Central and Peacock collegiates are usually rivals in extracurricular activities, but dozens of band students from each school will set aside any lingering differences for an upcoming trip.
Central band teacher Paul McCorriston is leading 50 students — 30 from Central and 20 from Peacock — to Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton from March 10 to 12 to participate in a development clinic. A clinician will critique and polish the students’ songs to ensure the pupils are ready to perform the tunes during upcoming festivals.
Before reaching Alberta’s capital, the students will perform junior and senior band selections for 30 minutes at an elementary school in Battleford.
McCorriston — who has taught at Central for eight years —takes students on band trips every year, usually before the festival season begins so they can acquire useful feedback and implement those suggestions, he explained.
The students normally work on musical pieces for three or four months before taking their trip.
“Band is very complex. You’ve got 15 or 20 different instruments playing. And then he’s (the clinician) going to break it down and fix all the little things that could be better,” said McCorriston. “I think it will be really good for the kids.”
The band teacher has several chaperones accompanying the group of students in grades 9 to 12. Since the group is so large, McCorriston will remain in contact with them using a special app and text messages.
The youths will also visit the West Edmonton Mall and play laser tag during the trip.
This will be the first band clinic — and even the first out-of-province excursion — for many students, while the trip is a drawing card since many students likely wouldn’t join band without it, said McCorriston. It’s also a co-ed trip, which doesn’t often happen either.
This is the first time McCorriston has taken bands from two different schools to a clinic together, while it’s also his first year teaching at both collegiates. That situation arose after the former Peacock band teacher moved to Regina.
“The numbers are kind of low post-COVID, and so we combined in the effort that we’d have a nice big band because it’s tough to play big band if you don’t have enough people. You’re missing a lot of the parts,” he said. “(But) we do have a good band; it’s a big band (of 75 in total).”
It has been challenging bringing together both bands, especially since there is plenty of rivalry between the schools, McCorriston continued. He thought the students would have to overcome any dislike and work together to succeed.
“It’s a little weird,” he admitted. “(But) hopefully they’ll develop some friendships and be good teammates.”
The band teacher attempts to join both groups to rehearse “once in a while.” He explained how the band schedule works for each grade and how much time each grade spends practising at each school. The groups prepare the music in sections and then come together for the performances, which can be challenging.
There are two groups: junior band for grades 9 and 10 and senior band for grades 9 to 12. In Edmonton, the overall group will focus on senior material only, while in Battleford, they will perform junior and senior material.
McCorriston hopes the students improve musically during the trip and appreciate the finer elements of concert band since it’s a challenging activity. He also hoped the trip convinced students to recruit more youths to join band at both schools.
