Background on some of our members...
Louise McKenna
Louise McKenna, clarinet player, started to play the same night Second Wind Band was born. I have kept my day job though, as an instructor at the Canadian Coast Guard College. I am a charter member.
Rod Bird
I guess I can claim to have been the longest-serving pediatrician on Cape Breton Island, in history. I have been with Second Wind Community Band as long as anybody in history. Tenacity would appear to be a
personal strength! At this point Rod said that I (Laura) knew the rest. So now I will add my two cents worth. This was Rod's first experience at learning an instrument and the Alto Saxophone was his choice. I consider this man a very gifted Doctor and I know how hard he's worked to make his instrument a musical experience. I am sure he didn't realize that this music experience could be as intense as becoming a great Physician. And he's accomplished enjoying playing his Sax and making music with
Second Wind Community Band. He would come from the four corners of the island when he was the traveling Pediatrician, that week, so that he would not miss a band rehearsal. That is why his experience in music is a success.
(Back to Rod's words) You know that learning to read music and to play an instrument has given me the tools to appreciate music and musicians in a way that would never otherwise have been possible. I've also had the privilege to meet and make friends with people who otherwise I never would have met. I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart. Also, I look forward to doing this to the end of my days.
Gary Mercer
Gary plays the Baritone Sax with Second Wind and is one of the charter members of the organization. He spent his career as a manager of Home Comfort Centers and the Family Business. He started playing an instrument at the tender age of 42. Soon after mastering playing his instrument he was asked to play with the Cape Breton Orchestra where he played for 5 years as well as playing with Second Wind Community Band.
Jane Day Smith
I have been playing the clarinet since I was 12. I played all through junior high and high school then it sat in my closet for 9 years. When I heard about Second Wind I decided to give it a try, I have been with the band for 9 years and took on being the Librarian 3 years ago. I have been working at the Cambridge Suites Hotel for nearly 16 years in the Housekeeping department as a Suite Attendant and Housekeeping Supervisor.
Jenny Addicott
Jenny Addicott served with the Canadian Armed Forces, Regular and Reserve for 28 years and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. Her appointments included Commanding Officer, 35 (Sydney) Service Battalion, and Sydney Garrison Commander. At present she serves as a Governor on the Board of Governors for the Commissionaires, Nova Scotia.
She is the owner of Bookbrokers Used Textbook store. This is her second year playing the flute with 2nd Wind Community Band.
Kathleen Schaller
Kathleen Schaller, a former student of Laura Mercer's, is an Oboe player with the Second Wind Community Band. She started playing music at the age of 6 and has played many instruments over the years, including clarinet and saxophone. Kathleen works as an Environmental Technologist and Project Manager at an international engineering firm with a local office in Sydney. She is a volunteer with Girl Guides of Canada and an Irish dancing teacher. Her hobbies include cycling, hiking, camping and reading.
Students from Cape Breton University and Marconi Campus
Students are invited from our Cape Breton University and Marconi Campus to come to Second Wind Band to continue with their concert band experience. It doesn't have to stop at High School. We feel that our University Student population is growing year after year because of the musical development of Second Wind and the fact that students can be mentored by some of the many successful professionals in the band. It's an inexpensive way to be creative and and it is a way that students can give to the community they live in.
Students from the Canadian Coast Guard College
Each year in the past 5-7 years we have had many students attend Second Wind throughout their stay in Cape Breton. In 2009-2010, Second Wind boasts to have five of the students playing with them. We encourage the cadets to bring their instruments when they come to the college for their education and instantly they can become apart of a very supportive and caring network... and a very musical one at that.
Wayne MacKay
Wayne McKay has been playing the trombone since grade 4. He was a member of the Glace Bay School Band Program. He played for the Glace Bay Summer Jazz Band for a number of years. He took a break from trombone playing for many years and took up guitar and drums. He returned to trombone playing two years ago when he started with Second Wind. He wonders now why he ever left his "first love!" When not playing the trombone, Wayne is a teacher and youth worker. Most recently, he taught physical education, music and drama at Membertou Elementary School. He is also heavily involved in drama as a writer, director and actor. He recently directed "Kluskap Tales" at Cape Breton University. He is also one of the founders of the Cape Breton Stage Company, a group which produces local plays in downtown Sydney.
Kim Bungay
Kim is a substitute teacher here in Cape Breton who frequently substitutes in music and band classes as well as other subjects. Much of her time is spent with her husband and three year old daughter, but she always make a point of getting out on Thursday nights for Band rehearsal.
She studied piano as a child, cello in Junior High and played clarinet in the high school band program in Ontario. After high school there was nowhere to play the instrument (it's just not as much fun by yourself) and she put the clarinet in a closet for ten years. She always missed playing and so when she heard about Second Wind while sitting in the dentist chair getting her teeth cleaned, she immediately dusted off her clarinet. She has been with the band since their third year and have enjoyed every minute of it.
Elke Ibraham
Elke is originally from Hamburg, Germany, but living in Canada for many years. She is the curator of the Glace Bay Heritage Museum. Elkie has played B-flat clarinet for about 15 years with the Glace Bay Community Band and Second Wind and now is playing bass clarinet the last two years in the Second Wind Community Band.
Oonagh McMullin
Having played clarinet since I was 8 yrs of age as part of the Mullingar Town Band (Ireland), and taking a brief break between 18 and 30 years old, I was delighted to find the Second Wind Community Band after imigrating to Canada with my husband Frank, a native of Glace Bay whom I met teaching in London, England. I am looking forward to teaching science here in Canada in the near future.
