When the music teacher’s email came in and said, 'This is a time to have fun,’ I got a little choked up
Music Monday will be very different this year for students and teachers, but for Karen Withers’ class, their Monday lesson will start the way it always does - whether in school or virtually - with a joke: What kind of soap did the composer use? ... anti-BACH-terial soap! It is one of the ways Withers, a music teacher at Nanaimo’s Ecole Pauline Haarer elementary, is helping her students continue to feel a sense of routine and normalcy while in-class learning is suspended and school lessons happen remotely. “ Bringing music to students and creating lifelong lovers of music has always been a passion of mine ,” said Withers. “ In this unusual situation we find ourselves, I really wanted to be a source of connection and comfort for my students, the majority of whom I have taught for many years. At this same time, I wanted to create some normalcy in the school lives by continuing with programs we do on a regular basis .” Music Monday, celebrated this yea...