My colleague coined it “Katherine Karaoke” – Student singers, solo or in duets, performed favourite songs for their class and were then chosen from a hat to perform outside at our school Fun Fair. Such a lovely, casual, successful performance opportunity and fun entertainment!

In a group or on your own, I dare you to compose a piece of music using 5 shoes, 4 drumsticks, 3 voices, 2 ukuleles, and 1 iPad…

I love rotating students through music centres so that I can explore new instruments with a small circle of musicians. I’m a violinist and my older students all learn to play with me but I always get a little violin in each younger students hands-I love watching their faces light up when they hear their first violin sound under their left ear. The banjo? Like the majority of our instruments this banjo was donated to our program and the kids, the internet, a guest, and I will figure it out!

At JLPS reading and writing Western European notation is one music unit…of many. This year my littles composed original masterpieces and my bigs mastered music stands and even reading ukuleles music while playing behind their heads.

I hung a disco ball in our room 5 years ago but it was deemed somewhat of a disappointment because it didn’t spin or light up. This year I added a second disco ball and the party (and June karaoke) is on!

Our K-Gr. 8 school held our first Arts Gallery Night – Visual Arts was displayed and a huge crowd came to see it. And the music…! Gr. 6-8 students composed their own music and performed it in small bands all over the gallery. Then each class, plus our two music clubs, performed on stage. Our theme for the evening was “change” and to quote one our Kindergardeners-“when you try new things you change. (Personal song favourites: Towers School Singers performed “Won’t Give Up” by Patti Gonia and my awesome band, pic above, rocked “Man in the Mirror”!)

100 JLPS Gr. 4/5s marvelled at the size of Roy Thomson Hall and how the TSO played so well “in sync” together. The concert was Bhangra & Beyond-the music and dancing was very familiar to some students. Every opportunity to feel seen and heard…can mean everything.

Four months ago none of my Gr. 2-5 classes could sing in a round. This concert proved their amazing growth – now they can all “hold their own part” in 2 and 4 part rounds! 10 classes arranged 10 different rounds. They played mallet and percussion instruments, keyboards, guitars, drums, and ukulele. We had two stages and when we sang, we were surrounded by our audience. Our finale was Ms Carvery’s step routine and we literally rocked the house.

My grade 4/5s and I wrote a school cheer to be yelled at all future competitions. To the rhythm of “Smoke on the Water”… “Jean Lumb Towers. Show us your powers. Make us proud. Be strong!” There’s also a 3-part drum/body percussion part that was revealed at our January assembly. Go teams!

Inspired by Georgia Dickie’s sculpture called “Listening Ears” that’s outside on our JLPS schoolyard, my students and I re-wrote the words of Bruno Mars’s “Talking to the Moon” to instead be “Opening our listening ears. Hearing sounds and all voices.” 60 Grade 2-5s in Towers School Singers and 30 Grade 6-8s in Towers School Band (what a huge team of musicians!) learned to sing and play this tune and layer it in 7-part harmony! We performed in a circle around the sculpture and surrounded by the rest of the JLPS students.