The High Prairie and District Community Band gets in tune with co-directors Justin Ernesto, left, and Collin Rattray.

Richard Froese
South Peace News
High Prairie and District Community Band has started its second season with new directors.

Local school music teachers Justin Ernesto and Collin Rattray have become co-directors to carry on after the founding director departed last June.

“We have about 20 musicians, and almost all returning from last year, and added some new ones,” says Rattray, who has been teaching elementary music at St. Andrew’s School for the past seven years.

Band practices resumed in October and are held every Tuesday at Prairie River Junior High School at 7:30 p.m.

“We hope to have a few musicians perform during the Festival of Trees,” says Rattray, who plays the clarinet.

Musicians are already tuning up for the event set for Dec. 8-9 and Dec. 14-16 at the High Prairie Health Complex.

“We also plan to do a year-end concert next spring,” Rattray says.

Ernesto is happy to assist Rattray.

“It’s a good opportunity and Collin is a good mentor,” says Ernesto, who started in September as music teacher at Prairie River, High Prairie Elementary School and E.W. Pratt High School.

He, too, encourages more people to participate.

“It’s easy to work with adults, and it’s just an hour a week,” Ernesto says.

More brass is particularly needed, Rattray says.

The band is comprised of a few high school members, as young as Grade 9, and adults into their 70s.

Initiated in November 2014, the band officially made its public debut at the Remembrance Day service in High Prairie on Nov. 11, 2015. They held their first public concert in June 2016.

For more information, or to join the band, phone Rattray at [780] 523-9892.