Strike up the school band – just not quite yet in public.
Okotoks area schools' band programs are up and running after initial fears they wouldn’t get the full go ahead in September because of COVID-19.
Brianne Gruber, Holy Trinity Academy music instructor, said the future was uncertain when school started in the fall.
“It came down right to the wire,” Gruber said. “We finally got word two or three days before school started that we could play. So it was kind of a quick, get ready to go, change of plans."
Gruber got word that it could perform with virtually full concert band classes – including woodwinds and brass -- and not have to start with percussion and string instruments while vetoing the wind instruments.
That was not the case at the Alberta High School of Fine Arts at Foothills Composite High School.
Students were hitting the books, drums and strumming guitars before full bands started in early October.
“The first couple of weeks it was just theory and sit in your desk kind of stuff and the kids were going crazy – these kids have to play music, it’s part of their being,” said band instructor Jeff Graham. “It was important to get them playing… The kids were so happy to finally get playing again.”
The students did do some work with guitars and percussion before woodwinds and brass were added in early October.
Dusan Ivkovic, a tenor saxophonist in Grade 10 at the Comp, found, like Linda Ronstadt, he had to go to the beat of a different drum at the start of the school year.
While he was practising sax at home, it was studying music history, percussion and strings in September.
“Fortunately, I’m a guitarist,” Ivkovic said. “As for the percussion thing, I learned some stuff about rhythm and timing, and work with our creativity. It was fine.”
He compared the percussion drills to Stomp.
He’s glad to be blowing his sax with his fellow students.
“It’s been great – I’ve been really challenged with my playing this term,” Ivkovic said.
Paige Williams, a Grade 10 percussionist at Foothills, said she missed being with the other students.
“I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to play as group,” Williams said. “That we would have to sit there and learn the basics all over again like we used to do in middle school. What I was worried about was would we actually get band class?…
“It’s been great, especially since we work really well as a group.
“This is way better than nothing.”
She is disappointed school bands won’t get to perform in public.
“That is a huge bummer,” William said. “I wish we could do it, but other people’s safety comes first.”
However, the gig is nearly up for the Grade 10 students. Foothills Comp went to the quarterly system this year to cut down on student traffic and to help maintain students in their cohorts based on their grade.
The semester ends Oct. 29.
The students have been allowed to keep their instruments all year, just in case there is an opportunity for after-school bands, such as jazz, in the future.
Things are nearly back to normal for band at HTA.
“Now that we have our bell covers, we have our spacing, we have our cleaning protocols in place, now it is business as usual,” Gruber said. “But there are no trips this year and festivals are still up in the air – some are doing virtual.
“We have a concert that we are filming and we are sending out. The kids have their uniforms, they are on the stage, kind of spilling into the cafeteria so we can space everyone out.
“We will play as if the audience was there. We will be doing performances like that until we find out we can play live again.”
Bell covers are nylon-type cloths that cover the horn part of an instrument to help stop moisture from escaping.
Grade 12 student Tyler Selby was one of approximately 20 Jazz 12 players for their class at 7:15 a.m. on Oct. 26.
"We are treating it as business as usual," Selby said. "We aren't used to being so spread out, we are used to being close together, but we are working around it."
He said if they were side-by-side, they could talk to one another, to see how other people are treating their respective parts.
"We're a pretty tight-knit group, we've been playing music together for five, six years now," Selby said. "We are friends with the people in the band and we want to be close to them."
