[It’s] something close, something secretive that you're having and then branching it out into the third part where you're sharing it with the world,” Nizinkevich said. “Your sharing the experience, the passion and the energy, of music – our music is trying to reflect who is in our ensemble.”
The songs were selected because the music incorporates most of the band for the majority of the pieces, Gerrior added.
The Vic Lewis Band Festival runs from Friday to Sunday (Nov. 1-3) at artsPlace and features junior high, high school concert and jazz band members. The festival has been running for more than 20 years and is dedicated to fostering a love of music in students while helping them expand and express their musical abilities.
Bands get 20 minutes of playing time, an hour with an adjudicator, a chance to watch experts and an hour with a clinician.
“It’s early in the year as a way to set the students up for the year with their playing and having proper instruction by lots of different avenues,” Gerrior said.
It is a unique experience because typically at festivals they perform and get a brief workshop at the end, Nizinkevich said, explaining that the Vic Lewis Festival offers a more rounded approach for the students.
“It’s about engaging the full holistic musician,” Nizinkevich said.
CCHS clarinet player Cassidy Domenico and flutist Sophie MacLeod said they are getting excited for the festival.
“It’s an all-day collaboration of music-making and fun,” Domenico said.
She said it has been a great experience, collaborating with the Banff high school.
“It’s pretty cool, we’re a lot louder without trying,” MacLeod added.
An added bonus of playing together is the different and diverse selection of instruments that can be showcased in the band, she said, transforming the sound of the music.
The pair has attended the Vic Lewis Festival since they were in Grade 7, and they said it is always a fun experience where they learn a lot at the clinics with visiting musicians.
“We get to work with professionals of our instruments,” Domenico said. “That’s always super helpful to learn new stuff – It’s a good way to grow.”
They hope to see the greater Bow Valley community come to check out the festival and support the students, MacLeod said, especially because it features amazing school bands and professional musicians.
“It’s just good team building and confidence building for our later performances.”
Go to artsplacecanmore.com for the festival's performance schedule.
