Music Monday to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary with new anthem in support of music education

On Monday, May 1, 2017, the Coalition for Music Education will celebrate Music Monday with a cross-country sing-along to raise awareness for music education. The annual event celebrates the unifying power of music as thousands of Canadians join in singing and performing the Music Monday anthem at their schools and other community centres.

This year, inspired by Canada’s 150^th anniversary, the Music Monday sing-along will be led by a live-streamed showcase from the nation’s capital. In recognition of the sesquicentennial year, the 2017 Music Monday anthem will celebrate Canada’s musical heritage in its lyrics and instrumentation. The anthem, titled Sing It Together, focuses on the power of voices, and “asks us to sing for joy, for truth, for healing, and for freedom,” explains the event press release. The recording features Inuit throat singing, Métis fiddling, Indigenous drumming, and children’s choirs in celebration of Canadian musical heritages.

Sing It Together was co-written by JUNO Award winners Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas, and was recorded at Canterbury Music in Toronto, with additional layers recorded at Ottawa’s Audio Valley Recording Studio, and Hamilton’s St. James Anglican Church.

“Music is the landscape of Canada,” said Marc Jordan. “We hope it will be a song that illuminates the mosaic of music and cultures that thrive in every corner of the country.”

To join the Canada-wide chorus of students and community groups in singing and performing the song on Music Monday, visit the Get Involved section of the Music Monday website.  Arrangements, audio-visual learning tools, and lyrics in several languages will be made available on the website ahead of the event.