Sometimes the mainstream school system and the city's students hit sour notes together. Thursday is the day the sweet ones are played.
The students who attend the Centre For Learning Alternatives had never had their own music program before, but that changed about four years ago when some teachers and administrators decided to concoct one just as unique as their schoolhouse.
The main figure in that process was Conrad Turner and he is still the lead teacher of the Storefront Music Program. Vocalist Joelle Kress, known best as the frontwoman for the band Sound Addiction, also instructs. One of the lead support teachers is Wayne Randell. All are involved in the fourth annual Music Cafe the program is hosting Thursday at noon.
"It is a celebration of the whole school, but to see these students get up on stage and perform for their families, their friends, their peers, the school district administration, and show the skills they have achieved - it's a party atmosphere, it is a real celebration of accomplishment," said Randell who will be the master of ceremonies.
The program had six students in year one. This year, 26 joined the twice-a-week class, and 20 of them will be on stage Thursday, some of them multiple times. There are solo acts, duos, and larger ensembles.
"The course is project-based in its structure," Turner said. "The students are free to choose the instrument they want to learn with, the style of music they want to focus on, and they are responsible for developing a plan to demonstrate competency."
For many of the kids, success is demonstrated by going up in their mastery of an instrument, for some it is learning an instrument different than what they already know, for some it is just learning basic chord changes because they have never played any instrument at all. They are graded on their level of progression from whatever their starting point was. All students are eligible to join the group.
They meet as a group to start each class, work on some things together, then break off into their chosen configurations, then reconvene at the end for a class-ending performance.
"It is amazing the correlation between music day and high attendance. The students love coming to school for this, and it has helped a lot of other aspects of their learning outcomes," said Randell. "It has been an unbelievable incentive. We tricked them into graduating."
"We went out there [four years ago] looking for a wheel we didn't have to reinvent, but there just wasn't anything we could find that looked like what we wanted to build, so we think we have a pretty special program," said Turner.
They brought in some special guest musicians this year to add to the kids' enjoyment and contact with the music process: Curtis Abriel, Matt Deschamps and John Rogers.
The public is welcome to come watch the concert at John McInnis Centre. It is free of charge and has a big finish, the teachers promised.
