Swampscott High Musicians Montreal Bound

Twenty-eight Swampscott High musicians will travel to Montreal this weekend for intensive training at a McGill University music clinic.

Adventure beckons in the annual music trip.

Students and their chaperones will roam Old Montreal and file through Notre Dame Cathedral.

They will poke around the Olympic Village, the Biodome Museum and the Montreal Science Center.

They will take seats at the Sugar Shack, a maple sugar and music venue, as well as stop at Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream parlor in Vermont.

“Oh, they are all excited,” said , the school’s band director.

The bus trip shoves off Friday at 7 a.m. The group returns Sunday at 5 p.m.

Student , a senior clarinetist, has traveled on earlier school music trips including one to New York City.

The trips are rich in ideas, he said.

Students get a different take on their playing. Professional musicians critique their phrasing, their technique, their approach.

The instructors listen to individuals, to sections of players and the whole band, and suggest ways to improve the playing.

“Absolutely, it helps,” Travascio said.

On an earlier trip an instructor urged him to center his sound, play the notes in the exact middle.

Swampscott’s band director always comes away with ideas.

Musical ideas he has pocketed in the past include warming up by playing extremely softly and, during rehearsal, playing notes shorter than the time noted on the printed page.

Music teachers rehearse differently. A new perspective can enrich instruction, he said.

The trip was approved by the school administration.

The coat was $476 per student, paid for by the students and fundraising.