"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Nietzsche
Welcome to my teacher website, where you will find recordings of my students, as well as some practice resources. If you have any questions, or if you'd like to share ideas for interesting songs/pieces to learn, I'm always looking for inspiration so send me an email on l.phi@tvdsb.ca Enjoy your visit! - Mr. Phi
Twitter timeline
29 April 2020
Wow. I had no idea that I'd been away from my website for so long. Happy belated New Year!!! I just wanted to say hello, and I hope that everyone is safe and well. I miss making noise (a.k.a. music) with all the Jags, and taking Jags to perform at different events and festivals. I hope that you're making music at home, and I look forward to seeing you again, hopefully in the near future. Stay safe, and keep making music!
26 October 2019
Happy Caturday everyone!!! Just a quick update to let you know that rough demo recordings of the Russian National Anthem are finally uploaded. I'm sorry but my voice still hasn't fully healed yet. Please go to this page to access them: https://sites.google.com/view/mrphimusic/national-anthems
24 October 2019
Lyrics to Russian National Anthem are posted phonetically on National Anthem page HERE: Unfortunately my voice still isn't well yet, so demo recordings are not yet posted.
18 October 2019
Preparations for the Team OHL vs Team Russia are well underway. I know I said that practice demo recordings would be up Wednesday, however my voice still isn't fully recovered. I'm sorry about this.
10 October 2019
It was a pleasure to meet TVDSB's new Director of Education, Mark Fisher, and to sing O Canada for the superintendent and principals of our Community of Schools.
4 October 2019
Always a blast singing O Canada for the London Knights. The won a tense match 3-0 against the Ottawa 67s!
10 September 2019
Sorry for the late greeting. Welcome back to school everyone. I've got great musical plans for the upcoming year, so I'm really excited to get everything going. Choirs are likely to start next week, and we'll be working on the Russian national anthem. Looking forward to making some serious noise this year!!!
9 July 2019
This is a little late, but I just wanted to way a huge thank you for an incredible year of music-making. Have a wonderful and safe summer, and looking forward to making more awesome noise in September!
Here's a rough recording of the opening number of the show: the Grade 4/5s performing Shine by Collective Soul.
21 May 2019
Congratulations to all the performers and prize recipients at tonight's Kiwanis Music Festival Gala Concert. A special congratulations to Ms. Barnett and the Delaware Central PS Concert Band on their award! The talent on display was incredible, and TVDSB was very well represented. John Wise received three awards (out of four gold performances), including the O Canada prize, Select Choir and French Choir trophy (awarded to the Intermediate Choir). A special thank you to Ms. Charlotte Cleland - the festival secretary - and colleagues for organising the festival, and a shout out to Sequoya, one of our awesome singing Jags for collecting the prizes for John Wise PS and Delaware Central PS. Looking forward to making more noise next year! Rock On!
16 May 2019
Thank you to all the families who came out to the Spring Concert. I am so proud of all the performers. A huge thank you to all staff who performed as well: Mr. Van de Coevering; Mr. Ambrose; Mr. Ewaskiw; and Mr. Gonçalves!! A special shout out to Jesse Grandmont for lending his violin skills to the evening.
Mass choir for final number: Bohemian Rhapsody!!!
14 May 2019
The Select Choir participated today at the Arts Festival at the TVDSB Education Centre. We had the pleasure of performing two songs, and listening to four other school choirs do the same. There's something incredibly beautiful about listening to a mass children's choir singing is heart out. The finale of the afternoon was getting to work on Sisi Ni Moja with the board Arts Coordinator, Michelle Rees. Click HERE to check out and audio recording of it.
Thank you so much to Ms. Rees and her colleagues for organising these amazing events.
8 May 2019
Concert Band also participated at Arts Festival, where they performed for and with four other Concert Bands. The mass Concert Band of around 150 musicians was awesome to behold. I hope to share a recording of Alpha Squadron soon.
5 April 2019
The Intermediates got to show their stuff at the St. Thomas Music Festival's Keynote Concert, which is meant to showcase highlights of the festival. It was a night of incredible music, and THREE of the acts were from John Wise Public School!!! I had the privilege of accompanying the lovely primary choir from McGregor Public School in Aylmer conducted by Ms. Kim Craig. In total, I played piano for SIX numbers!!! Congratulations to all participants and award recipients, and a HUGE thank you to the organisers!!!
28 March 2019
Select & Intermediate Choirs back from a great morning at the London Kiwanis Music Festival. Four classes (Grade 4-6 Choir 2-Part; O Canada Choir competition; Grade 8 & under Small Vocal Ensemble 3-Part; and French Choirs Grade 8 & under unison) - four gold awards! I'm so proud of these awesome kids. It was also incredible to hear the other great choirs perform. A HUGE thank you to the parent-volunteers and to the music festival organisers.
21 March 2019
7 March 2019
Congrats to the Jags for representing at the London Lightning Basketball game vs the Halifax Hurricanes. Singing the anthem for three sporting events at Budweiser Gardens in just over three weeks! The Lightning won 100-99! Next stop: Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday 13 April!
26 February 2019
The Select & Intermediate Choirs performed at the 2019 St. Thomas Rotary Music Festival today. We had 6 entries (including 2 instrumental solos), and were awarded 2 Silvers and 4 Golds! The Intermediate Choir was also invited to perform at this year's Keynote concert, which the Select Choir got to do last year! Awesome job, Jags! Rock On!!!
15 February 2019
Happy very belated new year! John Wise Jags performed the Canadian & American national anthems twice this week at Budweiser Gardens. First, on Tuesday 12 February for the first Rivalry Series game between the national women's teams from Canada & USA; then tonight, Friday 15 February, we were joined tonight by our friends from Delaware Central PS for the London Knights vs the Erie Otters. The students did us proud at each game, and both games were incredibly exciting, but sadly Team Canada fell 1-0, and the Knights were defeated 4-3. Can't wait to sing for the London Lightning in March and the Harlem Globetrotters in April. Next stop: the St. Thomas Rotary Music Festival!
12 December 2018
Our Select Choir has been invited to sing the anthems for the hockey game between the CANADA and USA Women's National Teams on Tuesday 12 February 2019 @ 7pm at Budweiser Gardens as part of a 3-game women's rivalry series. Practice demo recordings and lyrics are under the National Anthems tab!
27 November 2018
After countless hour of practice and recording, we finally finished three videos for the 2018 CBC Music Class Challenge. Although we didn't make any of the top 10 categories, we had an amazing time participating. I'm so proud of these singers. We hope you enjoy the results of our efforts!
Intermediate Choir - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
Select Choir - Knocking at the Door (the Arkells)
Junior Choir - What I Wouldn't Do (Serena Ryder)
2 November 2018
Members of the John Wise PS Junior Choir & Select Choir before singing the anthem for the St. Thomas Stars game vs LaSalle Vipers. The Junior Choir members were on ice and did a brilliant job! To all who sang, way to represent!!! By the way, the Stars won 6-3!!!
8 September 2018
What a privilege to perform for Canadian troubadour-astronaut, Chris Hadfield! Such a gentleman.
4 September 2018
WHERE HAS THE SUMMER GONE?!?!?!?!? Welcome back everyone. I hope everyone's had a brilliant summer, and that you're looking forward to another year of major noise making. Remember to check the last videos from last year. Rock On!!!
29 June 2018
I can't believe the year is over, and that it's been over a month since my last entry. What a crazy year, including THIRTEEN different performances!!! I've got a few videos to share, which I'll do shortly. Thank you to all who have visited, and to those who have performed with me. To the John Wise Jags Grads, best wishes for next year. Have a brilliant and safe summer everyone, and I look forward to making even bigger noise next school year! Rock On!
John Wise PS Intermediate Choir
John Wise PS Select Choir
John Wise PS Select Choir
9 May 2018
Thank you to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Elm Street for inviting the Select Choir to perform at their Appreciation of the Arts evening, which featured other talented musicians and artists of various disciplines.
8 May 2018
Thank you to Michelle Rees for organising choral Arts Fest this year. Our Select Choir had the privilege of listening to the choirs from Trafalgar, John Dearness, Wilton Grove & Bonaventure Meadows Public Schools each perform two songs. We also performed two songs, then all groups joined into a mass choir to work on Beat of a Different Drum by Sarah Quartel, under the direction of the awesome Rosemary Bannerman. What a brilliant experience!
6 April 2018
Congratulations to the John Wise PS Select Choir on being invited to perform at the 2018 St. Thomas Rotary Music Festival Keynote Concert! We opened the concert with O Canada, and closed the night with With or Without You by U2.
John Wise PS Select Choir performing at the Rotary Music Festival keynote concert
John Wise Public School Select Choir 2018 LUSO Anti-Racism Video Contest (23 February 2018)
John Wise PS Select Choir recipients of the prize for most "Powerful and Thought Provoking" video (with Mr. Leroy Hibbert)
21 March 2018
2018 LUSO Anti-Racism Video Contest update: At tonight's awards ceremony, the John Wise submission was awarded the prize for most Powerful and Thought Provoking video! Our Select Choir was also the only school group to perform that evening, singing Phind'ukhulume (a prayer in Zulu) and a cover of With or Without You by U2 to a full house in the TVDSB Education Centre auditorium. Congratulations to all participants in this year's contest - there were so many brilliant videos!
