Beat of a different drummer

More than 700,000 students across Canada in more than 2,000 schools participated in Music Monday May 3, but Woodcrest Public School might be the only one that can boast being accompanied by their principal on drums.

"The students get excited when the drum set comes out and quite frankly, so do I," said Deanna Hannaford. "I was very, very proud to play the drums with the kids today."

At 1 p.m. Monday, students across the country sang the Music Monday theme song Sing, Sing; the tune was written by Juno-award winner Serena Ryder. To warm up, the students sang K’naan’s Waving Flag and a rendition of Happy Birthday for Hannaford, whose mother also came out to join in the celebration.

Music Monday gave the students an opportunity to be involved in the arts and singing is a good way for the kids to express themselves, said Hannaford.

"We have sports teams; we have certain electives we do at the school but at this point in time, there’s not a lot of things for kids to do in terms of arts except for the art class or just within the classroom itself," she said. "So getting together and putting something like this on that’s nationally acknowledged, it gives them a sense of excitement and a great feel for the arts."

Grade 8 student Shannon McKitrick said she was proud to be part of the event.

"It’s really fun getting together as a school to get to do this and just coming out on a nice day and getting to sing," she said.

In addition to the celebration at Woodcrest Public School, a Grade 11 guitar class from Hammarskjold High School played a mini-concert for patients, staff and visitors at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre Monday morning.

Music teacher Tom Cashmore said he tries to get a class playing at the hospital at least once a year and decided to capitalize on the Music Monday event.

"We just try to get kids to appreciate music whether they’re musicians or fans of music and try to embrace how important music is in our everyday lives," he said.

Cashmore said he tries to get the guitar class out because it’s something different.

"People are used to hearing concert bands and string orchestras, but it’s not often you hear a guitar ensemble," he said, adding they’re popular across the world.

"It’s a gentle sound," he added. "It’s not too loud. I think if we had band instruments in there, it’s very beautiful but it’s often very loud. This is a nice kind of under the radar sound."

Music Monday was created by the Coalition for Music Education in Canada in 2005. It’s expanded beyond Canadian borders and is also now celebrated in Australia and the United States.