Okotoks music students hauled home some serious hardware from a national competition.
Students of the Alberta High School of Fine Arts (AHSFA) Concert and Jazz bands, as well as the Vocal Ensemble, returned from Music Fest Canada in May with gold, silver and gold awards, respectively.
“We performed well together as a band, we really go to that level we need to be,” said Rachel Graham, a Grade 11 student in both the Concert Band and Vocal Ensemble.
“With the band, I was a little bit worried going into it because we hadn’t had a ton of time to practice these certain things, but no, it went really good.”
The festival took place in Niagara Falls, Ont., the first national competition trip for the AHSFA music program since 2019.
“It was super fun, it was just nice to get everyone together from band and vocal and just hang out, have fun, relax and do what we love to do,” Graham said.
Also singing in the Vocal Ensemble was Grade 12 student Abigail Laqua.
The group performed Silence, There Will Come Soft Rains, Even When He Is Silent and In Remembrance.
“They went really well; we were only supposed to be doing three of the songs, and forgot we had added Silence to the repertoire, but it went really well,” Laqua said.
“We performed to the best of our ability, and the adjudicators were really awesome, helping us out a lot and they offered a lot of creative suggestions for us to implement.”
The experience of travelling across the country with her peers was a perfect capstone experience for the singer.
“We all connected a lot on stage while we were performing,” Laqua said. “I mean, you spend the whole year with this group, you build a connection with one another, and that really shows itself when you’re singing and creating music together.”
That cohesion was a shining example of the programs and the students in them, said vocal teacher Matthew Ellis.
“I think aside from the awards themselves, and how well the students did, one of the biggest things at this festival we saw is how well the students within our music department and Alberta High School of Fine Arts support each other," he said.
“When the vocal ensemble walked on stage for their performance, there was cheers from the concert and jazz band.
“It was loud, it was noticeable and a lot of adjudicators actually made comments noting for every performance the big support they had from the other groups. Whether it was jazz band performing, concert band performing, everybody who was there to watch from our school was just so supportive of each other.
“I think that is a major reason why we can achieve such a high level of excellence consistently; it’s because of community, they trust each other, they support each other and they lift each other up.
“It’s that kind of community that leads to success and it was really evident at the Music Fest.”
Concert and jazz band teacher Jeff Graham was proud to see his students soar on their first big trip in four years, and said their efforts to build the band back up were evident in the adjudicators’ reactions – or lack thereof.
“All the adjudicators just stopped talking and just listened, and that’s the best compliment the kids can get, when an adjudicator has nothing to pick on and they’re just sitting there enjoying the performance,” he said.
“It was just great to get them performing at that really high level, and then taking them and showing people what they could do.”
