POMA Announcement from Parliament

It is with great pride and excitement that we share with you an announcement from Quebec’s National Assembly for Maryse Tremblay as one of the 2016 Principal of Music Awards (POMA) recipients. The announcement was made by David Birnbaum, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sport. You can watch the video on Mr. Birnbaum’s Facebook page by clicking here. It’s an honour for the Coalition’s POMA program to be recognized in Parliament for supporting the work of passionate Principals!

POMA Interview - Lawrie McKeith

We are bringing you wisdom and highlights from our 2016 Principal of Music Awards winners! Principal Lawrie McKeith of Robert W Zahara Public School in Sexsmith, AB was the winner in the Western region. Principal McKeith discusses the important role parents play in their child’s music education and how the value of music far exceeds musical skills, “We model for our students that those pursuits are ones that add value and richness to our lives. If you learn to play an instrument or sing in a choir when you’re young, you are more likely to continue when you are older. It becomes a community activity for you and the friendships and community are valuable”. Read more.

Young Musicians discuss Mental Health

The level of awareness regarding mental health continues to rise in today’s society. Less discussed is how mental health issues affect musicians, and in particular young musicians. A discussion panel including students from McGill University and community musicians in Montreal discussed the pressures young musicians face; studying for a career in music performance can take it’s toll on their mental health. Click here to read more.

Music Tool Suite

In early January, the Coalition Board of Directors passed a motion to become a research partner in an exciting and innovative project entitled Transforming Music Education Using Digital Tools.  Led by researchers Dr. Rena Upitis (Queen’s University) and Dr. Phil Abrami (Concordia University), the project is intended to provide a deeper understanding of the impact on policy regarding access to electronic teaching tools in music education.  Supporting the research is a collection of digital tools created to support music learning in studio music instruction, in music classrooms and in community music-making. The collection is called Music Tool Suite [https://www.musictoolsuite.ca/] and consists of four tools that were developed through a partnership between Queen’s University, Concordia University, and The Royal Conservatory.:  Cadenza, Notemaker, Dream, iScore.

Funding for the project was secured from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, under the Partnership Grants program, to conduct research on the effectiveness of the digital tools that are ‘The Suite’, and to share those findings with the academic community, musicians and teachers, government, donors, and the general public.   Through our partnership, we will be actively involved in this research as well as the governance of the project.  In addition, the Coalition will be directly involved in further development of the tools.   Watch our web site for a link to Music Tool Suite and we invite you to try it out with your students free of charge.  We will provide a mechanism for feedback on your experiences with the suite, and this will help inform further development of the tools.   

Creative Safe Spaces - Kelsey Hargreaves

Kelsey Hargreaves wears a lot of hats. A Youth4Music Ambassador living in Winnipeg, MB, she is also an engineer working for Winnipeg House, a non-for-profit housing project and deeply passionate about music. Although her daytime is spent ensuring houses are safely designed for those in need, she spends much of her free time practicing her trombone and rehearsing for the symphonic band of which she’s a member. Kelsey believes that everyone should have access to music and music education, and that access should be without borders or prevent certain demographics from engaging safely. She recently attended a panel discussion titled Creating Safer Spaces in the Music Community. This discussion centred around the challenges of opening up about this topic and addressed the need to welcome many ethnicities, races, and other demographics. Read more.

Music Monday Celebration Planning

There’s nothing like celebrating the power of music with others. If you haven’t already, consider hosting a celebration in your school or community centre to celebrate Music Monday in your part of the country.

There is a great opportunity here for youth involvement. Here are some suggestions for how youth can become involved in this year’s Music Monday at your school or in your community:

• Engage older grades to mentor younger students when learning the Music Monday Anthem
• Start a youth-led planning committee for your school’s Music Monday celebration. Host regular meetings or have students create a written timeline and plan for the celebration on May 1st which could include the singing of the Anthem, sharing of music by all grade levels, or talking about the importance of music in your community.
• Involve students who are passionate about digital media to engage as a Youth Reporter, develop a video for #MMC2C2C, or help to prepare the streaming of the live webcast on Music Monday
• Create a map of Canada identifying our cultural musical heritage from coast to coast to coast including different instruments, historical figures, and present musicians

Have other ideas? Send them to us and we’ll share your ideas. Make sure to sign up your celebration by clicking here and visit www.musicmonday.ca for more resources and tools.

Support for Ontario events!

Thanks to funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we offer a small amount of funding for Special Events in Ontario, especially if they involve bringing together multiple schools, communities or organizations. For more information contact info@musicmakesus.ca

Music Monday: What’s new!

We have just released more translations and arrangements of the  2017 Music Monday Anthem, Sing It Together by Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas.

• New arrangements:
• Choral SATB
• Recorder ensemble
• Guitar (Intermediate)
• Drumline
• Translations
• French **Update and leadsheet available!
• Gaelic
• Coming soon
• Inuktitut
• Italian

Click here for more information on these resources to learn the Music Monday anthem in your school or community and Sing It Together with the nation on Monday, May 1st.

Thank you • Merci • Miigwech • kinana'skomitina'wa'w

We are able to do all of this awesome work because of the support from many groups. For a full listing of this support go to Coalition, Youth4Music and Music Monday.