On 5 May in the cafeteria, Music Monday, which is a way of promoting music as an art in the school curriculum Canada wide, took place in the cafeteria. The MGCI Music Department performed this year, and attempted to show the importance of music education, and to spread interest in this field throughout the school.
“Music Monday is a great way to promote music within the school,” says Gabriel Ip, a Grade 11 student and baritone performer, “Our performance showed how enjoyable playing music can be. It was great to be performing in front of a crowd after all our hard work.”
This event is a way to raise awareness of current events and crises. This year, donations were being collected to aid in the relief of the landslide that took place in Afghanistan on 2 May that rendered thousands of people missing.
Students performed San Miguel for Music Monday. Photo: Abigail Chau
The event began with a projected video of Colonel Chris Hadfield collaborating with Ed Robertson, lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies, on a song called ISS: (Is Somebody Singing). The song featured Robertson down on Earth and Hadfield up in space in the International Space Station. The song was written and recorded for Music Monday 2013.
The MGCI Music Department then took over to play San Miguel, a piece by Mike Steinel. Their performance was met by enthusiastic applause.
“This performance was pretty amazing. Music Monday is an excellent way of demonstrating the importance of music education at schools. It was lots of fun,” says Noor Gangi, one of the many Grade 12 students who showed up at the cafeteria for entertainment.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Music Monday in Canada. It was celebrated by many schools, though not MGCI, with a live webcast of Chris Hadfield performing ISS: (Is Somebody Singing), along with messages from prominent Canadian musicians.
