February
14, 2006
Junos
to leave musical legacy
Lottery program to benefit music students in 27 N.S. schools
By ANDREA NEMETZ Entertainment Reporter - Halifax Herald
MUSICSTOP
and the Halifax Play Hard event hope to leave a $135,000 musical
legacy in Nova Scotia schools after the Juno Awards come to Halifax
for the first time March 31 to April 2.
The
music store and the host committee for the 2006 awards, which
celebrate the best in Canadian music, have designed a unique lottery
program for 27 of the province’s junior high schools.
Each
of the schools from Yarmouth to Sydney and Amherst to Lunenburg
will receive A Weekend for Two at the 2006 Juno Awards prize package
to raffle off.
The
package, valued at $1,250 includes hotel accommodations for two
nights (April 1 and 2), two wrist bands to JunoFest, two tickets
to Juno Fan Fare and two tickets to the 2006 Juno Awards show
at the Metro Centre on April 2.
The
27 schools have each been given 1,000 tickets for the prize package
to sell with the top-selling student in each school winning a
Rogers Pay-As-You-Go cellphone. All proceeds from the lottery
sales will go back into the individual schools’ band programs.
In
addition, Sennheiser Canada will give each of the 27 schools a
microphone, boom stand, cable, clip and zipper pouch case and
a special headset.
"Those
two tickets to the Sunday night show are gold," said Stuart
Jolliffe, chair of the Halifax Play Hard Committee at the announcement
of the lottery program at Graham Creighton Junior High School
on Monday that featured an enthusiastically received performance
of Smoke On The Water by the school band.
"The
odds of winning a ticket through this program 1 in 1,000 are greater
than getting one at the Metro Centre."
Five
hundred early bird Juno Award ticket packages sold out in less
than four minutes when they went on sale on Saturday. They were
priced at $184.
A
limited number of tickets for the award show priced between $50
and $125 go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. both online and at
Ticket Atlantic at the Metro Centre box office and are expected
to sell out in less than 10 minutes, Jolliffe said.
Andrew
Beazley, institutional sales manager for Musicstop, said the company,
which always develops programs around the East Coast Music Awards,
believes it is important to give back to the musical community
that has supported the company and helped it grow.
"At
Musicstop, we believe deeply in the value of music education,
that learning a musical instrument in the school band context
stimulates the mind, enhancing language and communication skills,
fostering self-discipline, responsibility, and co-operation, improving
hand-eye co-ordination, and provides an outlet for creativity
and self-expression that one may continue tapping into for a lifetime.
""But
of course, and perhaps most significantly, making music is a whole
pile of fun," he said.
Maggie
Helms, educational outreach manager for Musicstop and chair of
the committee for Music In Schools said she first met with Jolliffe
and Gordon Lapp of Music Nova Scotia (formerly MIANS) about a
year ago to kick around ideas for a program to be developed around
the Junos.
The
biggest problem was deciding how to select the schools.
"There
are so many schools in need of an infusion of money. We had to
figure out the best way of deciding on 27 schools and we decided
to tie it in with MIANS’ Bringin’ It Home Tour with
has concerts in 27 communities," she said, noting with the
exception of Graham Creighton in Cherry Brook, Caledonia Junior
High in Dartmouth, and Central Spryfield in Halifax all schools
are outside Halifax Regional Municipality.
"We
decided to try to keep with junior high kids and hope they will
take the knowledge and infusion of money as they head into high
school.""
A
draw will be made for the Juno package winner during each of the
27 Bringin’ It Home concerts. The series, featuring artists
like Charlie A’Court, Mary Jane Lamond, Dave Gunning, Sons
of Maxwell and Dave Gunning runs March 9 to 25 (for a complete
schedule visit www.mians.ca).
Shirley
Jackson, the band director at Graham Creighton and a music teacher
at the school, says she’s already bought three tickets on
the draw.
She
says as a music instructor it is increasingly difficult to keep
the program running, to buy new instruments, make repairs on existing
ones and to purchase new music "the kids love to play."
"Some
of our instruments are in very bad shape. We are working towards
a new baritone saxophone, a bass clarinet, and some instruments
we don’t have like an oboe and a bassoon.
"It’s
a wonderful opportunity as a fundraiser to raise money for band
programs. I’ve never heard of a fundraiser in which the
students get to keep 100 per cent of the proceeds," she said.
