Musicians from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute will take part in a national celebration of music this spring.
The GCVI Drumline has been asked to play in the 2016 Music Monday Showcase Concert on May 2 at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto.
Music Monday is an event that launched in 2005 by the Coalition for Music Education. It’s dubbed the “world’s largest single event dedicated to raising awareness for music education.”
Each year, hundreds of thousands of students, educators and musicians participate in a simultaneous nationwide concert, performing an original song written by a Canadian artist.
The Showcase in Toronto is a one-hour concert, hosted by Céline Peterson – writer, speaker and daughter of renowned jazz musician Oscar Peterson – and featuring special musical guests, including GCVI students.
The GCVI Drumline formed in September after GCVI teacher and music director Daniel Austin approached the school’s physical education teachers, trying to think of a way to combine music with athletics and school spirit.
They came up with the idea of having a marching band and drumline that could play at sporting events, pep rallies and parades. Within just a few weeks of launching, they were overwhelmed with performance requests and played at a number of GCVI football games, the Santa Claus parade and four University of Guelph football games.
The group also entered CBC’s Canada’s Greatest Music Class competition, where their submission video was viewed more than 4,000 times in just five days and made CBC’s top 20 list.
“One of the coolest parts of this project is that it is very student driven,” said Austin, adding that for the CBC competition, students in the group took charge by selecting and completely arranging the song themselves.
“They designed everything themselves,” he said.
On Music Monday, the group plans to play the Serena Ryder song from the CBC competition, as well as a few more Canadian pop tunes.
“It is an honour to be asked to take part in this amazing event,” Austin said.
