| November 24th, 2005 03:23 PM |
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| moy |
Stones-struck teacher a class hero
'Greatest band' funds Canadian teacher award
Norman McIntosh's students `awestruck' by tale
Nov. 22, 2005. 06:51 AM
VIT WAGNER
POP MUSIC CRITIC
It isn't every high school music teacher who can summon the undivided attention of his class by reciting a private conversation with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. But then, Norman McIntosh is not just any high school music teacher.
MusicCan Teacher of the Year, Norman McIntosh (centre), and his wife Barbara pose with the Rolling Stones backstage at Rogers Centre. McIntosh is the first winner of the award. Bob Ezrin, a member of the MusicCan committee, is on his right.
McIntosh, a staff member at Confederation Secondary School in Val Caron, Ont., is the first recipient of the MusiCan Teacher of the Year Award, a prize administered by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and bankrolled for its first year by the Rolling Stones. The winner receives a statuette hand-crafted by Shirley Elford, designer of the Juno Award, $10,000 cash, another $10,000 for his school's music program and an all-expenses paid trip to next year's Junos in Halifax.
The official announcement won't be made until later today, but McIntosh has known about the honour for a couple of months. It was why he met backstage with the Stones during the band's Sept. 26 concert at Rogers Centre.
"They congratulated me on the award," said McIntosh yesterday on the phone from Val Caron, 19 kilometres north of Sudbury. "I shook hands with all of them. They were very genuine.
"Keith put his arm around me and said, `I'm still learning about music every day.'"
McIntosh used the anecdote to motivate his students, without entirely explaining the circumstances: "I just said, `Bob Ezrin invited us down for the concert and guess what happened? I met the Stones.'
"They were all completely awestruck that their music teacher had met the greatest band in the world. They wanted to hear every little detail."
The Toronto-bred Ezrin, a Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee who has produced albums by Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel and Kiss, is on the committee for MusiCan, the CARAS initiative that administers the prize. He used his long-time friendship with Stones tour manager Michael Cohl, another Toronto native, to bring the band on board.
"I shook hands with all of them. They were very genuine."
Norman McIntosh, on meeting the Stones
Since 1997 CARAS has donated more than $1 million to school music programs across the country, mostly through Band Aid, which awards grants of $10,000 to schools for instruments.
"If you go to the Band Aid presentations and listen to the artists talk about what inspired them, there is always a story about a spectacular music teacher," said CARAS president Melanie Berry. "The award grew out of that."
McIntosh, 51, has taught for 26 years. In addition to his regular classroom duties, he runs an after-school credit program involving a 24-piece rock band, including a 14-strong horn section, and a 16-member stage crew. The band rehearses from October to March and then performs 12 to 14 shows at schools in the region from March until June.
"The fact that the program happens to be a rock program might be a bit controversial, but it shouldn't be," said Ezrin. "Under Norm's direction, the kids have to create a whole performance, from the choreography to the lighting. And they have to run it as a business. These are phenomenal life skills they are learning.
"There are thousands of great teachers. We tried to pick the person we felt most exemplified them as a group. We picked Norm for his dedication, his resourcefulness, his passion, his commitment and for going way above and beyond the call of duty for more than 25 years."
The Confederation Secondary School repertoire includes songs by heavyweights U2 and the Rolling Stones, as well as Canadian upstarts The Trews, all chosen and arranged by McIntosh.
"I decide what is going to be played," he said. "I tried letting the kids choose and I got 20,000 suggestions."
McIntosh, who will fly to Toronto today to receive the award, said his wife and three children have already decided how to spend his $10,000. And the school's share?
"The money will definitely be used for upgrading the equipment, so that many kids — for many years to come — can benefit."
Additional articles by Vit Wagner |
| November 24th, 2005 06:48 PM |
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| corgi37 |
What a great bloke, and what a great band. |
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