Second Chances Band P.E.I. offers adults an opportunity to relive their band-playing youth or to experience an instrument for the first time

The third time may be a charm, but for some musically inclined minds who missed their first band playing opportunity as a teen or want to revisit that earnest era, there’s the Second Chances Band P.E.I.

“It’s a second chance for those who have played before but have given it up and now want to take it up again. And it’s a second chance for those who always wanted to but (didn’t),” says Allie McCrady, who is a co-conductor and band leader for this community band program, along with fellow retired music instructor Rowan Fitzgerald.

The idea for Second Chances Band began six years ago with John MacDonald, an amateur musician, who had rediscovered the joy of playing in a community band with the Holland College Welshman Band that plays at a more experienced level.

He noticed there was a need for a band program that focused on adult beginners and people who were playing at a junior high or early high school level. The framework and structure of Second Chances was conceived by McCrady, who was giving MacDonald lessons at the time. Fitzgerald came on board as a co-founder of the band.