It has been a very exciting week in the band room as we prepare for our final concert. In the midst of all that excitement, Mr. Edwards was named this year's recipient of the Tommy Banks Outstanding Director Award at the Nationals in Toronto.
Recently, there has been a whirlwind of excitement in the band program as three of our members have been named to represent Westwood Collegiate at the Provincial and at the National level.
Intermediate Honour Band:
Rachel Tarrant is a Gr. 10 flautist who plays in both the Gr. 10 concert band and the Symphonic band at Westwood Collegiate. She is actively involved in all things music and is also a fine Tenor and Bari sax player. Besides her band prowess, she loves musical theatre and loves to sing as she is a member of the Sr. Divisional Choir. Next, you can catch Rachel on stage as she is playing Ursula in the upcoming production of Little Mermaid at Westwood from May 18 – 20.
Tim Franklin is a Gr. 10 student at Westwood Collegiate who is a percussion specialist. Although his passion is drum set, he has worked very hard on his mallet playing and has now fallen in love with all things mallets. To round out his percussion awesomeness, Tim is also a fine timpani player. His kind and approachable manner allow all the members of his section to feel that they can come to him for help, regardless of their instrument. As a result, it is no big surprise that Tim was named as section leader.
Sr. Honour Band:
Rachel Tarrant is also a member of this ensemble.
Nathan Varghese is an exceptional gr. 12 trumpet player who is truly at home in the band room at Westwood Collegiate. He is involved in numerous ensembles. At Westwood is the section leader for the trumpet section and is also the lead trumpet in jazz band. Outside of school, Nathan can be found often performing on Sundays at church. Nathan is a kind and generous student whose passions helped him and the rest of the members of the Westwood Historical Society produce a documentary about Holocaust survivors here in Winnipeg that will be debuting later this year.
National Youth Band of Canada
Nathan Varghese worked very hard this year preparing his audition for the National Youth band of Canada, and we were all very happy when Nathan was selected as a member of this prestigious ensemble. Nathan is looking forward to flying out to Toronto and spending a week working with renowned conductor Dr. Darrin Oehlerking and meeting up with students from all across the country to perform at a sold-out concert at York University later this spring.
Need some one on one time with Mr.E? Shoot me and email at greg.edwards@sjasd.ca and we can book a TEAMS or ZOOM meeting and get your questions answered in person.... and maybe even a tour of our beautiful facilities.
WOW!!! I cannot believe the enthusiasm and energy here at Westwood this year. We are all so thankful to be back in classes and making music together. Everyone involved in these first few classes have felt the great warmth that music brings to our lives.
At this point everyone has an instrument and music and we are already deep into the start of our musical year. Folders have been assigned, music has been distributed and a beautiful noise can be heard from the band room throughout the day.
As we progress, help is always available at lunch and after school for a mini-lesson or just a quick question. Assignment help and/ or homework assistance is always available.
First assignments are just around the corner and Gr.9 and 10 students will be working out of a new method book this year... look for a one time payment in cash online shortly to cover our costs. As well, I will be collecting rental and percussion fees at the beginning of October.
As always, we are going to work hard to yearn your praise and applause as we prepare our music for you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at your earliest convenience. For specific class information, you just have to click on the class drop down menu for the latest intel.
A handful of Greg Edwards's band students hold the group's awards at Westwood Collegiate on June 22. From left: Brooke Schrader, Danica Dumore, Kellin Kilpatrick, Chelsea Kingerski, Edwards, Blake Edwards, Ty Baldwin, Chase Ward, Aubrey Epp and Aiden Mackenzie. (GABRIELLE PICHÉ/CANSTAR COMMUNITY NEWS/HEADLINER)
A pandemic can’t stop the music at Westwood Collegiate.
Through lockdowns and social distancing, masks and rounds of hand sanitizer, the collegiate’s six bands have played on — and now, they’re reaping the rewards.
Each of teacher Greg Edwards’s three concert bands and three jazz bands received
!ve stars for performances at the Manitoba Band Association’s Flexible Family of Festivals (formerly the Classic 107 Concert & Jazz Band Festival).
The high school’s senior jazz band also earned gold at MusicFest Canada, a national band competition. The intermediate jazz and senior concert crews both took silvers.
Edwards said he’d never experienced a clean sweep at the provincial festival in his 27 years of teaching.
"We were just beaming," he said. "I can’t even comprehend it."
Normally, over 200 bands would enter in the Manitoban contest. This year, Westwood Collegiate covered six of 11 submissions — and, they were the only groups to enter with wind instruments.
Edwards and his students had to be creative and nimble to continue playing.
"There was always this Plan A, B, C type thing that Mr. Edwards had," said Brooke Schrader, a Grade 11 student in three of Edwards’s bands.
It wasn’t a question of whether or not to play — it was more where and how, according to Schrader.
The !rst day students were able to practise in school, Edwards had taped squares in the band room for kids to stand in, Schrader said. He ordered custom-made masks for woodwind and brass players.
