Over the past 12 years I have volunteered, my voice, guitar playing and songwriting skills at my children’s East Vancouver St Casmir Daycare and both Charles Dickens Annex and Main School.
The Christmas concert on St Casmir’s stage was a lovely tradition.
At Charles Dickens Annex I created a Parents Day program. I recruited parents to share their creative skills: sewing, reading, writing, music and dance to kids over 2 days at the Annex. Fellow parent Oliver Evans and I taught kids songwriting and singing. Oliver played well known bass lines, like The Talking Heads Burning Down the House, and I worked with kids on child centred lyrics. We performed for the school and parents.
Oliver, myself and third parent Deb Copeland did Christmas Carol singing, for the last week of school, from 8-8:45 am with kids, parents and teachers all joining in.
At Charles Dickens Main Oliver and I played current pop songs, chosen by the students, with various classrooms.
Paul Alexander, the music teacher at Dickens Main, taught marimbas. This allowed the students to clap out intricate beats for our song sessions.
Paul wrote the music he taught in Marimba classes. Another parent/ musician Lorraine and I had the privilege of helping the kids write a song, learn vocal mic techniques, to accompany Paul’s original Marimba’s composition for the school and parents.
My music volunteering era has ended with both my kids in High School.
“because i said i would”