Students from Calgary’s
Head Start Clinic
Sept 30, 2010

See all Member Services offered by the Alberta Band Association

We are looking for volunteers to send us information about all the music events in your area. If you are interested in being a Zone Representative,
email us for more info.

In this issue...

• Musicom is back online
  The Alberta Band Association’s official newsletter is back, now in electronic format.
• Greetings from Ken Rogers, president of the ABA
• ABA Head Start Clinic
  The ABA Head Start clinic was held on September 30, 2010 in Calgary.

Musicom is online

The Alberta Band Association’s official newsletter is back, now in electronic format. Musicom (Music Communication) was always a good source of information about upcoming events and member projects.

More importantly, it was a valuable source of information about teaching instrumental music in Alberta. Articles about such topics as solving intonation problems, keeping beginners in band and teaching improvisation to your jazz band were important reference materials that teachers and directors could use to improve the performance of their groups and the effectiveness of their teaching. This quarterly publication will be an excellent source for all this and information about Alberta Band Association projects.

In order to keep our members up to date about events around the province, Musicom will also feature “Zone Reports.” If you host an event in your area such as a concert or a workshop, or if you have any other important event coming and would like to advertise it, let us know and it will be published in the next Musicom.

If you are interested in being a Zone Representative please contact the ABA. Zone representatives are responsible for gathering information from people in their area and forwarding it on to Musicom.

Musicom also welcomes your contributions. If you have an article (or even an idea for one) that you would like to see published in the Musicom, contact the ABA for more information.

Alberta Band Association President’s Message
January 2011

Now that the many activities of the Christmas season, and hopefully a period of relative relaxation following have passed, many of us look forward to the spring season of tours, festivals, clinics, and concerts. 

The Alberta Band Association is poised for a year of good work and is pleased to welcome 3 members to our board who have already added much vitality and experience to our organization: Darwin Krips; Bob Bailey; and Steve Sherman. Many thanks to our departing board members Jennifer Mann, Amy McLennan, and Past President Don Robb for all their work on behalf of the ABA.  

One of the board’s first projects is a re-write of all committee and project policy to ensure that our manual reflects the actual needs and activities of the ABA. We began this update at our November retreat and will complete it at our January meeting.  

A major project for the coming year will be to pursue the realization of a mutually beneficial partnership between the ABA and the ATA’s Fine Arts Specialist Council. This partnership was ratified by the membership last year and in more recent months stalled somewhat as the leadership of the Fine Arts Specialist Council changed substantially. We intend to work closely with the new leadership over the coming year to realize the potential benefits of our partnership.  

We will be keeping a close eye on Alberta Education’s second draft of a new Arts Curriculum Draft Framework, expected in March of 2011. The ABA, along with other agents and organizations supporting music education, has been active in following and influencing the proposed changes to arts education in Alberta. We also await the announcement of changes to the Education Act, expected this spring.  

Thank you to the many who registered and attended the annual Music Conference Alberta presented in Red Deer this past November. We noticed not only a substantial increase in the number of delegates, but also, from conference evaluations and personal observations, a renewed level of energy that permeated the conference and created a definite air of optimism. We were particularly pleased to note an increase in the number of registrations among young teachers.

Lastly, I invite all to visit our recently revised website at http://albertabandassociation.com/. Click on the links to our many programs and services and note that registration is currently open to the Provincial Festival of Bands in Red Deer, May 16 – 27, 2011. As you finalize your spring repertoire, check out the links to the “recommended march list” and to past festival syllabi. These are great resources for concert and festival repertoire and ALL past syllabus titles are available for loan from the ABA!  

Best wishes on a great spring semester!
Ken Rogers

ABA Head Start Clinic

The ABA Head Start Clinic was held on September 30, 2010 in Calgary. There were 162 students from 12 different Calgary schools.

These clinics were designed to assist directors with a low-cost way to start beginners. They were taught by professional musicians and other band directors, and focused on embouchure & tone, assembly and cleaning, and the first five notes of B^b concert.

Students left the clinic excited with all the knowledge they needed to join their regular band classes the next day and two songs that they could play for their parents when they got home.

A special thank you to St. Helena Jr. High and Sir John A. MacDonald for providing the venue, the clinicians, and to Long & McQuade for providing music folders.