VALKENBERG/MAASTRICHT TRIP
Summer 2006
Not every school can say they have their own band. Even fewer can say that they have performed with their school band abroad. This year however, Our Lady’s High School Wind Band went where no music department had gone before: performances abroad in Holland and Germany!
Report by Mark Henderson
It all began to come together after Christmas. Having won a silver medal in the Scottish School Band competition and only just finished our annual Christmas Concert, the OLHS Band was back to preparing for our big trip.
As this was the most adventurous idea brought to the band, along with it came the toughest of rehearsals - half an hour’s worth of music to be learnt amongst the hustle and bustle of everyday school life. After countless rehearsals and hours preparing, the music was ready and the band was ready to take its next big step: the trip itself to Valkenburg, Holland.
The journey begun at OLHS, with a bus that took us from Motherwell to Hull to our ferry crossing to Zeebrugge. We were given cabins that we were to stay in from 11.00pm till morning and sleep if we so desired. After a night at sea came another day across land as we traveled from Zebrugge to our hotel in Valkenburg that was to become the OLHS Band’s personal space for the five day visit.
Some activities besides concerts were set up for the trip, as we traveled to a theme park that rivalled that of Alton Towers for one of the days. Another great trip out was to a chocolate factory in Cologne, Germany. After a tour of the machines and some chocolate sampling, we were taken to the shop in the factory where they sold chocolate in all its forms: bars, beers, lollipops, wines and other such interesting shapes and sizes.
Between all the visits to theme parks, chocolate factories and ice cream parlours, there were concerts to perform, and our first concert was to be at the entrance of a maze at Valkenberg. On the bus trip up, there were some nerves among us as this was the real reason we had came to Holland anyway. When we arrived we begun to set up under a little bandstand, which mid performance became the OLHS Band umbrella.
When the actual performance came, any nerves people had been feeling were gone. Unlike the competitions and other concerts we’d performed in, this was a lot less formal with people coming and going as they pleased, maybe buying an ice-cream, having a listen to a song, then moving on.
First came the music from ‘The Lion King’ by Hans Zimmer. We played all the famous tunes from the movie including ‘Hakuna Matata’, featuring a solo from Michelle Donnelly of 6th year on trumpet, ‘Circle Of Life’ and ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’ with a lot of credit going to the percussion section consisting of 6th year Anna Smith and 5th years Lucy McDermott and Nicola Denny.
The next piece tackled was ‘Big Fun In The Sun’, a compilation of summer tracks such as The Beach Boys’ ‘Barbara Ann’, Mamas and The Papas’ ‘California Dreamin’ featuring a solo from Susan Millar of 5th year on trumpet and surf song ‘Wipeout’ featuring a solo from 5th year’s Mark Henderson on drums.
As well as these famous tracks, the band also performed two lesser known compositions. First, a piece called ‘Bass In The Ballroom’, a concerto performed by Paul Devlin, most notably remembered for its fast running scales and for Paul waltzing round the band with his instrument, the tuba, as his dance partner.
The other was called ‘Nightfall’, a much more gentle piece performed by Megan Keenan of 6th year. Other pieces performed by the band were James Bond classics like ‘Goldeneye’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and ‘Les Miserables’.
After realising how much more laidback the day was, there was a sense of ease for the second concert on the day we were to leave.
The second concert however was considerably different from the one at the maze. At Maastricht there was a much greater audience with a large outdoor coffee house directly beside us and shops nearby, it came as a slight shock comparing it to Valkenberg.
As ever, however, the practice had been put in and another good performance was pulled off, the only thing setting it apart from previous run throughs being Paul Devlin’s choice of Mr Fairly, the woodwind tutor, as his dance partner rather than the slightly less mobile tuba in ‘Bass In The Ballroom’.
With a new term gone since the Holland performances, older members of the band have left school while many younger pupils have taken over their roles and so the OLHS Band 2006/2007 will have different strengths and weaknesses from previous years.
However, it is important to note that without the music teachers at OLHS, there would not have been a Holland trip, nor could the school boast about its Christmas Concerts featuring Junior Band, School Band, Brass Ensemble, Salsa Band, Guitar Ensemble and Woodwind Group. On behalf of the school and the pupils of the music department, thank you.