Heritage Glen Public School students hit all the right notes in a competition to create posters for Oakville Symphony, placing in the top three, including taking home the winning entry.
Grade 4 and 5 students from the Oakville school participated in the contest in June.
Oakville Symphony holds an annual poster contest, open to anyone in Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 in Halton and Peel regions. The winners were recently announced.
Each year, there is a different theme for the contest. This year’s theme was, “How does music make you feel?” Students were encouraged to be creative and colourful, and to include items such as instruments in their submissions.
The Oakville Symphony will be presenting all of the winning submissions at a family holiday concert on December 15.
“As a music teacher, I like to get students involved in community projects and events whenever I can,” says Bonnie King, teacher at Heritage Glen PS. “We usually participate in the nationwide Music Monday initiative, and our concert band also participated in the CBC Music Class Challenge last year.”
To prepare and get students excited for the poster competition, King read the book, Because, by Mo Willems.
“Because tells the story of how a young girl grows up to become a composer, and her first symphony is inspired by events that led her to fall in love with music. After a class discussion about attending live concerts, being inspired by music, and then brainstorming the many ways music can make us feel, each student created a poster to depict how music makes them feel. There were so many different interpretations and ways that students represented this theme.”
King continues: “I hope that this contest brought an awareness about music in their community, the Oakville Symphony, and how music can inspire us. I was so impressed by our talented, thoughtful students. All of the posters were creative and beautiful. I love being able to showcase the amazing talents and skills of our students.”
Clearly these skills were on display as Heritage Glen students finished in the top three, including Margaret, in Grade 5, capturing the top prize.
“I started with the instruments that I play, which is the piano and violin,” she explains. “Then I chose instruments that reminded me of my family members and friends. I decided to use watercolour paint to create my poster because I enjoy painting (and watercolour is my favourite). I learned that I have good creativity skills, and I love music.”
The Oakville Symphony poster competition was an effective way to bring the music curriculum to life, King says.
“In every grade, I have students respond to a variety of genres of music. It connects with the Visual Art curriculum to create two- and three-dimensional works of art that express feelings and ideas inspired by their interests and experiences. I loved how this contest encouraged students to think of a visual way to represent how music makes them feel. All students could interpret and represent their own response in a meaningful way.”
