Mr. Mikulin can often be found in his small office located in the bandroom, frantically planning for the next concert, or ordering new music for the band to try. You may know him as the SLSS band teacher, where he's the head of several SLSS music department programs such as Concert Band, Choir, Guitar, Jazz Band, and Recording Arts, but he’s much more than just that.
Mr. Mikulin is a friendly face in the hallways at SLSS, a fantastic leader, and a skilled musician. I got the chance to sit down with him and ask him about his passions and recent achievements as a teacher at SLSS.
His Impact Mr. Mik continues to be a trusting and inspirational teacher in the Steveston-London community. His constant acceptive attitude to welcome any student into the music department never fails to include students and allow them to find their own musical passions. Mr.Mikulin continues to be able to conduct any genre of music from pop, to samba, even to rock. When it comes to band, there has to be personal as well as communal growth, as Mr. Mikulin has reflected: “When they come in on the first day, maybe they don't play very well, even if they play well individually, they may not play well together as a group. Hearing the group come together and find its groove, find what kind of music they like playing the most, what they sound good doing ; all of that, I enjoy”
Recently, Mr Mikulin and the SLSS Music Department held two fundraisers for B.C. Children’s Hospital. The fundraising was done during December concerts, at Aberdeen and Lansdowne Mall, combining authentic musical performances and raising money for a good cause. The first fundraiser was to fund mental health programs and research, specifically for youth at B.C. Childrens, while the second was for clinical trials and treatment research. In total, around $900 was raised between the two fundraisers! The fundraiser was so successful that the Richmond News covered it in great detail; https://www.richmond-news.com/local-arts/free-richmond-concert-by-students-to-fundraise-for-bc-childrens-hospital-7840935 His Passions “It's always fun to hear the kids [play] your music, it's the next best thing to being famous” -Mr. Mikulin
Not only is Mr. Mikulin an excellent music teacher, he also composes his own music and is even in the SLSS teacher-led band, The Mud Sharks. Last year, he composed an original piece for the choir to sing in the Graduation Commencement Ceremony at the UBC Chan Centre: “I really enjoyed last year’s grad song, I enjoyed it a lot, I enjoyed writing it, I enjoyed hearing them do it.” Mr. Mikulin also voiced his enjoyment of allowing students to find their voice (literally) through singing solos in choir: “An added bonus in choir, for sure, is hearing people sing solos. The ones who normally wouldn’t [take solos], like never in a million years, and then you see them singing at a concert, their peers will go ‘I didn't know this person could sing!’” “It’s kind of fun, you know, when you hear people getting up and expressing themselves that would normally be too shy to do it, but for some reason they just go 'what the heck!’ and do it anyway” Mr.Mik is also very proud of his arrangement for the string quartet that was performed at this year’s SLSS Remembrance Day ceremony: “It was really exciting for Remembrance Day to hear the string quartet do my piece, because, you know, I thought it sounded very authentic, like people won’t even know it's a Mr. Mikulin song, it's that good!” “[The string quartet] played it really well and I had never heard it played before, by real instruments, until they did it because I composed it in the summer, and I literally wrote it out in notes on a computer. The only way I had of hearing it back was hearing the computer version of the song, so it was really exciting to write something in your mind, and then actually hear instruments play it, as well as they did. That was really great, you know.” He’s constantly proud of his music students and their abilities to work hard, practice, and perform his songs while also showcasing their talents.