creative forces

Blog # 124…December 2021

I know I mentioned writing about Canlit this month, but there are so few places to be spontaneous these days, so I’m going to change the channel and talk about a program  I just discovered that moved and encouraged me - important to focus on the bright lights that come along nowadays .

I’m starting this on the day before Remembrance Day – I was touched by a piece on The National last night about a piano teacher in Victoria who encouraged her young students to compose and perform pieces for individuals who had served Canada in war zones around the world. Each piece was personal, reflecting the individual veteran's unique experience and story. It was a great way to link ages, to give the vets the sense that they weren’t forgotten and let the young composers see that wars involve and affect real people.

Betty Carroll

It resonated particularly with me because I know Emily Armour, the musician and teacher who created the program. She contacted me about a year ago after discovering a profile I’d done of Phyllis Carleton, a physiotherapist who had served overseas in the Second World War. Emily was searching for information about her grandmother, Betty Carroll who had also been a physio at the same time and in much the same place. We weren’t able to find anything specific to connect the two women, but engaged in a series of lively and enjoyable conversations with a number of people.                                                

Phyll died recently, a few days before her 102nd birthday.                                 

Emily’s devotion to searching out information for her father about his mother Betty (who died when he was a young child) seems to extend to her interest in making connections between her students and veterans. Another prompt for her wish to honour the individuals who served us so well is her partner Devin, a veteran of the war in Croatia.

And her initiative has far reaching ripples. For many soldiers the aftermath of war is more profound than the actual experience. The 30 or so veterans involved, mostly in BC, but also in Ontario and Nova Scotia, valued the attention and feeling of appreciation.  Some were buddies of Devin’s, others connections through her students "I'm known not to be an emotional guy, but that really moved me." said one of the vets.

The students (one as young as 5!) learned some real and personal history along with a chance to experience empathy and a sense of making an important contribution to other peoples’ lives. A 16 year old composer expressed this about his piece, ' It has the sort of emotional overtone that I like...I tried my best to understand what other people would feel."

And Emily had the satisfaction of using her professional expertise as a musician and teacher to reach out - to her students, to the veterans, and to us, reminding us of fellow Canadians who take on the tasks of protecting us and making a difference in the world. She was immensely proud of her students and felt - "they were fearless about it."

Betty Carroll

Lullabies encourage us to sleep as babies, brass bands arouse us to patriotic marches - or maybe to clean the house - and romantic ballads evoke memories of dancing close at the end of an evening. Music crosses language and culture, age and taste, it soothes or invigorates, whichever we need at the moment. Taking the creative work of young musicians to veterans of war is another way music enriches lives. It’s a great memorial to Betty Carroll who would be proud of her grand daughter Emily, I am too!

Remembering Stephen Sondheim as we're Into the Woods for the second Christmas. They're dark and dangerous here but even more so in many other countries, so as we let some light in to celebrate, send some thoughts (and vaccines) around the world.

Back in 2022.