The Canadian Music Class Challenge will launch this spring
The Canadian Music Class Challenge is back for a new edition launching in February.
Almost 10 years ago, CBC Music launched a project to support music education called the Canadian Music Class Challenge. The hope was to raise awareness of the important role music plays in education by shining a light on music educators and their classes through performances.
In that first year, Hillcrest High School in Ottawa won a school concert by Juno-winning singer Jully Black, for their outstanding entry of Serena Ryder's "Stompa."
WATCH | Hillcrest High School covers 'Stompa':
In the years since, the Canadian Music Class Challenge has grown: thousands of students have been exposed to a variety of songs written by Canadian artists, and numerous classes have won musical instruments. However, many teachers have expressed a desire to have the competition also run in the spring, to allow an additional option for participation.
Today, we are pleased to share that a spring edition for 2025 is possible thanks to a new partnership with MusiCounts, the music education charity associated with the Canadian Association of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Juno Awards.
MusiCounts will now be the music instrument prize provider for both fall and spring editions of the Challenge, making music education even more inclusive, accessible and sustainable. To date, MusiCounts has granted more than 18 million dollars in instruments to classrooms and community groups.
The spring edition will launch on Tuesday, Feb. 18 with a deadline of Monday, May 5 to submit performances. The national top 10s will be published on Monday, June 2, with winners announced on Monday, June 9.
Sign up to our Music Teacher Newsletter to be reminded of our launch as well as other music education initiatives.
What is the Canadian Music Class Challenge?
For those who want to participate, we've pre-cleared a list of Canadian songs, and all you need to do is choose one and do a cover version with your class or community group. You can create any arrangement you like. Send us a video performance of your cover version and we'll post it on our YouTube channel. All entries are eligible for musical instrument prizes from MusiCounts.
Classes who entered the fall 2024 edition are welcome to enter again as long as the same students submit a different song from our list. Or teachers can enter the same song, as long as it is with a different group of students.
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