6 March 2018
Congratulations on all John Wise Jags who participated in the 2018 LUSO Anti-Racism video contest - your video has been selected as one of this year's finalists! We've also been invited to perform at the awards ceremony, where they will announce the actual winner!
2 March 2018
Well done to the Select Choir members who performed at the St. Thomas Stars playoff game on Friday 2 March against the Sarnia Legionnaires. Our group was small (13 singers), yet mighty and did a great job. The Stars won 3-2! Next Stop: the Harlem Globetrotters at Budweiser Gardens!
26 February 2018
Congratulations to all John Wise students who participated in the St. Thomas Rotary Music Festival. We had students performing in solo classes and in ensemble classes throughout the day from roughly 9am to 3:30pm, with yours truly as conductor and accompanist. I'm incredibly proud of all of you! The Concert Band was awarded Bronze, the Intermediate Choir was awarded Silver and the Select Choir (grades 4-7) were given Gold!
23 February 2018
A tremendous thank you to the Select Choir and guests on their hard work for the 2018 LUSO anti-racism video contest. It was hastily filmed over roughly one hour. If you like it, please share and like.
16 February 2018
Congratulations to the singers from Delaware Central PS and our Select Choir on tonight's anthem performance for the game between the London Knights & Kitchener Rangers at Budweiser Gardens. The Knights won 6-2!
4 January 2018
Happy new year! I hope everyone has had a safe and wonderful break. I'm looking forward to making more amazing noise with the choirs and concert band! Watch this space for developments! Already on the horizon, after the Select Choir's performance at the World Junior pre-tournament hockey game, we've been invited to perform for the Harlem Globetrotters on 15 April. Hopefully people will be up for the performance!
20 December 2017
The Select Choir did an incredible job performing both the Czech and Canadian national anthems (Kde domov můj & O Canada) for the World Junior pre-tournament hockey game between Team Canada and Team Czech Republic. We received loads of compliments from the organisers at Budweiser Gardens and other people, and Tessa Bonhomme - a TSN anchor woman and olympic gold medalist - who was sitting behind our choir even tweeted: "@Tessab25: Pretty cool start to the CAN/Czech game. John Wise Public School of St Thomas learning the lyrics to the Czech National Anthem and sang it beautifully! #IThinkTheyNailedIt" Canada won 9-0!!! Congratulations!!!
Have a safe and wonderful break!
13 December 2017
To my Select Choir members, I'm so proud of you for your performance at last night's inaugural TVDSB School Board Performance. The night was so emotional, not only because of the powerful speech given by the Matt Reid, the board's chair person, but also because of the Beal Singers' incredible performances, led by Mr. Weaver, and because of your performances. You did such a brilliant job, and were so professional. That makes two board office performances in seven months, with two standing ovations - WAY TO REPRESENT!!! A recording of You Will Be Found is here: https://youtu.be/90YBcK8jlHg Thank you to Mrs. Roberts-Neef for the bootleg!
Next Stop: the World Pre-Tournament Junior Hockey game between team Canada and team Czech Republic on Wednesday 20 December 2017!!! Please practise the Czech and Canadian National Anthems!
23 October 2017
EXCITING NEWS: Our Select Choir has just been invited to sing the anthem for the hockey game between the Canadian National Junior Team and the Czech National Junior Team on Wednesday 20 December 2017 @ 7pm at Budweiser Gardens in advance of the 2018 World Junior Tournament! Here's hoping we can learn the Czech anthem in time! Practice demo recordings and lyrics are under the National Anthems tab.
5 October 2017
Welcome to my new website. It's a work in progress as the school board transitions away from the old sites, which are being phased out by 2018.
Please check this regularly for updates and news. The Select Choir's first scheduled performance is at the school board's inaugural meeting on Tuesday 12 December at 7pm. What's even more impressive is that we only just performed there last May!!!
We've been incredibly busy during my first year at John Wise Public School. The kids have been amazing to work with and the parents have been so supportive. I look forward to sharing musical highlights as each year goes on. Do come back regularly for updates and notifications. Please enjoy your visit!
29 June 2017
Last day of school (for students, that is...)! I'll be sharing a few more videos of the Select Choir, and hopefully Concert Band as well. First up is 'Better Place' by Rachel Platten sung by the Select Choir: https://youtu.be/mDIOGOL0vuw