When the school switched to remote learning — twice this year, following provincial orders — students brought their instruments home and met online. Edwards rented small mallet kits to send with percussion musicians who couldn’t transfer their large equipment.
The students muted their microphones and played their instruments to a song recording from Edwards’s end. The intermediate and senior jazz groups would gather on video chat at 7:20 a.m. in the !rst round of home studies — to match the time of their in-person class — and tried to keep it quiet. After all, family members were sleeping.
Greg Edwards, Westwood Collegiate's band teacher, has been an educator for 27 years. He said it's the !rst time he's ever seen the Manitoba Band Association put on an awards ceremony for a school. (GABRIELLE PICHÉ/CANSTAR COMMUNITY NEWS/HEADLINER)
Schrader would use the stick-ends of her mallets to hit instrument keys while on morning calls at home in Headingley. She also put towels in the bottom of her conga drums to mu"e the noise.
Band members made personal YouTube channels for class. They’d record themselves playing their instruments, upload the videos and send links to Edwards, who would grade them and give them feedback based on what he saw and heard.
There was a window in May where kids were back in class and could play music. However, only 25 students could be together in a room at once.
Edwards and his crew jumped on the opportunity. The concert bands had to split into two groups; while they played, they listened to recordings of the missing instruments. After a few rehearsals, the bands recorded their songs — festivals were taking video submissions instead of in-person performances this year.
The senior concert band couldn’t make it work. There were two recordings to meld together, as the group couldn’t play inside as one, and their videos didn’t align.
Then, members got an email: meet in the collegiate’s courtyard Monday morning.
So, around 7 a.m. on a chilly spring day (it was -1 C), the students spaced themselves, in their formal wear, and played together for the !rst time to record for nationals.
"As a percussionist, my !ngers were getting so cold that it was hard to move my hands really fast," Schrader said. "But, we sounded pretty good, so we were happy about that."
She said the awards the bands received are great, but what she really took from the experience is that hard work pays o#. She credits Edwards for making the school year better.
"When everyone else had given up, Mr. Edwards was always there, and he was working really hard to get everything done," she said.
Edwards said he’s in awe of his students.
"The English language falls short in expressing the right words to say how amazed, and proud, and supported (I feel)," he said.
The Manitoba Band Association held a virtual awards ceremony for Westwood Collegiate this year, which Edwards said is unheard of.
Chelsey Hiebert, the association’s executive director, called the bands’ performances "outstanding" and the kids "resilient".
"Westwood just went above and beyond," she said.
Students in Edwards’s classes, including Ty Baldwin and Kellin Kilpatrick, echoed that it took resilience to keep going this year.
Gabrielle Piché
The Headliner community journalist
Gabrielle Piché is the community journalist for The Headliner. Gabby is a cub reporter fresh from Red River College’s creative communications program. She majored in journalism and spent the summer of 2020 as an intern at the Winnipeg Free Press. Gabby also has a B.A. in communications from the University of Winnipeg. She reported for newspapers in the Interlake, including the Selkirk Record, in 2019, and received the Eric and Jack Wells Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. When she’s not chasing stories, you can !nd Gabby listening to podcasts, attempting yoga or petting somebody’s dog Email her at gabrielle.piche@canstarnews.com
Written by Simeon RusnakTuesday, Jun 29 2021, 9:17 AM
Westwood Band (YouTube still)
Music educator Greg Edwards on the “resiliency” and “indefatigable” spirit of students—and teachers—through a tumultuous year.
The end of the school year is nearly here, and just before closing the book on one we’re surely not to forget, Classic 107 spoke with band director at Westwood Collegiate Greg Edwards about the year that was — one which, despite the many, many challenges kept the music going.
“There’s a reason that Manitoba is the centre of music education in Canada,” says Edwards, who describes his colleagues across the province as some of the most “wonderful, brilliant and resilient” educators in the country. “We’re very lucky to have that kind of community.”
In a year that “takes the cake” when it came to pivots and changes, Edwards, like all educators, rolled with the punches.
From physically-distanced seating and reduced class sizes at the beginning of the year, to Zoom rehearsals, to outdoor performances, there was a bit of everything this year in the real life and online band room. Following public health guidelines, the safety of students was always of the utmost priority.
“They could keep playing their instruments,” said Edwards. “I think that was the key thing, that’s what they signed up for, that’s what they wanted to do in band.”
And, after a clean-sweep at the Manitoba Band Association online Family of Festivals, it was clear that students were playing their instruments very well.
The three concert bands and three jazz bands at Westwood Collegiate all received 5 star performances at the festival—a first for Edwards in his more than 25 years attending.
“That was wild,” says and enthusiastic Edwards.
Find the full, year end Westwood Collegiate band recital below. Plus Simeon’s conversation with Greg Edwards.
Do you have a musical success story you would like to share? Reach out: info@classic107.com
Miss the awards ceremony with theManitoba Band Association last night? Don't worry, we recorded it and it is now up on our youTube Channel. Just head over to youTube and type in band@westwood or click this link........ band@westwood
