Band rocks summer school
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A choir of students now have a chord up on their music thanks to Chilliwack school district's new summer learning program.
Twenty-one middle school band students were registered in Chilliwack's first ever summer learning band class, which ran through the month of July.
For two hours, five days a week, the young music aficionados practiced scales, music theory, ear training, rhythmic and melodic dictation, sight reading and more. They learned new music selections that included classics, which lent to the soft sounds of the flute and the deep baritones of the tuba, as well as some upbeat, "more fun" selections like the James Bond theme song and the Looney Toons' That's All Folks.
In total, they learned 25 new musical pieces.
"That's as much as they play in a whole school year," said teacher Barry Egan.
Egan, a band teacher at Vedder middle school, has worked at several music summer camps over the years. But a free program, offered by the Chilliwack school district, hit close to home.
Many of the students registered are his students throughout the school year.
A class like this can make a huge difference in these students' musical lives, he said.
"Playing music every day is a real luxury that a lot of musicians don't find. Even in the school program, they're only getting to play every other day ... in school, we're always playing to the next concert," said Egan.
In summer learning, they're playing to the music.
"This [program] has brought their skills up quite a bit," he said.
And last Friday, their last day of summer classes, they showed off their new knowledge.
The summer learning band class held a concert for students in the elementary summer learning classes. There were saxes, drums, clarinets and flutes, shakers, trumpets, tubas and bongos, keyboards and trombones too. Through seven selections, they had kids dancing in their seats, pounding their fists into their knees, bobbing their heads to the beats.
And at the end of it all, in unison, the talented troupe stood up, and took a well-deserved, professional bow.
krobinson@theprogress.com
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