In recent years, we’ve heard from many students in Collingwood’s senior grades that they are finding it difficult to fit music into their academic timetables. While academics will always be a focal point at our Senior School, it is important to remind ourselves of the role the arts play in Collingwood’s Four Strand education.

Music, for example, has a demonstrated ability to exercise developing brains in ways that provide a wealth of short and long-term benefits. Students who participate in bands or other ensembles often reflect on these experiences and find them extremely rewarding and valuable for social connection and a sense of belonging.

With this in mind, Collingwood’s Senior School is pleased to welcome an enthusiastic new band teacher.

“We are shaking things up,” says Steven Eckert. “Next year, we will be offering four bands that meet during the timetable.”

The intermediate band is for Gr. 8/9 students who want to be involved in an ensemble but aren’t as interested in developing skills or reading music, and don’t necessarily have the long-term goal of getting to senior concert band or senior jazz band. (That said, there are examples of students who do make this transition.) The advanced band for Gr. 8/9 is for more serious music students and requires an audition. This band focuses on more difficult music and more advanced topics in history and theory, with the intention of pursuing a senior concert or jazz band.

Essentially, this provides two streams that are not just skills-based but also mindset based, leading to a fork in Gr. 10 where students either lean toward classical music or jazz.

The Senior Concert Band focuses on major 20th and 21st-century compositions for the classical concert band medium. This includes music from composers such as John Williams, Percy Aldridge Grianger and Frank Ticheli. This band music is analogous to that typically played by orchestras. The Senior Jazz Band, it should be noted, does not exclusively play jazz. This band plays a diverse selection that includes everything from Stevie Wonder to Latin music to more recent popular compositions by artists such as Bruno Mars. The jazz band does pursue music education components, such as exploring music theory, but through an improvisational lens. 

At the same time, the majority of opportunities for students to get involved in music occur before and after school.

Many students are surprised to learn there are 10 ensembles that meet outside of the timetable. Junior Jazz Band, for example, meets before school and is the prerequisite for Senior Jazz Band. The Top 40 Junior and Senior groups also meet before school. These students play a variety of rock/pop contemporary music that you might hear on your streaming service, not just current Top 40. The Junior Top 40 group is especially suited to Gr. 8/9 students interested in music who might not have much musical background or who want to try playing a new instrument. The Senior Top 40 group is for Gr. 10–12 students with some experience in playing music.

Collingwood also has a burgeoning drum corps program. In recent years, our group has been placing increasingly well at competitions. The long-term goal of this group is to be the ad hoc Collingwood pep band and play at various events and school functions.

Then there is also the Collingwood Classical Music Club. Student-led strings and piano ensembles perform on weekends at retirement homes or for various fundraising events. Collingwood also has several student-led faculty-sponsored chamber ensembles, which pursue their collaborative musical experience under the umbrella of the community block.

“Lots of students want to get involved in music in some way,” says Dr. Eckert, “We will continue to develop a variety of opportunities and programs to make this possible.”

This article is featured in the Spring 2026 edition of Bridge.