Local band students accepted into national band

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A pair of local high school band students were recently accepted into the Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra performing in Niagara Falls in May.

Molly Koponyas will join the band with her tuba, and Jess Giesbrecht will participate with her trombone. Both students are under the direction of School District 60 band teachers David Price and Sabrina Brooks.

The national honour band is chosen from a pool of students in every high school in Canada. Brooks says she couldn’t find any information on the last time a student from North Peace Secondary School was selected.

The duo will attend an orientation with the band on May 14th and then have a week of training before performing on May 19th.

Giesbrecht said they were told about the national band auditions a week before they were due.

“We practiced for a week solid at lunchtimes and after school and got together after school one day and recorded our auditions,” Giesbrecht explained.

“It took about three hours. And then we found out just last week that we were accepted.”

Koponyas said being in the national honour band will look good on her transcripts, as she wants to attend the University of Victoria.

“I’ll be able to learn from other musicians within Canada and really focus on working with people who do this as their profession,” Koponyas said.

Giesbrecht, on the other hand, doesn’t want to pursue music as a career but thinks the national band will be a “cool experience.”

“[It’s] just kind of a test, ‘can I learn this super complicated piece in a week?’” Geisbrecht said.

Brooks, one of the band teachers at North Peace Secondary School, was selected for the provincial honour band when she was in high school.

“For me, it really opened up a lot of doors to people that I still stay in contact with now,” Brooks said.

“I ended up meeting my husband in music school, so who knows? You’ll have a ton of fun.”

Brooks said her experience with the provincial band also helped her because she met and talked to people with different life experiences.

“Some of these band experiences that I had when I was younger, I got to do things like rafting on the St. Lawrence River and just experience different things,” Brooks said.

“I once played outside Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Just different life experiences. I mean, English and math classes are important, [but] they don’t always lead to the same windows of opportunity.”

All 31 high school band students were invited to Niagara falls to compete in MusicFest Canada in May. The band has been fundraising since January and now has the funds to go.

“They’re never going to forget this trip. I don’t even think the kids really get what a big deal this is going to be,” Brooks said.

“Because once you get married and have kids and you get into that stage of life, you look back on all these fun times that you had.”

Beginner band sign-ups are also open on the band’s website for those currently in Grade 5.

An interview with Sabrina Brooks, Molly Koponyas and Jess Giesbrecht for Energeticcity.ca‘s Community Round-up can be viewed below: