By James Dunn

Tubas For Cuba

Lindsay Thurber music students headed to Cuba next week

Feb 6, 2020 | 5:04 PM

Fifty Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School (LTCHS) Symphonic Band and Choir students are heading off to Cuba next week thanks to a successful “Tubas for Cuba” fundraising drive.

A dozen instruments and $800 was raised by the school and matched by Music Direct in Calgary. The money was used to purchase items such as instrument cleaning supplies and reeds for clarinets and saxophones that will be donated to local Cuban schools, as well as humanitarian items to a community centre the students will visit.

Jennifer Mann, Director of Instrumental Music at Lindsay Thurber, says this trip gives students a chance to visit a unique part of the world and give back.

“Anything we can take down there is appreciated,” she says. “Our tour agent (Canada Cuba Sports & Cultural Festivals) has been really helpful in terms of giving us suggestions for things to bring, and things that people down there appreciate.”

The trip will also be filled with opportunities for students to play in front of a true audience with authentic music.

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“We’ll be playing at our hotel; we’re considered the evening entertainment one night. Then we’re playing at two schools and a community centre. Students will also work with Cuban musicians on a piece of music they sent us to learn; the choir has a piece, and the band has a piece. One evening, they will bring in clinicians to work with the choir and the band on that piece of music.”

The trip also provides a learning experience for the kids; workshops in Afro-Cuban percussion and rhythm music and there may also be salsa-dance lessons.

Mann says a lot of hard work has been put in over the past two years to make this trip happen.

“We had some students go out and get a part-time job so they could afford to pay,” she noted. “We have a Music Parents Society that actively fundraises; they help to offset the costs for students. Some kids raised up to $500 and they were able just by fundraising.

The group flies out on Valentine’s Day and will spend a week in the Havana area before returning on February 22.