Students at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School are exploring the rhythms and sounds of Africa, thanks to a MusiCounts Legacy Grant that allowed the school to purchase new instruments.
CVR was named as one of six schools across the country to receive a MusiCounts Legacy Grant in honour of the six inductees to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame earlier this year in May.
MusiCounts is Canada’s leading music education charity in association with CARAS/The Juno Awards. The Legacy Grants, presented by the Lewitt Family Foundation, were inaugurated this year to empower schools to purchase new instruments and equipment for their music programs.
CVR’s grant was presented in honour of Quebec icon Ginette Reno.
Music specialist Lynn Harper said she left the new instruments, which included a wide array of African drums, guitars, a banjo, mandolin, bass guitar, acoustic guitars with pickup, and keyboards in the boxes for the students to open at the start of the school year. “It was like little kids at Christmas,” she said, with a laugh.
“The main project for me was African instruments, small percussion, African drums, and world music. I was really specific about what I wanted in terms of drums,” Harper explained, noting the other instruments rounded out the school’s collection.
The best part is that every student in every music class can experience playing an instrument and learning about the music of different cultures.
Grade 11 student Kacey Patenaude remembers not having enough drums last year. “People had to do the drumbeats on their laps or just listen along,” she explained. “Some of the drums were really old and wouldn’t sound as good. Some of them had rips or tears or would just be really battered up. So now, with the new ones, it’s a lot easier, and we all sound more cohesive,” she added.
Not every student comes into CVR having experienced music classes in elementary school. Many are very happy and grateful for the opportunity to have these instruments and to be able to play them.
“Music was definitely my favourite class last year because I love music, but also because you get to make songs, make up our own beats, and it was just a lot of fun,” said Grade 8 student Alice Orsini, who can often be found strumming a guitar in the music room at recess.
Grade 7 student Mallory Quesnel added that she really appreciated a recent class experience where music and dance students held a joint drum session. “We went into the auditorium, and we played all together, and it was really fun to learn in a big group with all the drums.”
The new instruments will help the school to create a legacy of culturally diverse music education. “There are more students who will be coming to the school in the next coming years, and now with this grant they will have more opportunities to actually be able to play music,” said Grade 11 student Vigyanshi Tiwari.
Rhythms and beats from these new instruments will no doubt be a part of some special upcoming performances on the CVR stage, including the Winter Gala and the main stage performance of Moana in late April and early May.
**This article was written by a Grade 7 student at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School as part of a partnership between The Gleaner and the New Frontiers School Board with support from the government of Canada.