The steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery will be alive with the sound of music come Monday morning.
The Coalition for Music Education in Canada is holding its annual Music Monday event May 3rd to celebrate the role music and music education programs play in the lives of children.
Approximately 500 elementary and secondary school music students, along with a handful of professional musicians, will be filling the promenade of the VAG and putting on a two hour concert.
"I had this idea about creating an annual event that could rally the country around the importance of music in our school," coalition executive director and event creator Ingrid Whyte told ctvbc.ca.
Music Monday, which first launched in 2005, is an event where students from schools across Canada sing the same song at the same time on the first Monday of May.
"The event struck a chord and it has grown hugely each year," Whyte said.
Vancouver has been chosen as the host city this year, where students will gather publicly for the event rather than celebrate it separately in their own schools.
Whyte said Vancouver was an easy choice because the city had just hosted the Olympic Games and because of its battle with education cuts.
"We want policy makers to hear us," Whyte said. "We want them to ensure that the lives of children in all schools across the country will be enriched by quality music programs in their schools."
Strings program safe -- for now
The Vancouver School Board recently decided to scrap its original plan to make a $589,000 cut to the band-strings program in order to address a budget shortfall of over $16-million.
In an email to ctvbc.ca, VSB trustee Jane Bouey said the board was advised to keep the program and look elsewhere for shortfall compensation because it would be difficult to reintroduce the program once it's been removed.
"But this in no way means that the program is safe. If we are not in a better financial situation in June, the program may still be eliminated at that time," Bouey said.
Music stores brace for impact of cuts
Education service manager Michael Cronin at Long and McQuade Musical Instruments, a Music Monday sponsor, told ctvbc.ca that school music programs are a large part of the Vancouver music store business.
"There will be a trickle-down effect," Cronin said. "It'll affect our rentals."
About 50 per cent of Long and McQuade's profit revenue is made up of band rentals to school programs.
More than 10,000 units were rented out in the 2009-10 school year in B.C. from Long and McQuade alone.
"We could always look elsewhere because we're a bigger store, but imagine all the smaller shops that will be affected," Cronin said.
Bouey said she hopes Monday's event will send the message of the importance of music education in schools and in the city in general.
"We will be working hard to make the provincial government understand the reality in our schools, and increase funding so that we do not have to make this cut," Bouey said.
A full day of music
Music students will kick off the Music Monday concert at 10 am with the events official song 'Sing Sing' by Canadian singer songwriter Serena Ryder.
There will be musical performances by bands and choirs, and the coalition will introduce the songwriter who will write next years Music Monday song.
The music celebration will continue with an evening concert, including acts like Luke Doucet, at the Yale hotel at 6:30 pm.
Tickets are $25 and available online at www.ticketmaster.ca, in-store at any Lower Mainland Long & McQuade location, and at the door. Proceeds will go towards promoting music education in Canada.
