300 Calgary high school band students to perform in virtual year-end concert
Students at Western Canada High School in southwest Calgary will be holding their year-end band concert online this year.
The 300 members of the largest band program in the city will be playing their instruments in a pre-recorded, virtual concert Saturday.
This school year has been a unique one. The pandemic has been challenging for the Grade 10, 11 and 12 students and interrupted the band's training multiple times. Each student has been diligent in their training, often times alone, to bring a top-quality performance.
"We had to do a lot of individual preparation and band is a group activity so that was difficult," said Grade 12 French horn player Elaine Gentleman. "At the start of the year we had a couple months where we couldn’t even play our instruments in the school."
In a normal year, Western Canada High School students have the opportunity to attend different learning experiences such as clinics with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, band camps and festivals.
Vivienne Lin, a Grade 12 student who plays the clarinet, says the preparation for the online concert took a lot of effort.
"Instead of actually performing live at the Jack Singer we have come in after school for three to five hours at a time to record our pieces."
For students the process was a whole lot different than playing a live show where it is one take and that's that. Lin says the fact the show is pre-recorded allows an opportunity to make things perfect but editing is a lot of work.
Esther Seo, a Grade 12 student who also plays the clarinet, says she is grateful to be able to have a year-end concert in some form during the pandemic.
"Its just great that we are able to finish off the year with a concert," said Seo. "Because of the pandemic, everything has been so different and difficult but that's what makes this concert so special."
Brendan Hagan, the learning leader of the fine and performing arts program at Western Canada High School, says the accomplishments of all his students is tremendous.
"I teach 300 students from Grade 10 through Grade 12 in the band program and each one of them I couldn't be more proud of," said Hagan. "They have been amazing."
The year-end concert will be available on June 19 on YouTube here
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.