St. John Fisher Sr. Elementary Triumphs in CBC Canadian Music Class Challenge
by Dave Arless, music teacher at St. John Fisher Sr., and Dan Mullins
A group of talented Grade 3 students from St. John Fisher Senior Elementary School has won the National CBC Canadian Music Class Challenge in the Primary Vocal category for their performance of “Turning the Tide” by Luke Wallace.
Every year, CBC Music (in association with MusiCounts, the charity of the Juno Awards) challenges music teachers Canada-wide to help their students learn a Canadian song from a pre-approved list of Canadian songs. Teachers pick one and have their class (or classes) cover it. Then, once a performance of the song has been recorded on video, they send it to the CBC who post it on their YouTube channel. A panel of judges narrow down the submissions to Top Ten finalists, and then choose the winners.
For Saint John Fisher Senior in Pointe Claire, it was a very busy start to the school year. The school’s music department devoted every lunch hour to various extracurricular activities with Choir, Rock Band, instrumental ensembles, band, and more. It has become tradition for SJF to enter the CBC Music Class Challenge in the fall which, according to Dave Arless, St. John Fisher Senior’s Music Teacher, “provides students with the perfect project to kick off the year.”
The winning video
The school submitted four entries to the competition, and while all four were excellent, two of them went on to be Top Ten Finalists in different categories: the Grade 3 students who would eventually win their category, but also a group of grade 5 and 6 students in the Elementary Instrumental category who performed “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen. It was Saint John Fisher Sr’s 5th year entering the CBC Music Class Challenge and their 4th time as a top ten finalist.
“This video captured my ears and heart right from the opening chorus,” wrote Victoria Duffield, a JUNO nominated and platinum-selling singer and songwriter who was a judge at the competition. “The musicality displayed through your vocals, as well as all of your instruments, shows a great degree of skill and teamwork for such a large group.”
A top 10 achievement
The Deep Music program at SJF is all about inspiration and making music fun and meaningful for the students.
“This contest is perfect for us because we are sharing our music with thousands of like-minded young musicians across Canada,” wrote Mr. Arless. He continued:
Students are engaged and ready to learn from the second we choose the song until the final wrap of the video shoot. Even then, the learning doesn’t stop as there are hundreds of other schools to learn from and take notes for the following year.
Music opportunities like this are so vital for the development of young minds. We are giving a very loud and powerful voice to our students that can be heard from coast to coast. We are empowering our students and giving them confidence to become the leaders of tomorrow. A child can’t say they are a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher yet, but from the moment they pick up an instrument they can proudly say “I am a musician”.
If you can play an instrument and have an impact on the world with music then you can do the same in other aspects of life. We’re really showing students that they can do anything! We’re grateful to CBC Music for this amazing opportunity. Congrats to our young musicians for once again making our mark on the world with great Canadian music!
SJF Sr. Grade 5-6 Rock Band perform Bryan Adam’s “Kids Wanna Rock”
SJF Sr. Grade 3-6 Choir perform Tyler Shaw’s “I See You”
