Chilcotin music students amplified with $9,000 MusiCounts grant

Tatla Lake School students will be playing a different tune, thanks to new funding for their music program

Students at Tatla Lake Elementary Junior Secondary School will be able to advance from recorders to orchestral instruments this year thanks to funding provided by MusiCounts.  

The school was informed in July that its application for funding was approved, meaning it would receive $9,000 to equip its music program with orchestral instruments.  

“We just needed money for the instruments to step up one level and actually have an instrumental program” said the school’s music teacher Liz Glazier. She wasn’t able to share the good news until Sept. 1 which meant she had to work “under the radar” to get the instruments. “That was hard because I wanted to tell everybody,” Glazier said.  

While students up to Grade 4 will continue learning with musical games and singing, those in Grades 5 to 12 have been assigned a new instrument and already know how to play the first few notes. Glazier said her students have a good notion of how to read music because they had previously learned to do so playing the recorder. “We’re not starting at square one,” she said.  

In fact, Glazier had done as much as she could to set up the school’s music program with the limited funds she already had. This is only the second year Tatla Lake School will run a curriculum-based music program, prior to which students were taught to sing and play the recorder with a volunteer skilled in music. 

Last year the school also had the Missoula Children’s Theatre come in for a week with the entire set and costumes to perform Rapunzel. “The kids learned the whole opera and performed it beautifully,” Glazier said. They plan to perform Cinderella this year, and Glazier hopes to have the students learn several carols on their instruments in time for Christmas. She is also planning solos and duets for the end of year recital but hopes to one day have a full concert band.  

“We have a lot of fun,” Glazier said about her school’s artistic programs. She said cultural experiences are limited for the students because of the community’s remote location. Receiving this funding allows them to take part in an important art which she describes as “emotionally very expressive.” 

Tatla Lake School is one of only five schools in B.C. to receive funding from MusiCounts’ Band Aid Program which supports traditional forms of music education in Canada’s schools. Glazier made sure to apply for the funding with a clear plan of what she needed in order to run a successful music program. The $9,000 was used to purchase six flutes, five clarinets, two trumpets and a trombone, as well as a band book to go with each instrument. 

MusiCounts donated a total of $1 million to schools across the country this year. Applications are now open for the next round of funding, with the final deadline closing on December 3.  

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