Sign In
Register
On May 6, four schools from across Westlock and Barrhead came together to celebrate the power of music for national Music Monday. Each year, hundreds of thousands of participants ranging from young students and their caregivers to community members and music-makers. This year the Barrhead Concert Band, Neerlandia Concert Band, Thorhild Central School Rock/Pop Band and St. Mary School Mixed Band all gathered at St. Mary's school to bring their music to life.
Between each band, Truth North Jazz, made up of adults from around the community who flex their musical muscles with director Oscar Garcias at the helm. They guided the audience between each student performance, halting the quiet chatter for head-bopping jazz music. Each band played a few songs that ranged from classical to modern day hits. Even an original from the Thorchild Central School Rock/Pop Band.
This concerts falls in line with Music Monday, a celebration of "the power of music" and a way to "demonstrate how that power is rooted in school music classrooms" says the website coalitioncanada.ca but to also "advocate for equitable access to quality music education for all Canadian students." so says the official website. This event is organized by the Coalition for Music Education in Canada to celebrate the importance of music in our lives and in our schools. This began in 2005 and has occurred every year since not just making its impact on Canada but across the world too.
This year's Music Monday anthem is "Hold On" by the Canadian hard rock group Triumph. This year the band created a new arrangement to be showcased on the Monday.
During the performance, Shannon Kolotyluk, the director of St. Mary School Mixed Band talked briefly about how some of the lyrics resonate with what we need most today which coincides with exactly what guitarist and vocalist, Rik Emmett says that this song is "… what glued us to the audience out there climbing up on their seats: about our own career ambitions, and the motivation we had to tour. We were going to be a band about positivity, motivation and inspiration: long before self-help was even a thing.”
The four school bands ended the night off with a mass performance of the songs "All My Lovin'" and "I'll Be There" before the True North Jazz band joined them for "Hold On".
More SPOTLIGHT >
Results > Archives >
© 2025 TownAndCountryToday.com