Scott Yemen, one of Good Spirit School Division’s elementary band directors was not expecting the turnout they got over the weekend for the annual beginners band clinic at Yorkdale Central School.
“We’ve had some pretty big beginner groups, ourselves and Christ the Teacher, but we thought we would be a little bit smaller,” he said.
In all, 145 Good Spirit students signed up for the introductory workshop as well as 55 from Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools.
It is an opportunity for youngsters to learn the fundamentals of their instruments from some of the best educators in the province.
“We bring in the best teacher on every individual instrument in the province that we can find,” Yemen said.
“We’ve got Saskatoon and Regina symphony musicians, we’ve got master teachers from Regina public, Saskatoon Public, Melfort, you name it, we go and find the best. It’s basically 10 band classes in one and it’s such a fundamental part of what we do.”
The program is funded by the Yorkton and District Band Boosters, a community organization that raises funds to support music in the area.
“Without them we wouldn’t be able to do this,” Yemen said.
“In a time when budgets are tight we’re lucky to have the band boosters. They do such a great job and this is such a great service to our kids.”
Yemen, and many experts, view band as much more than just an extra-curricular activity.
“You can go straight to all the research that’s being done right now that shows all the neurological benefits of music education,” Yemen explained citing a video of a Ted Talk by Dr. Anita Collins, a researcher in neuroscience and music education.
“It shows how music education promotes neurological connections that make people successful learners and successful thinkers,” Yemen explained.
The video was shown to parents Saturday morning while the kids were learning the basics of their instruments.
Yemen also noted other benefits.
“One of the other big pushes in education is being able to apply things in an interdisciplinary sense and band does that,” he said.
“You’re applying all your ELA [English language arts] lessons, all your math lessons, all your science lessons as you play, plus all your skills as a human being because you have to work with people and you have to interact with other people.
