Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School’s Senior Band has won a spot at MusicFest Canada.
Earlier this month the band attended the Okanagan Concert Band Festival in Penticton where the senior band performed for adjudicators. PSO band teacher Jasmine O’Leary said that while the festival is non-competitive, the adjudicators are associated with MusicFest Canada and can give out invitations to bands they feel are ready to play at a national level. One such invitation was extended to the Senior Band which filled O’Leary with nothing but pride.
“Our senior band is Grades 9 to 12. They’re an extraordinary group of students and we have a nice balance of instruments,” O’Leary said. “They’re a really hard-working group of students. They are very sensitive players who work really well together as a team. It’s not too often you get a group of students of that size where they all have that same focus, drive and attention to detail these students do.”
Including the 28 strong Senior Band, O’Leary runs several other band programs for SD27 including the elementary school band program for Grades 6 to 7, a Grade 8 Band and PSO’s Jazz Band. All told she teaches around 120 students throughout the year.
The Senior Band is made up of the most dedicated of these students. O’Leary said after a semester of classes during the fall she has been practicing with the Senior Band at least once a week after school to keep their skills sharp.
This preparation paid off from March 9 to 10 when the band travelled down to Penticton. O’Leary remarked that her students seemed exceptionally focused as they played their instruments.
“Everything went right for them that day. They all came in with an extreme amount of focus. They listened to each other and were sensitive to each other’s playing,” she remarked. “They were very much in control of the sounds that came out of their instruments.”
At the festival, O’Leary explained you’re graded on a matrix in 25 different categories from instrumentation, tone, blend, rhythmic accuracy, techniques and balance, to name a few. Ratings range from poor, fair, good, excellent and superior.
In each category, PSO’s Senior Band received superior marks from one of the adjudicators while the other gave them almost all superior with a couple of excellents. This gave them an overall superior rating.
“That’s the top of the class for the grade level they’re playing, so we really couldn’t have done any better. They did absolutely extraordinarily well,” O’Leary said. “I was so proud. They’ve blown me away this year. Everything I ask of them they take and just flow and grow with it. They aren’t just doing what I’m asking them to do, they’re taking those suggestions and making them their own.”
When the band was informed of their results and the invitation to national, O’Leary said there were some tears and lots of smiles. Trumpet player and Grade 12 student Liam Guimond said he was ecstatic when they received their rating and the invite to play on a national level.
“I’m very proud of our band. We have an amazing sound better than any other year I can think of,” Guimond said.
While O’Leary could take the Senior Band to MusicFest this May, she said she has chosen to wait until 2025 to make the trip to Toronto. This will give them time to not only prepare for the travel but also time to refine their music.
“If you receive an invitation to nationals you have two years to use that invitation. It gives the groups time to prepare and get things organized for travel,” O’Leary said.
Guimond has been playing the trumpet for seven years and joined the Senior Band three years ago. Over the years, he has watched the band become progressively stronger each year. While he won’t be able to go with the band to nationals next year, he wishes them all the best.
“I’m very excited to see what happens for our senior band in the future. I’m very excited for them to be able to go on these big trips and experience more music,” Guimond said.
O’Leary said that in the meantime the Senior Band will be performing in the 100 Mile Festival of the Arts coming up in April. After Spring Break she also plans to hold a recognition ceremony for the band so they can play their music for their schoolmates.
“I think this is such a positive thing that is happening in the school that needs to be showcased to show other students and the community what is happening here. I’m really proud of them and I’m so grateful I get to work with such an amazing group of kids.”
