We did this song in choir at the winter concert. This famous song, is the anthem for ‘Music Monday,’ this year!
‘Music Monday’ is celebrated every year the first Monday in May (which is May the 4th this year), and is run by the Coalition for Music Education in Canada. On Music Monday, schools from across Canada all sing or play a common song (referred to as an anthem). Typically, it is done at 12:30, but it can be done at a different time or on a different day during the first week of May. This event was created as a way of “celebrating the importance of music in our lives, and especially in our schools.”
Oscar Peterson was a world famous jazz pianist and composer who lived in Ontario! He was (and still is) as famous as Drake is today! He was born in 1925, in Montreal, but later moved to Toronto and then to Mississauga, where he died in 2007. Learn more cool stuff about Oscar Peterson by watching this dramatized interview.
Then take this fun quiz about Oscar Peterson.
It will also help you learn more about him!
Learn to sing!
Practice with this rehearsal recording.
They don't do it exactly the same way, but they sound awesome, and it is a great way to get the song 'in your ear'.
This is a children's chorus in the US.
These are Canadian children singing parts of it in French.
I hope you will join people across Canada and sing Oscar Peterson's Hymn to Freedom next Monday, May 4. Sing it any time you want during the day! Email me when you have done so, and I will let the Coalition for Music Education know that you participated!
May the 4th/force be with you!
If your recorder is at home, practice recorder.
Practice the recorder belt songs, and then the songs from the Recorder Ninja Booklet.