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Young maestros unite

Whistler Concert Band wraps up first year of musical discovery
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Big Noise Local elementary school students rehearse for the Whistler Concert Band during the wee hours of the morning

It’s 7:30 in the morning, and the grounds of Spring Creek school are empty, save for the faint sound of trumpets and trombones drifting from the confines of the building.

If you follow the music, you’ll soon come to a door marked “Ms. Hunter.” This is Alison Hunter’s classroom. She splits her time between teaching music at Spring Creek and helping to organize the annual musical at Whistler Secondary School.

“I was the librarian, too, but last June I said, ‘you know, I can’t do two full-time jobs anymore,” she recalls with a laugh.

Instead, she decided to take on a whole new project — a band program for local elementary school children.

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning this year, almost 30 students have trundled out of their beds and made their way to rehearsal. They may be bleary-eyed when they arrive, but after a few minutes of Hunter’s enthusiastic instruction, these kids are bright-eyed and ready to play.

Grasping French horns, trumpets, trombones, flutes, and clarinets, the young musicians perch at their music stands, tapping their feet to keep the beat, playing along with Hunter on the piano.

They haven’t been at it for long — the program was launched at the beginning of the school year — but they’re already running like a well-oiled machine, rehearsing each song once then playing it again so Hunter can record it.

Hunter started the program, simply entitled the Whistler Concert Band, to try and encourage kids to explore music a little further than they’re able to in a regular music class.

“It gives them an outlet, and I think that’s so important, and also to give our children all the opportunities and say, ‘here’s what there is, you can pick and choose,’” she explained.

A harpist, Hunter also played in an orchestra before heading off to university, and believes being involved in a band is a fundamental team-building experience.

“When you play in a band, you’re working together and you’re working in a co-operative way,” she said. “It’s not competitive — you’re supporting each other.”

At the elementary school level, Hunter believes it’s important to limit the amount of instrument selection to help ensure the kids get a strong basic understanding of one instrument.

“It’s harder for them to all play in tune and to play together and to master instruments if there’s a huge variety,” she explained. “This way, you may have noticed, they help each other and they’ve become a tight little group.”

Students in Grades 5, 6 and 7 at Spring Creek and Myrtle Philip have been welcomed into the band.

While there have been band programs at elementary and secondary levels of school — the elementary school had a band almost 10 years ago, before Whistler Secondary School existed — they invariably fizzled out.

But the response for Hunter’s first-year band has been very strong — over 26 students participate in the biweekly rehearsals, and there’s at least one parent who regularly comes out to flex their musical muscles alongside the students.

Evan Ford is a Grade 6 student and plays trumpet in the new band. He decided he wanted to join after attending the annual Whistler Music Festival.

“Ms. Hunter said that I would be really great at clarinet, but I saw the trumpet and got really inspired by the sound… so I decided to do the trumpet,” Ford explained with a grin.

Caitlyn Goss, a Grade 5 student, opted for the flute for its “soft, delicate” sound.

“These are the kids that really want to be there to begin with,” Hunter points out, adding that they’re a dedicated bunch, with some students even tromping into rehearsal each day after their hockey practices at the crack of dawn.

“What I’ve actually really seen is them come together as a group. They’ve become more and more supportive of each other,” said Hunter.

They’re planning to continue on with the program next year, entering into the second level of the band and making room for a whole new group of recruits for the first-year program, and expanding their reach to another school district.

“Because we didn’t know what was going to happen, we wanted to keep it relatively simple. But now we know what works, so this year, we’re going to offer it as well to the students in District 93, which is the Francophone school, Ecole La Passerelle. So we really, really do hope that they will come, too,” Hunter said, adding that they don’t have a full-time music specialist on staff.

She has also tried to keep costs low so all students can participate. There is a monthly instructional fee of $30, instrument rental costs about $15, and they have a one-time purchase of a student book for $10.

The band held its first public performances during the Spring Creek Christmas Concert and two performances at the local elementary schools, which were nerve-wracking experiences.

“In the performing arts, every time you get up and perform, you take that risk of looking foolish — it takes a lot of courage!” Hunter said.

But the students are a determined, enthusiastic group — they’re improving quickly and are eager to learn more. So listen up for their next public performance.