Kellogg band enjoys international company
Photo by JOSH MCDONALD David Thompson Secondary School band director Greg Constable addresses the crowd at the Kellogg School District Community Center prior to his band’s performance.
KELLOGG — The Kellogg School District band program recently hosted the band programs from the David Thompson Secondary School from Invermere, British Columbia, Canada.
The decade-running event has become something of an annual occasion for the programs, but this year was a fairly memorable one as DTSS band director Greg Constable put on his final performance as head of the band.
The event itself allows the students from both schools to interact both socially and musically, as the students spent the afternoon together and shared a meal before putting on a joint concert for the community.
Kellogg School District band instructor Brian Hix believes this event to be valuable to the students for multiple reasons.
“I think having students from different music programs is an important aspect to music education,” Hix said. “Through such interactions, students are able to connect with others on a higher level because of the commonalities shared through music. Music is very much embedded in culture, and being able to compare and contrasts the differences in the music learned by one group can give the other a chance to experience and understand differences in culture. For example, the Kellogg School Bands performed a set of pep tunes for our Canadian visitors, a genre and style of music that our guests are less acquainted with.”
The event was a success from beginning to end and Hix expressed his thankfulness from each school, as well as the community support they received.
“This event was an incredible collaboration between students, staff and community,” Hix said. “The students of both schools expressed sincere gratitude for the ability to both perform for each other, as well as be an audience. This community is fortunate to have several performing groups from out of the area come for special performances, and this concert is only one example of this.”
As for Constable and his retirement, he and Hix shared a ceremonial gift exchange that included Constable gifting Hix with his tie.
Hix hopes that whomever the DTSS finds to replace Constable will continue to carry on the tradition.