Kingston Secondary School band heads to their first nationals competition

Students with the Kingston Secondary School band will be heading to Toronto this Friday to compete in MusicFest Canada.

It’s the first ever national competition for the Kingston-based band, after having secured a place in the tournament by winning gold at the regionals back in March. The 52nd MusicFest Canada tournament began on May 13 this year and will end on May 18.

For the school’s music teacher, Kelli Caravan, the chance to compete in Toronto came as a complete surprise. But she added that the group has talent that speaks for itself.

“The group is amazing, they’re really fantastic players. It’s not a shock for the level that we achieved, but it was a shock that we would be able to go to the national level,” she said. “It’s amazing that it’s in Toronto. Because if it was in any other place, I don’t think we would, in this short amount of time, be able to attend it.”

Caravan added that some of the students in the band will graduate by the end of the school year, making the nationals a legacy they’ll leave once they’ve left the school.

“It’s really exciting… we are going to do the best we can,” said Emily Monaghan, a grade 12 student at the school. “It’s a good bonding (experience) with the band.”

Grade 11 student Nuria Thompson added that she and the band hadn’t expected a chance to play at such a big stage.

“We’ve been working on this all year. When we went to regionals we weren’t expecting much out of it, but we got invited to nationals,” she said. “We’ve been working really hard to perfect our performances and to make sure that all of our accents and articulations are right when we play our songs.”

For now, Thompson said the plan is to have fun at the nationals.

“I’m not going there wanting to win. I’m going there with an outlook that ‘I’m just going to have fun’.”