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Walnut Grove students prepare for April 7 concert

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Walnut Grove Secondary music teacher Tobi Crawford is helping her students get ready for an April 7 concert.


 

A dozen students are practicing in room 113 at the south end of Langley’s Walnut Grove Secondary School (WGSS).

Nine are singing standing in a semi-circle, microphones in hand, while a three-person rhythm section accompanies their classmates on piano, drums and bass.

The song is “Red Top,” the classic hit written by Kansas City jazz saxophonist Ben Kynard when he was with Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra in 1945, a tribute to the red-headed woman Kynard later married.

Voices fill the high ceiling of the purpose-built green practice space.

“So Red Top/

You just go right on spinning/

You go ‘round and ‘round/

And don’t you ever stop”

Tobi Crawford, the teacher and musical director of the choir program  conducts, fixing the young singers with an intent gaze.

The SFU graduate has been teaching at WGSS for three years. Crawford has nearly 30 years of music experience in classical and jazz genres as a pianist and vocalist.

She earned her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Capilano University on piano and voice before she got her teaching degree at SFU.

She has always been a strong believer in the transformative power of music.

Among other things, she credits band practice with helping her younger brother stay out of trouble in school.

“When you’re young, when you’re in high school, take the opportunity to join choir or band,” Crawford says. “You will love it.”

Students in the jazz choir agree.

“Give it a try,” says Ben Ferguson, who is now seriously thinking about a career in music.

“It’s not something that I thought I would like but now it’s something I love more than anything” he tells a visitor.

An enthusiastic Cindy Dai thinks more students should try music programs, even if they don’t have a lot of previous experience.

“Just go for it,” Dai says.  “Once you do, it opens up so many doors for you.  It’s really cool because you kind of learn more about yourself, too.”

Jazz choir has been a confidence builder for Robyn McAlister.

“I always loved music but I never thought I was really good,” McAlister said. “Ms. Crawford has challenged me to think about it and also told me I’m not that bad, so that’s good.”

The music program at Walnut Grove bears little resemblance to the flashy hit-of-the-week approach seen in Glee, the hit television series set in an American school music program.

One big difference is that U.S. school programs are sometimes lavishly funded by private donations.

“They have a theatre. they have a lighting guy. They have a sound guy and they’re all full-time positions,” Crawford observes.

The closest Walnut Grove has come to Glee was a skit on December 2010 where the teachers danced and lip-synched to a tune from the show in front of the entire student body in the WGSS gymnasium, a videotaped moment that went viral on Youtube, where the clip has so far generated more than 80,000 views.

There are 15 students in the WGSS jazz choir, 25 in the school chamber choir and 70 in the concert choir.

On Thursday, April 7, they can all be heard in performance at the school at 8919 Walnut Grove Drive.

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. It is open to the public. Admission is by donation.



Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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