It has been 40 years since Ronda Owerko graduated from Sturgeon Composite and played in a high-school band.
But it was like she had never left when she came back to the school’s music room June 8. She was moving and grooving to the beat as she shook the shakers, playing alongside her daughter Danya and dozens of other current and former Sturgeon Comp students.
“It’s hard to believe 40 years have gone by so quickly,” Ronda said.
Sturgeon Composite hosted a special alumni concert June 14 during its Fine Arts Awards night. Playing in it were the school’s 18 current band students and 34 former ones, including Ronda and her daughter Danya (who graduated from the school last year).
Sturgeon Composite music director Kyle Swenson said he got the idea to hold this concert back in February from a post on Facebook. While he initially intended it to be for 2020-2021 students who didn’t get a chance to play in a live concert due to the pandemic, many of the students he contacted asked if they could invite grads from other years.
Swenson said he put out an open call online for former Sturgeon Comp band students on May 19.
“In about four days, I already had about 20 registered alumni from across the generations.”
Speaking June 9, Swenson said the June 14 concert would feature students from 1983 to 2023 in addition to Darwin Krips, the teacher who ran Sturgeon Comp’s music program for 18 years prior to Swenson’s tenure.
While some of the alumni played in community bands, many no longer played music regularly, Swenson said. He picked a relatively simple Swahili folk hymn for the group to play and set up a video tutorial to prepare the players.
Music across generations
Danya said band class was challenging during the 2020-2021 period. In-person concerts were impossible due to pandemic health restrictions. Choir students could hum, but not sing, and band players had to switch rooms every 30 minutes to ensure proper air filtration.
“Even last year, we had to wear masks (bell covers) on our instruments,” Danya said.
Danya said she, Swenson, and her fellow bandmates have kept in touch since graduation, adding that Swenson often invited them out to school events.
“We’re like a family still. We always joke that Swenson is like the dad.”
The Gazette observed how the alumni band managed to get in tune and in sync after 20 minutes of practice despite having never previously played together.
Danya said it was amazing to see how skilled the alumni players still were after all these years.
“We didn’t go over the music, we just played,” she said.
“It shows you how people never forget music.”
Redwater School principal and Class of ’93 member Christy Filgate said she had no problem getting back into the swing of things at last week’s practice, despite not having seriously played the trumpet since 2002.
“It was like riding a bike. I was able to pick it up and play right away.”
Filgate said she was thrilled to have the chance to perform alongside her son and current Sturgeon Comp trumpeter Brenden Klassen, and took a celebratory selfie with him after the practice.
“It was so amazing being back with a band,” she said, adding that she planned to join one following the concert.
Swenson said it was heartwarming to hear the enthusiastic chatter between the different generations at the practice, noting how one alumni told him that they hadn’t played in a band for ages.
“At the end of it, they were just smiling from ear to ear.”
Swenson said he hoped to make this alumni concert an annual event.
