• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 04 / 28 / 2011

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Apr 27, 2011 03:13 pm | By Stephen Smith | Okotoks Western Wheel.Holy Trinity Academy students, from left, Cameron Ayles, Megan Gusdal, Dylan Jones and Glendon Hass are four of the Holy Trinity Academy band mates who departed for Cuba April 21.

A group of Holy Trinity Academy band students packed a lot more than just their instruments when they departed for a trip to Cuba last week.

Prior to the group leaving for their trip Cameron Ayles, a 17-year-old baritone saxophone player, said he and his fellow musicians will be taking a wide variety of items to the Caribbean island including goods to donate to a local music program, school supplies and goods for an orphanage.

“We’re taking 250 music stands we got from different fundraisers,” he said. “We’re taking a lot of drums, toiletries, medicine and school supplies too.”

The stands and drums will go to Cuban music students while the majority of the basic necessities will go to an orphanage. The items were collected from Okotoks businesses, religious organizations and health professionals.

The band members going on the trip will play seven concerts in Cuba including performances in schools, community centres and perhaps even an outdoor event. In some cases the young musicians will be a part of concert programs, which also include Cuban student bands.

There won’t be a lot of time for relaxing on the beach, which is fine with Grade 12 student Glendon Hass.

“That’s not really why we’re going,” he said. “We’re going so we can interact with the people, take in their culture and to bring back some valuable life experience with us. I am hoping to bring back a new appreciation of a different culture and a different lifestyle because we live so privileged here and it’s a lot different the way the money and government situations are down there.”

Hass described the trip as a combination cultural exchange experience and a mission trip. During their seven days in Cuba the Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) band students will be visiting the capital, Havana, as well as the city of Cienfuegos.

French horn and trombone player, Megan Gusdal, said she’s pleased to be able to make this voyage with her long-standing band mates.

“It’s really exciting because we’re like a family here,” the Grade 12 student explained. “We’ve known each other for a very long time. To be able to go with people who are such good friends and you know so well makes it a really special experience.”

Gusdal said she has known most of her band mates since they were in elementary school together.

She added the group of musicians going to Cuba would be altering their usual play list while performing there.

“We’ll be playing lots of Latin music because that’s what the people there listen to,” she said. “They don’t know much else. That’s their favourite and it’s really fun for us to play.”

Students from Grades 10 through 12 are going on the trip and one of the school’s chaperones will be Annette Resler. She was part of a similar HTA band trip in 2008 and said the big difference this time will be the students’ visit to a Cuban orphanage.

“We have a wish list from the orphanage of the supplies they are lacking,” she explained. “We’re taking some of those things down to them. We’re also hoping to have a bit of an adventure. We’re hiring a local guide to take us to a local hardware store to purchase some of the things the orphanage wouldn’t have money to buy, things like paint and fluorescent bulbs.

The HTA band departed for their Cuban week of discovery on April 21.

Source: www.westernwheel.com/article/20110427/WHE0801/304279991/-1/WHE/holy-trin...