Da Capo Conference marks 20 years

The Brandon University School of Music marked a milestone Saturday as educators, students and alumni gathered for the 20th annual Da Capo Conference.

Held at the Queen Elizabeth II Music Building, the day-long conference drew about 100 attendees, the highest turnout in its two-decade history.

The event that has grown into a cornerstone of professional development for music educators across the Prairies and beyond, Wendy Zander, a professor in the joint Department of Music Education and a long-time supporter of the event, told the Sun in an interview.

“We’ve been doing this the third weekend in January for 20 years, and today we’re really celebrating music education,” Zander said. “We have people here from Alberta and Manitoba, alumni flying in, and we’re celebrating the many exciting things that have gone on over the past 20 years at this conference.”

Organized by the Brandon University Student Music Educators Association (BUSMEA), the conference featured a keynote session followed by hourly presentations covering elementary music, choir, community music-making, band, jazz and inclusive education. Zander said the sessions reflect how music education contributes to schools and communities.

“It’s about celebrating the learning that goes on in our communities and the ways that music education contributes to the communities and schools in which we live and work,” she said.

This year’s conference also coincided with the 40th anniversary of BUSMEA and introduced a new initiative: the Beginning Band Composition Competition, developed in partnership with the Westman Band Directors Association. The competition received 33 submissions from across Canada.

The top prize went to “Twilight on the Prairies” by Brent Violini Pierce of Okotoks, Alta., followed by Heartwood by Lee Whitehorne of York, Ont., and “Attack of the Drones” by Ryan Meeboer of Burlington, Ont. Honourable mentions were awarded to “Baby Bobcat Boops” by Chris Byman of Winnipeg, a Brandon University alumnus, and “Saint Hilda and the Snakes” by Andrei Gueco of Abbotsford, B.C.

The winning compositions were performed during the final session of the conference, with each piece conducted by members of the competition’s adjudication panel. A work by local composer Diana Neufeld was also read, adding a regional highlight to the program. One of the conductors, Kaylin McDermott, is a music educator currently working in Nepal.

Zander said the strong turnout reflected the sense of community that has defined Da Capo since its beginnings.

“We have grads from the 1990s all the way up to grads from last year,” she said. “Part of the sense of today is valuing our community and how we can support each other in learning and teaching new generations of people to love music making. We value music as part of culture, community and tradition, and as part of the future.”

While the conference welcomes practising teachers, Zander emphasized that its core audience remains pre-service educators, many of whom are still in university and planning their careers.

“This conference is planned by students, for students,” she said. “It’s an important part of helping pre-service educators feel more confident, especially when they may be the only music teacher in a school, and helping them not just survive but thrive.”

Zander said the vision for Da Capo remains focused on student development and sustainability.

“This has been the first 20 years of Da Capo,” she said. “We foresee that it will continue to be an important part of the development of students in the School of Music, and that it will thrive and survive for decades to come.”

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