With so many youngsters being engaged in various “camp” activities during the Summer break, the Music Department of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School has embarked on a two-week Beginner’s Brass Camp now in its second week.
The Camp which started on July 8th, will formally end on Friday, July 19th. In discussing the concept driving the initiative, seasoned music educator and Camp Coordinator, Lennox Vanterpool, furnished the following overview:
“While making good music and keeping young students engaged and growing in the music experience, the band director must be equally mindful of the need to keep all areas of the concert band properly and functionally populated.
Notwithstanding, we have had significant challenges during the term with regard to meeting for rehearsals due to the necessary ‘shift system’ which has been a consequence of Hurricane Irma.
“What we have been able to do during this relatively short exercise, however, is to target and expose mostly primary school-aged students to the trombone and trumpet. We have also included CXC Music students who were desirous of sharpening their skills in the run up to the Sound Review Camp which starts in mid-August.
“We are extremely grateful to Anguilla Social Security Board and the Anguilla Development Board, as well as the Morlens Architecture Services, for their unwavering and timely support. Through their contributions, we were able to procure the instruments and conduct the band camp successfully.”
Mr. Vanterpool is aided by an admirable group of budding musical professors, who serve as facilitators for the camp. This ambitious group is well seasoned with the potential of following in Mr. Vanterpool’s footsteps. He has diligently coached them throughout the years, and he showers them with accolades of unrelenting praise.
He remarked: “We wish to highlight that all of our facilitators for this camp are local musicians, trained at the ALHCS, and privately coached at the Morlens School of Music. We are proud to acknowledge: Kasem Thompson (trombone), Michael Martin Jr. and Casey Richardson (saxophone) and Kamal Vanterpool (trumpet). We would also like to thank Head of Music, Mrs. Kimba Southwell, and our Principal, Mrs. Rita Carty. We do appreciate their continued support for these initiatives as we continue to mold young lives through music.”
Meanwhile, on the Tuesday July 16th session of the camp, a special handover of four new brass instruments was made to the ALHCS Band. Presentation of the instruments was made by Cadet Corps Captain, Mr. Neville Hamilton, with funding provided by the Governor’s Office. The brand new brass components consisted of a trombone, a sousaphone, a French horn and a trumpet.
In turning over the prized instruments, Captain Hamilton stated: “The Governor’s Office has been very generous in providing funding for a marching band for the Cadet Corps. However, the Cadet Corps is rather limited when it comes to formulating our own band, so we are partnering with the school orchestra who will help us in delivering a high-quality Cadet Corps band that would perform for concerts or parades. So today, we are pleased to handover these fine instruments to the music center of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School.”
Mr. Vanterpool responded by expressing his thanks: “We are extremely grateful to the Cadet Corps and the Governor’s Office. In fact, we had been in the hunt recently for instruments of this same type. We are also looking for a bass clarinet which we should receive in due course. However, these instruments now provide a welcome addition that will help us to reach where we intend to go — as we expand our offerings in the music of the ALHCS Orchestra.”
Mr. Vanterpool noted that as far as the partnership with the Cadet Corps is concerned, it was important to recognize that this partnership is into the development of youth, musically. “This is the basic mantra of our organization,” he said —“to develop our youth through the channel of music.”
Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
