CFE Week One Reflection

For my CFE I am working with Steve Denroche, an itinerate band director in the Burnaby School District. As an itinerate band director, Mr. Denroche is responsible for nine schools throughout the district, each with it’s own unique strengths and challenges. Depending on the day, we are at either four or five schools, for only one block to work with the Grade 7 band students at each school. Working at multiple schools throughout the district is important to me because it gives me the opportunity to observe differences between schools and garner an understanding of which environment I work best in. This week I primarily observed Mr. Denroche working with the ensembles and worked with individual students that were having specific challenges. On Friday, Mr. Denroche was performing in Edmonton and I was asked to work with four of the ensembles for that day. This was a challenging, but great opportunity for me to work with beginning band ensembles. We worked on six different pieces, O Canada, Ayre and Dance, Transformers, Spider Man, Timber and Westwind Overture. All of Mr. Denroche’s schools are working towards their penultimate performing opportunity, The Festival of Beginning Bands, which takes place on the last week that I am with him, from May 13 – 15. The Festival of Beginning Bands is a performance where each school performs two pieces individually and then two pieces with other schools. The performances take place during the school time and are a great opportunity for students to perform and collaborate with other music students from around the district. Over the next two weeks I will continue to work with the schools to prepare them for The Festival of Beginning Bands.

CFE Week Two Reflection

Over the second week of my CFE I continued to prepare the ensembles for their performance next week at, The Festival of Beginning Bands. On Monday Mr. Denroche was ill so I had the opportunity to conduct all of the bands that day. All of the ensembles came with their own unique sets of challenges. Working with such a diverse group of students, though challenging, was ultimately quite rewarding because it required me to be creative and think on my feet to achieve the musical results I was after. It was also nice working with the substitute teacher Mrs. Switzer. Mrs. Switzer is a retired kindergarten teacher with over 35 years of experience in education. It was great opportunity for me to ask questions about her career in education and gain insight into the flexibility and openness one needs to be involved in education. Over the past two weeks I have learned how crucial organization is to an itinerate band director. Musical organization is imperative to ensure that the students are ready to perform at the concert; as well as, administrative organization to ensure that all the schools are aware of the concert dates and transportation requirements have been met for all the schools. This experience has given me valuable insight into the role of an itinerate band director.

CFE Week Three Reflection

The last week of my CFE experience was primarily focused on the ensembles performances at, The Festival of Beginning Bands. From Wednesday to Friday I helped Mr. Denroche set up and organize the gymnasium for a morning and afternoon concert on each day. The logistics of the event were challenging, because of the sheer number of students participating. The largest performance consisted of nine schools and over 250 students performing in the gymnasium at one time. The concerts gave students the opportunity to play together as a mass ensemble, as well as, showcase pieces that they have been working on with their school ensemble. The mass ensemble performed, ‘O Canada’ and ‘Ayre and Dance’, ‘Ayre and Dance’. ‘Ayre and Dance’ is a piece that is performed almost every year at this festival and is a favorite of the students. This event does a great job of creating community in the Burnaby music program because it allows students to hear how their peers play and realize that they are not alone in their appreciation and love for music. The Festival of Beginning Bands, is an opportunity to creates an awareness for high school music programs and the importance of signing up for band in high school and continuing to study music. I’d like to thank Mr. Denroche and Steve Toren, my UBC Faculty Advisor for their help throughout my CFE experience. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such great mentors and garner a better understanding of what being an itinerant band director involves.