WARRINGTON- From stars and stripes to maple leaves and moose, the Central Bucks South band and orchestra traveled to Montreal, Canada from April 25-28. Ninety-five student musicians had the opportunity to see unforgettable sights, participate in clinics with esteemed Canadian professors, and make long lasting memories.
Students were excited to travel to a new city, spend time with friends, and for one senior, color guard member Emma Margott, to “brush up on French skills before the AP Exam.”
Quebec, the Canadian province where Montreal is located, is a unique territory for the fact that many of its residents speak both French and English in their daily lives. Many students and staff for the first time navigated a city with signs, menus, and even payment instructions in a different language.
Each ensemble on the trip had the opportunity to work with a clinician local to the Montreal area. The band worked with McGill University professor Dr. Danielle Gaudry.
Dr. Gaudry introduced South’s band to the idea of listening to two specific people across the ensemble and blending with those two sounds to create a “trio.” While not revolutionary, the idea was framed in a way that band director Mr. Myers had nothing but praise for.
“You get into your process, your ways that work… and you begin saying the same thing over and over again. Sometimes it takes someone else saying it a different way for the ideas to really click for a student,” the band director observed, noting that Dr. Gaudry’s critiques had “pulled colors and textures out of the band” that he hadn’t heard before.
Myers expressed how the opportunity for his bands to attend clinics improves his own skills as an educator, and he sometimes “get[s] more out of it than the band does.” He recognizes that even teachers are never finished learning, and they can learn the most from each other.
Perhaps one of the most memorable moments for the group was a light show conducted in Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica, titled the AURA Experience. The immersive show lit up every inch of the cathedral with colorful lights in complex formations, accompanied by orchestral music and sound effects.
“I’ve never fully appreciated all the work that goes into the lighting aspect of a performance,” Emma Margott said. “It’s really cool how lighting can be used to tell a story.”
The show used innovative lighting techniques that “highlighted the architecture,” according to junior trumpet player Evan Spadt.
Sophomore clarinet player Mads Braverman praised the show’s ability to take a centuries-old building and “give it a modern twist,” adding that they would love to experience the show again but “sit in a different seat to get a new perspective.”
The final night of the trip included a truly unforgettable dinner at the Sucerie de la Montagne, a remote maple syrup farm nearly an hour out of the city that provided dinner with live music, dancing, and a tour of the farm’s syrup-making facilities.
The experience began with a horse-and buggy escort into the farms, which Myers said “perfectly set the scene.” The moment, both unexpected and exciting, “took us out of the mindset of being a city and into the mountains.”
Both students and faculty raved about the meal, noting how maple syrup went with every single dish served. Emma Margott recalled the moment orchestra director Mr. Hensil “put maple syrup in his water” with glee.
Several members of the band and orchestra were selected to participate in the live performance, playing the wooden spoons along to a folk song. Many students ended up buying these wooden spoons at the farm’s souvenir shop after the meal.
Evan Spadt considers the instrument to be “an active way to connect to the memory,” a far more valuable souvenir than any traditional keychain or fridge magnet.
Even Myers bought three of the spoons for his own children and proudly proclaimed that the kids play them “nonstop.”
“We often forget how physically engaging music can be,” he stated, recognizing that experiencing music in a formal concert setting has just as much value as music you can interact with through dance – or even a method as unorthodox as playing a utensil shaped percussion instrument.
Above all, Mads Braverman said they believe that it’s not the experiences themselves that make the trip, it’s the friends you’re with and the memories you can make together.
“When someone says or does something completely unexpected, the memory stays with you,” Braverman said, citing that the landmarks or experiences at any place mean that much more when seeing them with the people you care about most deeply.
The sentiment between all in attendance was clear: The unique experiences Montreal had to offer were meaningful, but the band and orchestra would have enjoyed themselves in any location, because the bond created by making music is one that is unbreakable.
