MAKING MUSIC TOGETHER ACROSS THE MILES BY D E B B I E M A R C H I O N E
AT 7 : 0 0 P. M . I N S C O T L A N D A N D 1 2 : 0 0 P. M . I N WA S H I N G T O N , the band conductors’ batons go up. Forty young musicians watch expectantly. On the downbeat, students from The Bear Creek School begin playing, in unison, with their counterpoints in the Riverside Youth Band in Inverclyde, Scotland. Through technology, the students are able to play together despite being separated by thousands of miles and seven time zones. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions made playing a musical instrument in a group nearly impossible this year. Undaunted, Kelsey Thompson, Bear Creek’s band director, drew on a long-time friendship with musician friends in Scotland to forge long-distance relationships between their students and ours. Band is not offered in school in the UK, so the students practice on Friday evenings in a private program.
Mark and Laura Good traveled to Washington to play music at Brady and Kelsey Thompson’s wedding.
Kelsey met Laura Good, wife of band director Mark Good, many years earlier when she studied in Scotland. Together, Mark and Laura run the Riverside Youth Band. Kelsey and the Goods have maintained a close long-distance friendship, even performing the music for one another’s weddings. The opportunity to connect the two bands, while The Thompsons and Goods enjoy a Mariners game.
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MODUS VIVENDI – Summer 2021
arising out of adversity, blessed students on both
