The magic of music and music festivals
When I still lived in Ontario, particularly in Huron Township, I enjoyed a wide variety of musical activities.
I remember, with pleasure, the Sunday evening Sing-a-longs at Dunsmoor Park with talented guests, visits with family and friends, giggling during Norm Dunsmoor's interviews with the little ones, and singing familiar songs.
It was exciting, yet sad, to dance to Glen Boyd’s orchestra on the little cement pad during the final August performance.
Sometimes, I managed to listen to the various bands at the Wednesday evening concerts. Sitting under the towering maples in Victoria Park during the Kincardine Summer Music Festival afternoon presentations on the bandstand, was almost magical.
Of course, I can always imagine I’m hearing the pipes and drums on all the occasions they stirred Scottish hearts.
Local residents realize that music festivals have had their place in the area for many years.
Check out this program from June, 1947. Not only does it show us that music had a place in the school curriculum even in those days but It also reminds us of the position Canada held in the British Commonwealth at that period in history.
Admission was 25 cents, and the proceeds went toward Aid For Britain.
The motto was:
“It is a fine thing to hear music;
It is finer to make music;
It is finest to make music in company with others.”
Patriotic songs of the present era don’t have quite the same drama or vocabulary in their titles.
I see that S.S. No. 3 Kincardine performed “Blowing Bubbles.” I would have been completing Grade 1, and I’m pretty sure I had not yet learned how to carry a tune. However, if someone was needed to blow the bubbles as an accompaniment, I would likely have been happy to do so.
How many of you remember the itinerant music teachers, and what names of relatives or neighbours do you recognize?
Perhaps these names from page 2 of the Music Festival program would be of interest to some readers.
Part I - Announcers - Eugene Walden, Marlene Lowry
Voices from countries around the World - Margaret Stewart, Arthur Hewitt, Betty Elliott, Jim Thompson, Tommy Farrell, Ethel Farrell, Roy Collins
Part II - Announcers and Heralds - Alan Rutledge, Arthur Hewitt, Jim Thompson, Hilda Kelstein, Howard Orr
S.S. No. 11, Huron - Piano Trio - Evelyn, Margaret and Marion McTavish
Written ByNo bio for this author.
Related Stories
No related stories.