Elizabeth Buffett
Career: University professor (Pediatric Nursing)
Musical 'career': play French horn, started about 20 years ago with the beginner adult community band in Glace Bay
Hobbies: volunteering with Girl Guides of Canada; anything to do with dogs... own three wheaten terriers and volunteer with Therapeutic Dogs of Canada; show in conformation dog shows; volunteer teaching children Junior Conformation Dog handling; golf, hiking, travel
Debbie Rudderham
"As the Chief Information Officer at Cape Breton University, my career is far more technical than musical. I joined Second Wind with some family members, and play the role of cheerleader and percussion 'wannabe'. I love the music we make, and enjoy being part of the group. It's a refreshing change from the day to day, and adds some rhythm to my life."
Eric McDonald
Eric, along with his Pharmacy Colleages, Lise Marios, Andrew Beresford and Hugh Toner have been playing with Second Wind Community Band and all have been solid members and strong players which add to the strength of Second Wind.
Gwen Boyce
Gwen is the sectional leader for the low brass section for the Second Wind Community Ban. Gwen is an elementary school classroom music teacher with 35 years teaching experience. A graduate of music from St. F.X. University in Antigonish, she also has several years of agricultural engineering school training. Contented cows do give the best milk, you know.
She has played trombone since high school and was fortunate to be able to count both Ron MacKay and Jim Hargreaves as band instructors while a student. She also played third trombone with the Truro Concert Band during the late 60's and early 70's, returning even now to parade with them during the summer holiday season. Being a church organist and choir director and full time "Mom's Taxi" round out some of her other duties.
After a musical playing hiatus of over thirty years, she has taken up playing her trombone again and is currently in her third year with Second Wind, and loving it all over again.
Patricia Day
Our Treasurer, Patricia M Day, pleaded to be allowed to join Second Wind Community Band when her daughter, Jane Day Smith joined. She wanted to become actively involved in creating instrumental music after years of providing her children with opportunities to develop their musical talents both vocally and instrumentally. Leaning heavily upon her elementary school percussion band and secondary school choir experience in England this former chorister promised to be dedicated and has been a member of the Second Wind Community Band ever since.
Blair MacNeil
Is one of our Oboists in the Band and is a Chartered Accountant with Grant Thorton Associates. She was a former band student who grew up in the New Glasgow area and moved to Sydney and found Second Wind Community Band.
Written by CBC Radio Host Wendy Bergfeldt.
"Concert "F"! Everyone! "F".
Conductor Laura Mercer holds her baton, high above her head. The flat notes slide up, the sharp notes slip down. Second Wind is in tune and ready for another practice. Methodically, she leads the musicians though a series timing and tuning exercises. Then, she spends the next two hours working through arrangements that will be presented at concerts and recitals throughout the season.
Every Thursday for the last twelve years this committed group of about forty-five to fifty players gets together to learn more about music and bandsmanship. Some have played since elementary school. Some took up instruments later as adults. Laura Mercer, a longtime professional band instructor coaches each player toward a personal best with his or her chosen instrument.
Elizabeth Buffet is one of those people. She's a retired Assistant Professor of Pediatric Nursing at Cape Breton University. Like many women, she juggled family and career responsibilities for years. She had to wait until her kids were bigger before she could pursue her musical destiny. Even then, the children had an influence on the choice of instrument.
"I wanted to play guitar but that was not possible and I found out I had to have my own instrument SO I had to choose between the instruments my 2 kids played.... tuba or French Horn. I ruled out the tuba as I decided I had had too many years of dragging that around for my daughter and that I would soon
be too old to carry it anyway!"
Carol Anne Critchley is the President of Medical Staff of the Cape Breton District Health Authority. She is one of the many Cape Breton health care professionals who make Second Wind their musical home. For her, this as a lifelong fulfillment of a dream.
"I think I joined band because I knew how to read music from my piano lessons as a child and felt badly because I wasn't using this knowledge (strangely, I have never had the same compulsion about calculus). Also my grandfather, father and brothers all belonged to a band when I was growing up and while I
never had any desire to join them then (girls didn’t play in the band then), maybe that had something to do with it. So thanks to Laura, I learned to play the flute poorly. The poorly part is no reflection on Laura!!" (Laura is editing here... Carol plays wonderful as a matter of fact.)
For most people in the band, rehearsal night is the highlight of their week. For a couple of hours on Thursday night, everything else in their lives has to make way for music. For many, that intense focus on learning new arrangements and perfecting their performance gives them a break from the other pressures in their lives. Conductor Laura Mercer says, "If you really zone in on the music. Really focus on what you are doing, you are really giving your brain a rest. If you start to slip and think about other things, you will make mistakes."
She says most of her bandsmen tell her "Thursday is their favorite night of the week." There are lots of jokes. Humour is a big part of each rehearsal. The people in the band genuinely enjoy each other's company. No one has any illusions about playing for the Berlin Philharmonic or Boston Pops. If they do, they aren't saying. They are true amateurs. They are here for the love of it. As Dr. Sian Iles, an oboe player and former member of Second Wind from the department of Radiology says.
"I played in Second Wind because of the people in the band. People of all ages and all walks of life. They come because they want to. Often they are rediscovering a part of themselves that had been put away for a very long time. For those few hours, life is simpler and more focused and we are part of a kind and encouraging group of people united in the love of making music."
As this rehearsal wraps up. Laura Mercer makes the observation that the band really sounded great tonight. She has plans for a L'Arche fundraiser in the spring. She would like to attempt a festival in the fall. She thinks Second Wind is ready to go to the next level. "This band is on the cusp of moving into the concert music scene," she says... "we are getting to the point where we are creating excellence in our way."
Second Wind rehearses every Thursday night at Malcolm Munroe Junior High School at 7:00 pm. All new members are welcome to attend.
