A Visit From The Doctor
On November 12, 2014, the Brennan Concert Band's usual Wednesday night rehearsal took a slight detour; Scales and repertoire were put on hold as Concert Band members participated in a valuable clinic delivered by the esteemed Dr. Janice Waldron of the University of Windsor. Dr. Waldron is currently the instructor in Music Education and Ethnomusicology at Windsor's School of Music. In addition, she is an active adjudicator and clinician for many music festivals across Ontario, as well as an accomplished Celtic musician, author and speaker. She has been conducting middle school and high school bands since 1980, and has had a tremendous impact on their level of success; During her last high school posting, Dr. Waldron led her bands to an unprecedented 31 Gold Medals at Musicfest Canada. We had the good fortune of working with this amazing conductor for two hours on November 12. During our session, Dr. Waldron guided us through a detailed lesson that included strategies for tuning and balance. Her warm delivery, wonderful sense of humour, and unique method of communicating these important ideas, made an instant impact on our sound and level of concentration; Within minutes, our playing became more accurate and musical. The expectations of each instrumental section ( ie woodwinds, brass and so on) were clarified and students gained a better understanding of their roles in our ensemble. We would like to thank the University of Windsor's School of Music for lending out their talented instructor for this practice. It was great experience and we are hoping to work with Dr. Waldron again in the near future.
