Four local school bands earn tickets to nationals after Blyth event

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

The Blyth Festival’s 2026 season may not have started yet, but Memorial Hall sure felt festive on March 11, when over 180 student musicians filled the space with sound as part of Ontario’s West Coast Musicfest. 

 

The event brought together young performers from across Huron and Perth Counties and offered them a chance to make music, be adjudicated and potentially qualify to perform at the national level. The Citizen caught up with educator and organizer Aaron Neeb in Blyth to hear a little more about the big competition. Neeb is a music teacher at Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS), as well as being the chairperson of the event, which was jointly hosted by CHSS and the Blyth Festival. 

 

“This is a Musicfest competition,” he explained. “We are affiliated with Musicfest Canada and we’ve invited bands from the region to come and perform. The bands are adjudicated to a standard of merit: bronze, silver or gold. Bands receiving silver or gold can receive an invitation to the national competition.” This year, the national competition will be held in Niagara Falls.

 

In addition to CHSS, three other schools participated in the competition: Stratford District Secondary School, St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School (SACSS) and St. Michael Catholic Secondary School. Students range from Grade 7 all the way up to Grade 12. “The bands have different grade levels depending on the difficulty of the piece,” he explained.

 

The performances that day reflected a wide range of musical styles and skill levels. “We have a range of jazz bands and concert bands, with easier level pieces for Grade 9s and 10s, and more complex repertoire for the more experienced performers,” Neeb told The Citizen. “There’s a lot of diversity in the genres… one band played a piece called ‘Witch and the Saint’, another played ‘Count Rockula’, and the jazz band played ‘Disco Funk’.” To meet Musicfest requirements, ensembles must demonstrate versatility. “They have to perform three different styles in order to fulfil the mandate of Musicfest, which is teaching diverse styles in music,” he said.

 

Bringing the event to Blyth marked a significant shift from previous years. “We’re extremely lucky that the Blyth Festival is able to provide the space for us to do this work,” Neeb pointed out. “Typically, we would go long distances - Toronto, Windsor, Orillia. For the longest time we were like, why don’t we just do it nearby?” 

 

Additional outside support for the activity has also been heartening. “We received a grant from the Huron County Supporting Local Youth Program,” he said. “There’s also been support from schools, students and parents… we’re really lucky that we have the Blyth Festival providing the space. I’m co-ordinating, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without a whole lot of people,” he added. “It’s a community, just like a band is a community… we wouldn’t be able to do it without that support.”

 

While each of the performances was being judged as part of the event, Neeb emphasized the broader educational value of school music programs like this. “It teaches them to be very explicit in how they read music and how they perform,” he pointed out. “It translates to being explicit in how they read and understand things in real life. It teaches a lot of self-discipline… these students are getting up early, showing up to band, practising their repertoire and investing in making something as a group.”
He noted that music education helps students develop essential life skills. “It takes perseverance and overcoming adversity - sometimes the instrument doesn’t do what you want it to do,” Neeb explained. “No matter how young or old you are, you can still produce something of artistic value - if you work at it.”

 

Neeb also argued that music programs deserve the same level of support as athletics. “It’s worth it because you’re getting skills that you wouldn’t get in any other areas,” he informed The Citizen. “It should be treated the same way as we would treat sports. It’s another avenue for students to explore their intellectual abilities, which is important, because not all students are into sports. Not all students play hockey, not all students like badminton or tennis. So having opportunities and diverse opportunities creates well-rounded students, but also well-rounded citizens as well. That’s important in our world - to have citizens who appreciate everything around them.”

 

The competitive aspect of the festival provides students with a clear goal and benchmark for improvement. “It gives them something to work towards,” Neeb explained. “It gives them an idea of what is required to get to the next level - it sets a standard for them… and builds an appreciation for what other people are doing in a band setting. We’re trying to get them to the next level and keep pushing their abilities further.”

 

Following the adjudication, several ensembles learned they had earned invitations to the national Musicfest Canada competition in Niagara Falls - Stratford District Secondary School’s B100 Band, SACSS Concert Band, CHSS Jazz Band and the CHSS Senior Band.