When I was in senior school, grades seven and eight, a music teacher visited as extra-curricular activity.
He sold violins, and if you bought one you could be part of an after-school music class.
In high school there was music as a class, and after the board of education changed that to a credit system,
where you could chose between extra classes, such as art and music, it became a credit.
When I was in grade eleven the provincial government sold out the music stores and instrument makers of Ontario,
taking out all the instruments in schools and provincially funded venues, becoming all Yamaha.
If a music store let Yamaha put their name on the sign Yamaha would supply a new sign for free, even illuminated signs.
The most recent trend in music is the American news that dominates North America.
Music is seen to be unnecessary, and at the worst, pop songs sing about being a musician as being gay.
Now it's all about technology and self-recording, not getting out in bands onstage.
However, what is a special musical treat for me here in the Niagara Peninsula, a place of great wealth,
are the outdoor bandstands and open air venues that are usually empty when I'm there.
I can stand onstage at the greatest point of acoustic reflection and sing and play my heart out.
A few times, on the bandstand at Queenston Heights on top of the escarpment in the park,
performers from the Shaw Festival show up to sing and play, getting away from the public.
I spent an afternoon in the tent with teachers from a new college of music and recording,
when they were working sound for a Niagara Falls event featuring their student graduates,
and everyone agreed it was about using technology to help other people record,
because there isn't the live music scene for professional musicians there used to be.
There is a passage in the Holy Bible in English that describes the downfall of a nation.
It says one of the first signs of depravity and decay,
is the fact that children aren't singing and dancing in the streets.
That hasn't happened in a long time, out in public, and even professionals are staying in.
Here in the Niagara Peninsula, if you throw musical instruments out with the garbage,
they are sorted and sent to music stores and organizations that have signed up for them.
That includes the computers and technology to record.
If you ever hear of a guitarist who stood out in the water at Niagara Falls, above the Falls,
with a water-wheel between his legs to power the portable amp for his electric guitar,
you'll know it's me. Call me "Water Wheel Watt" if you want to, or Riverend John.
You do know me. I'll have a lot to say.
