Whitehorse’s All City Band has been rehearsing diligently and getting ready to put on a winter’s evening of music at the Yukon Arts Centre. All three of the organization’s bands — junior, senior and jazz — will be performing in a Dec. 2 concert entitled Music for a Winter’s Eve.
Al McIntyre, one of All City Band’s directors, explained that the band’s goal is to create musical opportunities for youth and adult musicians alike. The upcoming show will include performances from the senior band made up mostly of Grade 9 and 10 students from Whitehorse schools and the senior band and jazz band with mostly Grade 11 and 12 students. All three bands have adult musician mentors in their midst.
Alex James, another band director, noted that the All City Band performs all around the territory and takes one performance trip out of the territory each year. He added that students get school credit for being in the band.
“It’s really the only opportunity for larger ensemble music for students in the territory,” James said.
“We’ve had some other opportunities for performance including some elementary school tours for practice but this is the big show for the season,”
Musicians in the band have been hard at work preparing for the December show since August. The junior band was gathered at Porter Creek Secondary School for a run through of the program on Nov. 27.
Among them was Alexandria Miller, a Grade 12 student at F.H. Collins Secondary School who will be conducting part of the junior band show. She has been conducting for about a year and a half and is stepping up from slower warm-up pieces to main pieces this year. She also plays clarinet.
Among the other clarinetists performing with the junior band is Sophia White who said she is really excited for the show and that the piece Fragile, which Miller is conducting, is one of her favourites on the set list.
“It’s added up for a while” she said of the band’s weekly rehearsal schedule.
Joining the junior band brass section for the show is Zachary Ball who has been playing the tenor saxophone for about a year and a half.
“This is the first musical instrument I’ve ever played and I really enjoy it,” he said.
“We learn a lot. It’s fun to always do new music and to conquer pieces you once thought really difficult to do”
Among those challenging pieces, he said he’s found How to Train Your Dragon the hardest, with lots of difficult rhythms, but he recognizes it’s even harder for some other instruments.
The concert takes place Dec. 2 at the Yukon Arts Centre with the main show starting at 7 p.m. and music in the lobby from a student’s jazz combo from 6:30 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. Tickets are on sale via the arts centre’s website for $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and $10 for children. There will be a bake sale running before and after the show and during intermissions.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com
