Lake City Secondary students participated in some fanfare in Prince George in April, and earned an invitation to perform at the MucisFest Canada Nationals.
The Lake City Secondary School (LCSS) Senior Concert Band participated in the Prince George Fanfare MusicFest Canada Festival on Thursday, April 24, and received a gold rating for their efforts.
The festival took place at Vanier Hall at Prince George Senior Secondary (PGSS).
"These students have worked incredibly hard," said Laura Eilers, LCSS band teacher.
Now the students will be able to go to the national MusicFest event to both perform and learn by attending masterclasses and clinics to hone their skills as well.
The group has two years to use the invitation to attend, and couldn't make the schedule work this year as they were in Greece and Italy over Spring Break. But next year's national fanfare will take place in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and the group plans to attend, said Eilers.
For the Prince George fanfare event, each band that participates has to perform three pieces of contrasting style and include one piece with Canadian content, said Eilers.
"We started off by playing a piece by a Canadian composer Cait Nishimura called Chasing Sunlight," said Eilers.
She said the piece was inspired by the experience of driving west into the setting sun, as if trying to keep up with the Earth's rotation to catch the last few rays of light before dusk.
"The steady eighth note motif throughout the piece represents this sense of urgency, while the soaring, lyrical themes depict the warmth and radiance of the sun low in the sky. Just as the sun will always set, humans must accept the impermanence of all things in life, and make the most of every opportunity before it has passed. Chasing Sunlight also represents the ongoing pursuit of these opportunities," explained Eilers.
The second piece they performed was called To Horizons Unseen by Randall Standridge.
In it, Eilers said the students illustrated different tempos, style and articulation.
"Though this piece had it challenges, the students persevered and were able to highlight the different aspects of this piece," she said.
The students' final piece was Drums of the Saamis written by Samuel R. Hazo.
Opening with tribal drums, then featuring a haunting melody simulating the traditional wooden flute, this work is based on those two themes, said Eilers.
"Both elements are developed, varied, and enhanced throughout, with modern-sounding chords and rhythms. By the end, the marriage of the old and the new is complete," said Eilers.
She said the powerful work closes as it began: a restatement of themes representing the musical and historical foundation of the region of Alberta, Canada.
"After our performance we worked with adjudicator Josh Kynoch from Port Alberni where he worked with the students and gave them ideas to work with on each of the three pieces," said Eilers.
Cleary Manning, who is an Alumni of LCSS and working towards a degree in music education, has come back to town from Victoria for a couple of months to be a teacher on call until the end of the school year, said Eilers.
"I invited her along so she could see a band trip from the teacher perspective, as well as guiding a warmup for our students prior to making our way on stage to perform," she said.
Eilers said the experience was a great educational experience for all of the students.
"The kids worked really hard and earned the gold rating," she said.
