The Trafalgar Band is for students in Grades 5 - 7. This year, there will be a Beginning Band and a Senior Band. Playing an instrument with friends makes it a fun, team approach to creating great music.The Beginning Band will rehearse before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We will do out best to avoid conflict with other school events, or perhaps have kids alternate a bit when there is a time conflict. The benefits to a child's brain development, confidence, stress reduction, and the social inclusion of band are a huge asset to our educational community.

The Trafalgar Band is run by a Parent's Group. Each student will have an instrument assessment with the band teachers to try all of the available instruments and determine which instrument would be the best fit for the student. We scheduled our main session in June, but hope to meet any new students who missed that meeting during the second week of September. Band will likely begin on Tuesday, Sept. 18th for the Junior Band. The Parent's Group is committed to allowing any students to join the band and has some scholarships available for families who request a reduced fee. Last year the fee for the entire year (66 classes plus concerts) was $350 (just over $5 per class). Band runs from September until June.

The band will be taught by a Trafalgar parent, Michelle Anderson, and her colleague Ellen Marple, both professional musicians and teachers. Michelle has more than 20 years of experience in teaching school band students. Ellen is an active professional teacher who works with many groups of students and loves to share her passion for music. She is a professional trombonist and is also running the wind band program at the Vancouver Academy of Music.