Meghalaya: St. Mary’s HS becomes 1st school in Shillong to have own brass band
By Our Special Correspondent | SHILLONG, April 21, 2019:
A prominent school in Shillong city, St Mary's Higher Secondary School has managed to form the first ever all girl members' brass band or marching band.
The formation of this brass band was the brain child of the school principal, Sister Sonia Chacko. Informing about this initiative to form the brass band, the principal told that as soon as the school re-opened in February this year, she decided to bring students from Class VII and Class VIII for starting of the brass band.
"Every year we need to hire brass band from outside for playing at the parade during the school annual sports event. I thought why not create our own brass band to play at the annual event of this school," she said.
The principal said that she had personally witnessed that in other States, schools would always have their own brass band adding that after witnessing such brass bands being formed by schools in other states, a thought cropped up in her mind — why not start a similar brass band in the school? she asked"
"I am optimistic that this initiative taken by the school would inspire other schools in the State to form their own brass band,"Sister Chacko said. She said that a total number of 30 girls came forward to support the concept of forming the school brass band.
The brass band was formed after taking into account the individual music talent of each of the members. Even though till date, the school is yet to give a name to this brass band.
"We are preparing to give a name to the brass band of the school," the principal said. The formation of the brass band is incomplete without having musical instruments. The school authorities had faced difficulties to arrange for the musical instruments like the Ephonium, Trumpet, Clarinet, Saxophone, Bigul, Base Drum, Side Drum and Cymbal.
The principal informed that they had to spend around Rs 2 lakh to get the musical instrument from outside the State besides arranging for the dresses of the members of the brass band.
"Despite initial hiccups, the idea finally started to take shape after the brass band of the BSF started to train our girls. Within two weeks of training, the 30 determined girls were able to play on their own," Sister Chacko said.
She also informed that this brass band group recently showcased their talent during annual school Sports and the inter-school event which was held at Don Bosco Mini stadium in Shillong recently.
The huge crowd who attended the annual sports was amazed by the performance of the young girls.
During an interaction, two of the members of the group- Sharon R Tariang and Martibianghun Nongbet told this scribe that they were very happy that the school authorities have given them an opportunity to be part of the brass band.
"There are many girls who have been trained in playing the guitar, piano and other musical instruments. But we were all determined to be part and parcel of the brass band of the school. We are really excited when the crowd turned their eyes to witness our performance. It was a memorable experience for all the girls," the two girls added.
It may be mentioned that the girls manage to spare their time for practice despite having to attend their regular classes everyday. "We normally practice during the school holidays and also after classes," Martibianghun said.
