Electro-Pop Star Lights Presents MusiCounts Grant at Alpha Secondary

Alpha Secondary receives over $12,000 MusiCounts grant and a special performance from Juno-Award winner Lights!

On Wednesday, April 4th, 2012, Alpha Secondary was the proud recipient of a generous grant from MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity, as well as a visit from pop star Lights.
 
In December 2011, Alpha was one of several applicants vying for MusiCounts Canada’s first ever Roland Jam Pak grant, presented by SiriusXM Canada, which totalled over $12,000 in electronic equipment. The grant, based on various factors such as the need of the school, the size of the music program, the use of current equipment/inventory, etc., required an extensive application process that was graciously done on behalf of all our school’s music students by our music department head Mr. Paul Dudley.
 
Not only was our school’s music department thrilled when they ended up being chosen as the recipient of such awesome gear, it turned out that the grant also came along with a very special extra gift – a performance from Juno Award-winning artist Lights!
 
Lights performed two songs for us: her popular single, Drive My Soul and a new track, Where The Fence is Low. The Ontario native was positively captivating with just her vocals and a piano, but the magic extended far beyond her songs, as she encompassed the true power of music when she spoke between the songs. She described music as this sort of dark, mysterious magic, a power that wasn’t tangible but ever the more present.
 
Lights was genuinely happy for the students of Alpha Secondary and the equipment we had received, hoping that like instruments had done for her, the ones we had won would give us the opportunity to produce the music we want to hear and express what was within us. With her inspiring words, it was clear that Lights was indeed an appropriate advocate for MusiCounts’ mandate of: ‘Enlighten. Empower. Elevate.’
 

Lights - Drive My Soul