Students tune up for Honour Band concerts

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This article was published 08/02/2025 (301 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some of Westman’s most promising music students have been rehearsing for the last day and a half, preparing for this afternoon’s annual Westman Honour Band concert, featuring more than 150 musicians from grades 7-12.

The curtain rises at 3 p.m. at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium (WMCA) for two performances — the first one featuring senior high school students, followed by those in junior high school. Each band will play four pieces. Admission to the show is by donation.

The student band members are selected by their teachers to take part in the concert, with the goal of bringing out even more hidden talents, said Erin Dodds, music educator for Brandon East Middle School Bands.

“We are lucky in Brandon that we have a large number of students that we teach,” said Dodds, who is also the co-ordinator of this year’s event. “But some of the rural programs don’t have the opportunity to play with a really big band, so this is an opportunity for everyone to meet people from all across Westman, play music together and work on those group musician skills.”

This will be the first Honour Band experience for Rebecca Breitfeld and her trombone. She’s in Grade 8 at Carberry Collegiate and will be in the second performance. Breitfeld admitted she was initially nervous when she thought about the large number of musicians, but now said she really likes it.

It was an instant attraction when she saw and heard the trombone, said Breitfeld, who has now been playing the instrument for two years.

“It was the first instrument that caught my eye right away, and I thought, ooh, the trombone looks nice,” Breitfeld said.

“Basically, you put your mouth on the mouthpiece and unlatch the hook, and let your arms take control of the notes and positions of the slide,” she said. “I usually carry a slide sheet to know what position I’m supposed to be in.”

During rehearsals, musicians were divided into groups according to their instrument and given coaching sessions with professors from Brandon University’s School of Music.

Flouting her flute in the second row will be Dani Lamb, a Grade 12 student at Melita School. She started playing the instrument in Grade 6 and has also mastered the tenor saxophone, which she plays in a local jazz band.

“I love music, it’s one of my most favourite things ever,” said Lamb. “There’s just so many different elements to it. You can play so many different pieces, it’s just a skill that I like having.”

A three-year veteran of the Honour Band, Lamb said she is at ease when it comes to playing in front of a big crowd with other musicians she’s never met before.

“It’s just a big group of kids who love music, who are more interested in branching out and playing with different students and in a bigger band than what they do at their school,” Lamb said.

Teacher Tyra Zander from Virden Collegiate Institute said she loves instructing her grades 5 to 12 students and watching them grow as they “flourish from their very first instrument, all the way to graduation.”

“Music is a way of students to express themselves,” Zander said. “They’re able to express their emotions through their instruments, and be creative in their own way.”

Zander said that one of the key benefits of Honour Band only rings out after the concert is over and the student musicians return to their schools.

“When they come back into the band room, they share it with everybody, saying, ‘hey, you should be in Honour Band next year, come and practise with me.’

“And those students get better throughout the year. They see the expectations that we as teachers are wanting in our classrooms, and they bring it, helping their peers. So, it’s not just me teaching — it’s peers teaching peers.”

As Breitfeld went back to prepare for the final rehearsal before the concert, she said to look for her and her trombone in the back row with the other lower brass instruments — the euphonium and the tuba.

“All instruments sound really good, even the brass in the back,” said Breitfeld. “That’s because you get that loud brass section in some songs that help boost the music you’re listening to, even when it’s coming from all sections.”

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