By TERRY PUGH
Nearly 40 years ago, Warman music teacher Barrie Redford was a key player in setting up the student band program in five communities for the former Sask Valley School Division.
“We had the program in nine schools in the towns of Hepburn, Laird, Waldheim, Rosthern and Duck Lake,” said Redford, now retired from the Saskatoon Public School Division. “It was a good program. A lot of kids formed a life-long connection to music by learning to play an instrument and being part of a band. It’s the kind of thing that stays with you.
“One day not long ago I was at the local gas station filling my vehicle, and this young man approached me and said, ‘Mr. Redford?’ I knew he had to be a former student of mine because they’re the only people that call me Mr. Redford. I had no idea who he was because he would have been in Grade 6 or 7 when he was one of my students. But he knew me. He told me how much he enjoyed playing in the band, even though he was one of my least-accomplished students. He virtually only knew how to play five notes. But he knew how to play those five notes really well, and he felt good about it, and it meant something to him in a positive way.
“That’s the real value of music. You connect with it on an emotional level as well as an intellectual level. When you achieve something musically, it stays with you. People who learn to play an instrument when they’re young can often keep playing it well into old age.”
For 14 years, from 1986 to 2000, the former Sask Valley School Division band program provided that gift of music to students. But, in 2000, faced with financial pressures, the school division made the hard decision to close the book on the program. (The SVSD was later amalgamated with the Saskatoon East and Saskatoon West School Divisions to form the Prairie Spirit School Division [PSSD]. The PSSD has a school band program in place.)
“My daughter had gone through the band program, and my son was about to begin in the fall, but on that last day of school, they announced the band programs were going to be cancelled, for the whole Sask Valley division,” said Redford. “That really hurt on so many levels. All of a sudden there was no band program and all those kids that would have been in band had no place to learn to play.
“So I organized the band parents’ association and we put together a beginner band and combined it with a community adult band, because there were a lot of parents who wanted to be involved.”
That marked the beginning of the Warman Community Band. Over two and a half decades, the membership has varied between four and 35 musicians, but it’s always kept up a tradition of performing at community events, particularly the Warman Christmas Carol Festival every December.
Redford’s decision 25 years ago to launch the Warman Community Band came naturally.
“There was no school band when I was a kid in North Battleford,” said Redford. “I learned to play in the local community band. Later on I became the assistant band director at the Moose Jaw Junior Lions program.”
He said school bands had their beginnings in the 1960s and 1970s in Saskatchewan, and grew out of established community bands.
Next spring marks the 25th anniversary of the first rehearsal of the Warman Community Band, and Redford said it provides an opportunity for people to become more familiar with the organization.
Leading up to a major concert event in 2025, the band is hosting a concert on Sunday, November 17. The concert theme is ‘A Night at the Movies.’
Redford said the Warman Community Band’s first rehearsals were in the old music portable classroom at Warman Elementary School.
Redford, who plays trumpet professionally in many orchestras and bands, said his involvement with community bands, not just in Warman but in several communities over the decades, has been rewarding. People of all ages, from teenagers to pensioners, share a common experience.
“One of my favourite bands was a group we had in Dalmeny,” said Redford. “We had one old fellow in the band who was 87 years old, and he played the tuba. He could read music, but he was almost completely deaf. So it made for some interesting moments. But he had such a great sense of humour and we all enjoyed having him in the band.
“Another favourite of mine in the Warman Community Band was an older lady who was 93, and she played with us till she was 95. But, her eyesight was failing and so we blew the music pages up to giant size so she could read the notes. We loved having her in the group.”