“May There Always Be Sunshine”

Hello My Friends,

“May There Always BeSunshine” is a song written and composed by BC’s own, Charlotte Diamond.  Watch & listen to this composer performing it.  See if you can sing-along as a way to honour your Mom or Mother-Figure in your life.   I have had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte Diamond twice and my family and I have seen her perform live at the Vancouver Children’s Festival and at other concert venues in Vancouver, over the years.  I have a really special connection to her because of one of my most special Aunt’s,  who was an AMAZING  Grade 3 Teacher in Vancouver, and who passed away in August 2018.

When I sing this song I always think of my wonderful Mom (who is also a retired Elementary School Teacher) and I also think of my Aunt because she was like a mother to me too.  She always treated me more like a daughter, than a niece.              My Aunt Susie  (who I called “Pooha”  [often spelled Bhua]) was approached by Charlotte Diamond to translate this song into Punjabi, sometime in the 1990’s.      In this version, recorded in 1987, you don’t hear the Punjabi verse.  However, Charlotte does sing her song in many other languages in this video.   After listening to the song, see if you can sing along to one or more of the verses.  If you speak a language other than English, see if you can sing the song in the language that you speak!      

I met Charlotte Diamond for the second time in October 2019 at the BC Music Educators’ Association Annual Conference in October 2019, where Charlotte was the Key Note Speaker.  She made such an INSPIRING speech and she performed for us, in her signature style!  Her words, from one music educator to another, resonated very deeply with me and I felt so completely heartened and affirmed about the power of music and about the power of music education.  I will always admire the beautiful soul that she is!!!

Hopefully, you have been able to watch the videos that I shared in the two posts that I published last week.  One of the songs was of a video from The Muppets Show called, “Sing.”  Here is a video that I made of me singing that song, written and composed by Joe Raposo.  I invite you to sing along with me!

Click HERE to access another great website to explore music-making games at PBS Kids.

I would LOVE to hear from you!  Please leave me a comment about this or any previous blog post.  Of course, if you have any questions, you may also email me at:  Ravena.Berar@burnabyschools.ca  If you feel like responding to any of the songs that I have shared, please feel free to do so in the following ways:

1.   After listening to or singing a song, make a picture of how the music makes you feel.  Take a photo and send it to me.

2.  Create a 3-dimensional sculpture with items from your home, such as lego bricks, blocks or small toys.  Be as creative as you like, but be sure that you have permission to do so by asking your adults first!

In the coming weeks, my plan is to create a password protected page to display digital pictures of student artwork or photos that families can send to me by email.  Once I create this page within my blog, I will email families individually to give you the password to access this page.  All parents in divisions 14 through 21 will be able to login to see the art or student photos.  However, no one will be able to access this page unless they have the password.  I will only share the password with families in divisions 14 through 21, for security reasons.

Stay well everyone and remember to… BREATHE…

Have a wonderful week ahead!