A golden year for Stratford District’s music program

The keys to a successful school music program, says teacher Paula Ortelli, is a good work ethic and plenty of teamwork among the student musicians.

Article content

That twin approach was evident this year with the continued success of Stratford District secondary school’s jazz combo and symphonic band.

Article content

The two bands enjoyed an enormously successful winter term, winning gold medals and first places at MusicFest regionals and the Kiwanis Festival of Performing Arts-Stratford respectively.

Ortelli, a music teacher for more than 30 years and the Stratford Summer Music Award for Excellence in Music Education winner in 2021, said it was a goal this year to compete.

“I decided that this spring we would do quite a few competitions as performance opportunities across the province,” said Ortelli, who oversees the high school’s music program.

MusicFest Canada has held an annual national music competition since 1972 that brings young bands and musicians together to perform and compete in a different city each May. The festival, Ortelli said, is a great way for school music programs like Stratford District’s to perform for friends, family and strangers while having an opportunity to win some awards.

Article content

“The kids played really well, and we received a gold and an invitation to MusicFest nationals in May. And then, at the end of March, we went to Orillia to the Sunshine City Music Festival and we performed there, again another MusicFest regionals, just because those are great opportunities to perform,” Ortelli said.

The school’s jazz combo, comprising six Grade 11 and 12 students, brought home a gold at the MusicFest regionals in Ancaster, as well as a first place in its category at the Kiwanis Festival of Performing Arts-Stratford.

“We played Straight, No Chaser, which is a bebop blues by Thelonious Monk. We played I Remember Clifford, which is our ballad by Benny Golson (and Lee Morgan), and then we played Nutville by Horace Silver,” said Sam Pepper, a trumpeter in the school’s jazz combo, while talking about the band’s MusicFest regionals performance.

Article content

Pepper, who grew up in a musical family, has played an instrument since he was four or five, and learned piano from his dad until he was 10 years old. After picking up — and enjoying — the trumpet when he was in Grade 7, Pepper kept with it throughout school and is now the student director of the jazz combo.

His role with that band shouldn’t be a surprise since he helped found the combo after discovering there wasn’t enough interest to form a full jazz band.

“I guess it just started from a passion in music,” Pepper said. “I’ll lead the practices, I’ll pick which songs we work on — what parts we work on — and I’ll try to give my unprofessional opinions on what we can change what people can improve on.”

The group tends to perform a variety of jazz standards, but Pepper likes to mix in some funk, blues, and even some bebop pieces from the ’40s and ’50s.

Article content

Pepper said that going into the combo’s first competition at MusicFest regionals, he had no idea how well they would perform but was happy with the performance.

“I really had no idea how we stacked up compared to other groups around Ontario or Canada. . . . But after we finished and then we got a gold and invite, I was quite happy with how we did because, I guess before the competition, I’d always been comparing our group to professionals,” Pepper said.

The schoo’s larger symphonic band, made up of 56 students from grades 10, 11 and 12, won two gold medals at MusicFest regionals in Ancaster with impressive performances of Samuel Barber’s Sure on this Shining Night and Franco Cesarini’s Greek Folk Song Suite.

“This year, it’s just been really successful receiving gold. We often do well at competitions, but to receive gold at two regionals is pretty impressive — that the kids are that strong and just a really keen group,” Ortelli said.

Article content

The musicians in both bands committed a lot of time, practicing before classes and during lunch a few times a week, in prepare for the competitions.

On top of receiving multiple gold medals at MusicFest regionals, both the jazz combo and symphonic bands won first place in their categories at the Kiwanis Festival of Performing Arts-Stratford at St. James Anglican Church last Thursday.

The jazz combo is currently preparing for the national championship at MusicFest in May while both groups are gearing up for London’s Kiwanis festival, with the symphonic band performing this Friday and the jazz combo taking the stage Tuesday after school.

“That will be our last competition, I think, of this season for symphonic band. And then jazz combo is actually going to go to nationals in Toronto,” Ortelli said. “I think I put a lot of pressure on them to be their best. That never means to win or to get gold, but to be their very best and to do their very best, whatever that is.

“And so I think with how hard they’ve worked to be their best, (and) then to see what they’re receiving from the adjudicators, has been powerful for them. And I like seeing that in their faces.”

Article content