January 31, 2008
Publication title: The Vancouver Province, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Vancouver
Writer: Stuart Derdeyn
McLachlan Hands Out Grants to Cash-strapped School Music Programs
VANCOUVER – Seven B.C.-area schools each received $10,000 Band Aid grants from MusiCan, the charitable arm of CARAS, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, at an awards ceremony at the Commodore Ballroom Wednesday morning. On hand to celebrate was eight-time Juno Award-winning artist Sarah McLachlan.
“It’s so sad that arts programs are the first to go with funding cutbacks,” says McLachlan. “Music education is such a gift; a way for expanding, exploring and connectiveness with young people.”
“It certainly saved me at a time when I wasn’t sure which direction I was going.”
Following performances by Richmond’s Daniel Woodward Elementary Orchestra Band and a rousing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by the Gladstone Secondary School Jazz Band, McLachlan performed. Her stripped-down versions of “Building A Mystery, “Angel” and other tunes wowed students from other grant recipient schools including Blacklock Fine Arts Elementary (Langley), Lord Roberts Elementary (Vancouver), New Westminster Secondary School and William Cook Elementary School (Richmond). A standing ovation followed the set.
Absent from the excitement were students and faculty from Willoughby Elementary School in Langley.
Their ride in from the Fraser Valley ran overtime due to traffic delays caused by area weather. The busload arrived just in time for the kids to sing “Happy Birthday” to McLachlan, who turned 40 on Jan. 28. The stage had been torn down.
That didn’t stop McLachlan: “I’ll sing for you anyways. Do you want a happy love song or a sad song?”
Sad won out and the children were treated to an even more intimate version of “Angel.”
A committed advocate for youth music education, McLachlan sponsors the free Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach program (sarahmclachlanmusicoutreach.com) for inner-city youth.
Her involvement with MusiCan is a separate, but equally important, connection. MusiCan has donated $2.3 million in grants in the past decade. A total of 123,000 students enjoyed the benefits of the monies which go towards purchasing instruments and materials for elementary and secondary school band programs.
New Westminster secondary’s large-scale band program instructs 500 students in a number of configurations. Teacher Kelly Proznick outlined how the MusiCan grant goes toward purchasing big instruments such as baritone saxophones, double basses and tubas. A honk of delight from her tuba section greeted this announcement.
McLachlan returns to the recording studio in March to work on some new songs and a career-spanning greatest-hits package. In the meantime, the mother of a new seven-month-old hit Urban Outfitters to buy five photo albums to load up with kids’ pics for friends and relatives.
