The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon hosted the Norman Regional Honour Band Festival this past weekend, which concluded with a concert featuring the top band students in Thompson, The Pas and Flin Flon. Over 100 students from the three communities combined to form two mass bands, a junior honour band for grades 8 and 9, and a senior honour band for grades 10 to 12. "This is such a valuable experience for the students, because they get the opportunity to play with students that are playing at the highest level in each community," said Lisa Aune, who organized the festival along with Kyle Whitehead. "It creates a different kind of band and a different sound. It also gives them the opportunity to work with a different director, and to work with the university students who play their instruments constantly. For a lot of these students, this is as close as they will come to private lessons." Dr. Jim White, a former conductor of the London Youth Symphony Orchestra worked with the junior students, while Ms. Javqueline Dawson, the current Director of Instrumental Music at Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg, worked with the senior students. Guest clinicians were also up from Brandon university to work with the different instrument groups, and Paul Cerilli, a professional percussionist was up from Winnipeg to work directly with the percussion sections. Sessions started at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and the kids worked almost non-stop until 5:30 p.m. when they broke for the evening. As a special treat at the Bomber game on Saturday night, members of the bands played O Canada, and all students and clinicians were given free tickets to the game, which they thouroughly enjoyed. On Sunday, sessions resumed at 9 a.m., there was a quick break for lunch, and then the final concert and recording session at 2:30 p.m. concluded the weekend's activities. Over 100 parents and music enthusiasts were on hand at the concert where they were treated to music from the junior and senior bands, as well as ensembles from Brandon University. Flin Flon/Creighton parents for music education was instrumental in assisting in the organization of the festival. See 'Applause' P.# Con't from P.# They drew much applause from the clinicians and Brandon University during the thank-you's at the end of the concert for the fabulous catering job they did over the weekend. "The clinicians, and especially the university students, could not say enough about the food," said Aune. "It really helps us a lot when a detail like that is taken care of by the Band Parents, under the direction of Cathy Davidson. The students and clinicians were impressed with the hospitality of the community, especially the Band Parents and the Victoria Inn." Many of the local businesses also jumped on board to support the arts in Flin Flon. The festival was made possible by a $2,500 grant from the provincial government through Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism. "Without that grant, it would be impossible to run this festival in a way that the students could afford it," said Aune. "The cost of transportation and housing all of the clinicians is prohibitive. Because of that grant, we can keep the costs down for the students." The Hapnot Christmas Concert will be on December 8 at 7 p.m. and will feature the grade 9 band, the junior and senior jazz bands, the choir and the senior band. The Junior High Christmas Concert will be held at McIsaac on December 10 at 7 p.m.
