Reader here, and it’s already music festival season!
I’ve been playing in music festivals for many years, including all through elementary and high school, back home, in the Outlook and District Music Festival.
The first time was in Grade Five, the year I first picked up the trumpet at Conquest School, playing solo pieces, and along with my Conquest classmates, as we joined up with the Outlook Elementary School beginner band.
We were always lucky to have had a great band program back home, along with great instructors, such as Karen McKenzie (nee Driedger) and Foam Lake’s own Tania Miller, who has gone on to world renown in the conducting world!
In fact, not only did we play in the local music festival, but through the years, we played at MusicFest, the national band competition, held in different cities each year, and we made the trek to nationals in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary. As well, we’ve played in the Moose Jaw Festival, and another festival, down in Bismarck, North Dakota.
After graduating from Outlook High School, however, for many years, I rarely picked up the horn.
However, once I moved to Yorkton, and joined the morning show, we often have morning interviews showcasing community groups and events. And during one of those interviews years ago, we had Yorkton Community Band director Larry Pearen in studio, ahead of an upcoming concert.
Well, when you first meet Larry, pretty much the first thing he asks you, is if you play an instrument. When I mentioned that I’m a trumpet player, he extended the invite to come check out the Yorkton Community Concert Band and All That Jazz Big Band.
So I did, and for most of the past 15 years or so, I’ve been playing in the band, and it’s been a lot of fun making music again, with musicians of all ages, from all walks of life, and many different local communities.
We play a lot of different concerts and at many different events, including the Yorkton Music Festival, which happens to be marking one-hundred years in 2026, as the first edition of the festival took place in 1926!
Yesterday was Day Two of the band portion of the festival, which wraps up today.
Both of the community bands played last night, starting with the Community Concert Band. Here’s a rendition of one of the pieces we played, “A Festival Prelude,” by Alfred Reed.
We also played “On a Hymnsong of Lowell Mason,” by David R. Holzinger.
Overall, the concert band played very well, and we earned an overall grade of 92!
Later in the evening , the All That Jazz Big Band took the stage, and we played a pair of tunes.
Both songs are standards that many people know. First, we played “Send in the Clowns,” featuring Stephanie Andres on vocals, followed by Sammy Nestico’s arrangement of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which many people instantly identify as the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters!
There were a pair of solos in that one – Garry Laycock on tenor saxophone, and yours truly on the trumpet!
We sounded great, and came away with an even higher score – an overall 94 – so, it was a very successful evening overall!
And a shoutout to the two other bands that played last night – the Jazz bands from both the Yorkton Regional and Sacred Heart High Schools. They both rocked it, and it made for a great evening of music in the Anne Portnuff Theatre!
As I mentioned, the band portion of the festival wraps up today, to be followed by the vocal and piano competitions, leading up to the highlights concert to wrap up the festival, on Mar. 22 at St. Andrew’s United Church.
Local music students and music teachers have been putting in a ton of hard work, preparing for the festival, in order to be at their best when they showcase their music for the adjudicators. If you’re a music lover, make sure you take in some of the festival, show your support for the arts, and enjoy some wonderful music!
Comments