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B6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, March 1, 2000 Arts & Entertainment »______ Oakville Beaver Entertainm ent Editor: Carol Baldwin 845-3824 (Extension 254) Fax: 337-5567 Photo by Peter C. McCusker T he W. H. M orden con cert band returned from M usicfest, N iagara R egionals, w ith a gold standard. T hese G rade 6, 7 and 8 m usicians have now been invited to p erform at the nationals. Morden concert band comes home with gold By Carol Baldwin ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR W . H. M orden Public S chool's con cert band recently w on a gold stan dard at M usicfest, N iagara R egion als. A nd it has been invited to com pete in the nationals. As you m ight expect, a band m ust m eet certain criteria to be aw arded such an honour, and M ord en 's band o f m usicians from G rades 6 to 8 cam e through. A ccording to the adjudicator at the regionals, they displayed good rhythm and tim ing, and a good, full sound. A nd during the band m em bers' favourite piece (o f the three they played), A frican Festival, they w ere cited for good rhythm , con centration, and syncopation. "T hey all feel really p ro u d ...T h ey love that piece," says Sharon D utton, m usic teacher at Morden and m usic director, for the school's con cert and ja zz bands. "It features a lot o f percus sion instrum ents that w e d o n 't get to use very often. I had to recruit som e extras to com e in. O ur percussion (section) is usually two, so we had to recruit four." She says the 43-piece concert band entered the regionals for the first tim e at the 100 or entry level. And although expectations are not as high at that level as they are for bands in the 400 or 500 lev els, usually occupied by high school and universi ty bands, they w ere stringent enough to pose a challenge for these elem entary school musicians. T his first attem pt o f M orden's was such a pos itive experience that Dutton is sure the band m em bers will be delighted to continue on to the nationals. N ot only did they have an opportunity to do a live perform ance at the regionals, and in this case com e back with a plaque to go on the school wall, but they also received feedback from a professional adjudicator in the form o f praise as well as suggestions for improvement. "They d id n 't ju st play the notes right, but they played them in the right style for the piece," says D utton, referring to som e o f the praise the concert band received. B ut the student m usicians also learned about som e o f their com m on errors, such as the length o f tim e they hold the notes. "Kids tend not to hold notes for their full value. T hey play the note and that's it - let's get on to the next one, and they take a big, kind of holiday in the middle, with these vacant spaces betw een the notes," explains Dutton. She says the adjudicator worked with the kids on that problem as well as on trying to get them to produce a better sound from their instruments. "M y kids produce less than half the sound their instrum ents can m ake," she says. A ccording to Dutton, any kid in the senior grades at M orden can play in the concert band if they really w ant to. In fact, some students are so keen that they rent their own instrum ents because there aren't enough school instrum ents to go around. "T hey can take their instrum ents hom e, and they're usually in better shape than the school's," she says, explaining that all the m usicians in the band sacrifice an-hour-and-a-half a w eek after school to practise with the band. `T o get ready for the festival we practised tw o lunch tim es a w eek for a w eek or two." And, she adds, m ost kids in the senior grades could be proficient enough to be accepted into the band if they sim ply practiced a bit on their own. "If they practise, they'll get in," she states simply. `T o get into the band, I ask them to play the basic scale and O Canada. T he concert band also plays at the school's graduation each year and at C an ad a's W onder land. Both these end-of-the-year perform ances give the kids another opportunity to play to a live audience, and the latter offers the band m ore feed back and, o f course, the chance to enjoy W onder land for the rem ainder o f the day. T he concert b and's next perform ance will, how ever, be at the nationals for M usicfest. A nd if you w alk past M orden at lunch tim e, you m ay just h ear them practising. New play set to open tomorrow Sherlock H olm es and the First English G en tlem an, a new play by former O akville resident, Doug W arwick, will open at 8 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) at Toronto's Edw ardian style St. V lad's Theatre at 620 Spadina Ave. W arwick w ent to T. A. Blakelock High School and is a form er board m em ber o f the O akville Centre for the Perform ing Arts. He began in the entertainm ent business as a m usi cian and com poser and played jazz with The Doug W arwick Septet. H is play, Sherlock H olm es and the First English G entlem an, will star M ichael Hanrahan, an actor fam iliar to O akville theatregoers^from his roles as Duke Senior, Frederick and Corin in the Festival o f C lassic's production o f A s You Like It in Coronation Park in 1997. St. V ladm ir Institute has been renovated for W arw ick's production to recreate the atm os phere o f post-Victorian London (circa 1908). Sherlock H olm es a n d the First E nglish G en tleman, presented by Seventeen Steps Produc tions, is a m ystery about the disappearance of the jew el the Star o f Delhi. It also includes the real-life story o f the Piltdow n M an, a name given to a prehistoric skull and jaw that were discovered about 1908 in Sussex England. T his new play will be on stage at 8 p.m. M arch 3rd and 4th, M arch 9th to 11th, and M arch 16th to 18th. Sunday m atinees on M arch 5th, 12th and 19th will begin at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $14 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and are available by calling (416) 504-7529. If there is a baby onthe way... You'll want to attend the a / I / An idea whose tim e has come. ^ T h e O ak ville A rt S o ciety ^ 34th ANN U A L ART AUCTION Saturday, March 11 - 6:30 p.m. OAKVILLE CENTENNIAL GALLERY 120 Navy Street Located in the main library building at the corner of Navy & Lakeshore. ere's your opportunity to add to your corp rate or private art collection and join in all the thrills and excitement of a live art auction. A d m iss io n . is F re e ! Dem onstrations Special Displays Exciting Gifts for Every mother-To-Be N um erous Door Prizes www.HaltonSearch.com ^ Don't M iss This R ock 'N ' Roll Ic e S p e c ta c u la r S ta rrin g T h re e -T im e C an a d ia n C ham pion J o s e e Chouinard! H OVER 100 ORIGINAL WORKS F rom traditional fine a rt to abstract, functional pottery to sculpture by local and internationally recognized artists. Robert Bateman · Jack Reid · Joyce Kellock Peri Jolley · Elizabeth Pudsey · Maureen Casteliar Michael Young · Marguerite Broten · Helen Hendry Gordon Hare · Joyce Reynolds · Robert Boast-Cornish Tom Chatfield · Joe Smith · And many more Preview Showing March 4 to 11 - during Library hours By invitation only. Date: Sunday, March 26th 2000 Starts at 1:00 p.m. Ramada Inn 360 Oakville Place Dr. For Invitation Inquiries Please call H O STE SS BY PHONE: ( 9 0 5 ) 6 4 5 - 5 0 0 0 Live A u c tio n March 11 - doors open at 6:30 p.m. outlets www.ticketmaster.ca INFO: (905) 546-4040 GROUPS: (905) 546-4095 FREE ADMISSION - REFRESHMENTS SPONSORED IN PART BY AIC GROUP OF FUNDS intownguide.com Treloar & Associates MILLIE SHERWOOD at 2 5 7 -1 7 3 2 VENDOR SPACE AVAILABLE C Copps Coliseum TICKETS: $20 - $30 - $45 (VIP) (service charges and handling lees may apply) www.GreaseOnlce.com THE OAKVILLE ART SOCIETY For more information call 827-571' P rod u ced by F e ld E n tertain m en t and T h e T ro ik a O rga n iza tio n