Music Monday 2012 unites Canadian students in coast-to-coast day of celebration

Hundreds of thousands students fill the skies with song to celebrate music education

SYDNEY, NS, May 7, 2012 /CNW/ - Hundreds of thousands of students from cities and towns across Canada are uniting in song today to raise awareness about the importance of music education. On Music Monday, students and teachers take their music programs outdoors and into their communities to perform the same song on the same day, uniting the entire country in song.

The nationwide celebration of music will feature a simultaneous national performance of this year's theme song for Music Monday, "Tomorrow is Coming", written by Juno Award nominated, Canadian Folk Music Award winning artist Luke Doucet. Co-commissioned with CBC Radio 2, "Tomorrow is Coming" is available on iTunes with proceeds going to support the work of the Coalition for Music Education. A wide variety of arrangements are also available for free on the Music Monday website at www.musicmonday.ca.

The 2012 Music Monday Showcase Concert will be held in Sydney Cape Breton, as a symbol of the hundreds of celebrations taking place in communities across the country. More than 1100 students will march up to the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre by police escort with their instruments and waving flags with messages about the value of music in their lives. East Coast favourites the Barra MacNeils will sing their classic "Coal Town Road" followed by the official Music Monday song.  The concert will end with everyone singing the Barra MacNeils song "We Celebrate".

"The schools and community groups participating in Music Monday are among the most fortunate in Canada, because many of them have music programs," says Coalition for Music Education Executive Director, Holly Nimmons. "They are the voices for so many other young people and they remind us all of the value music education adds to our lives."

Music Monday was created by the Coalition for Music Education in 2005 to celebrate the importance of music education for the young people in our schools and communities. The nation-wide celebration highlights the need to protect and promote quality music programs for every child in Canada. Music Monday is fast becoming a global phenomenon and the event is now being celebrated in Australia and across the United States.

The Music Monday message is being taken to even greater heights for 2013, with a partnership between the CBC, the Canadian Space Agency and the Coalition for Music Education. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will collaborate from space while on board the International Space Station with multiple Juno Award winner Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies on Earth to create a new song for Music Monday 2013 that will truly "Fill the Skies with Music."

"Music Monday is an occasion to play music and sing with Canadians all over the country.  We encourage everyone to visit our website, learn about the song, create your own music, tweet about it, and tell your friends," says Nimmons. "This is a perfect time for young people from Cape Breton to Victoria to Cambridge Bay to come out of the classrooms and make music to demonstrate the importance of music education for every young person in our country."

Music Monday is celebrated on the first Monday of May each year at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 11 a.m. Mountain time, 12 p.m. Central time, 1 p.m. Eastern time, 2 p.m. Atlantic time and 2:30 p.m. in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

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About the Coalition for Music Education

The Coalition for Music Education works to raise awareness and understanding of the role music education plays in Canadian culture, and to promote the benefits music education brings to young people. We envision Canada as a country where the lives of all children are enriched by quality school music programs, and where their active participation in music is valued and supported in our communities. For more information, please visit www.MusicMakesUs.ca.

To find the Music Monday celebration in your community please visit http://musicmakesus.ca/musicmonday/see-whos-involved/ where you can use an interactive map to get specifics on a wide variety of events in your region.

To arrange interviews or for more information, please contact: 

Beatrice Bastedo
TRILLIUM Corporate Communications Inc.
416-322-3030 ext 231
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