Sounds for Soldiers: Emily Armour’s Music for Veterans Project connects young musicians with military vets
Music alum Emily Armour with Pipe Major Roger McGuire of the Canadian Scottish Regiment
(Princess Mary’s) at 2024’s 80th anniversary of D-Day event at Victoria’s Bay Street Armoury
When it comes to honouring veterans, many people wear a poppy on November 11 and then literally call it a day. Emily Armour created the Music for Veterans Project as a cross-generational way to honour soldiers year-round. Armour’s program involves sharing profiles of a member of the Canadian military with a young musician. The youth then creates an original musical composition to honour that person.
“It’s wonderful that we all unite and honour veterans in November, but it’s important to have other moments throughout the year to make them feel special as well,” Armour says.
Now in its fourth year, the Music for Veterans Project (MVP) provides meaningful connections between Armour’s students and Canadian veterans. Over 100 pieces have been written by students ranging in age from 18 to just five years old. These works honour both deceased and living veterans, including those who still are on active duty or have served as reservists.
“What makes this project unique is that every piece is inspired by and dedicated to an individual person,” she says.
Honouring the past
The program started as a Remembrance Day event but has since grown in scope. “There are a lot of activities out there for youth around Remembrance Day, but there isn’t always an opportunity to do something focused on an individual,” says Armour. “Like many of us, some of my students may have had relatives who served, but do they know a veteran who’s alive? Have they ever spoken to one? Have they ever heard a veteran talk about anything — even just about themselves? Through this project, the students are suddenly realizing just how different veterans are.”
Armour is a professional piano teacher who received both her Bachelor’s (2012) and Master’s (2017) from UVic’s School of Music, where she primarily studied with famed professor Bruce Vogt. Her family’s strong ties to the Canadian Armed Forces inspired the project.
“Not only was my husband in the military, but my grandmother served overseas during World War II: she was a physiotherapist in England and Germany between 1944 and 1945. I’ve seen how important and valuable it is for veterans and people in the Canadian Forces to have these moments of acknowledgment and positive recognition— but it’s just so amazing when it’s coming from youth.”
Composing from memory
Averaging between one and four minutes in length, each simple but evocative composition is inspired by an information package compiled by Armour. Veterans are chosen through a mix of word-of-mouth and organizational outreach. The creative lens is strictly focused on the soldier as a person: no additional historical information is added to the profile the student receives.
“There’s a lot of love, thought and care that goes into the process,” she says. “It’s emotional for everybody, because it’s so personal: even the titles of some compositions are drawn right from the material. It’s a very personal acknowledgment, as opposed to giving a drawing of a poppy to a veteran . . . which may be fantastic, but it lacks the personal acknowledgment music has.”
The compositions are always instrumentals with the idea of allowing the listener to conjure their own thoughts and feelings from the piece. She feels the greatest value is not actually the music itself: it’s why the music is written.
“As artists, it’s always kind of about us—what can this do for me and my career and my voice—but this is decidedly not about them; it’s for the person who gave their life in France during WWII, or whenever. It taps into something deeper because they’re doing it for somebody else.”
Memory beyond life
The age range of the veterans honoured reflects Canada’s involvement with international conflicts, from World War I to today’s peacekeepers. The program has honoured two living centenarians and a 35-year-old Afghanistan veteran—with a century’s worth of soldiers in-between.
Armour says it’s been a positive experience for her students. They receive a certificate signed by the veteran or partner organization and often get to professionally record the music. The veterans receive a copy of the music.
Many pieces are quietly reflective, with titles like “Beyond the Fray”, “Remembering a Hero” or “The Sacrifice for Freedom” (all of which can be heard at musicforveteransproject.com, many paired with a photo of the veteran). But Armour highlights one light-hearted piece called “Ballad for Seanmhair” (Gaelic for “grandmother”), which was composed for the 2024 80th anniversary of D-Day.
“The title seems very strange for a commemorative piece about a soldier, but his next-of-kin was his grandmother: that was the person who would have been informed of his death. I was so proud of my student for thinking about the impact of their service. It shows how this project can help heal and unite people from such different worlds, both historically and emotionally.”
Looking to the future, Armour has now established MVP as a federal not-for-profit and is opening participation to other piano teachers; they’ve also started working on projects that are both larger and more national in scope.
“Last year we did an event at the Royal Oak Burial Park in Saanich: it was our first public event and we had a ceremony at the war graves plot featuring a procession with Vice Regal Piper Ken Wilson, a group of active Air Force members and WWII pilot George Brewster as a guest speaker,” she recalls. “My students announced the names of the veterans and the title of their pieces; then, as we played professional recordings of the music, they lay the sheet music on the graves.”
Armour and four of her students were also thrilled to attend a 2023 event at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, where audience included Indigenous elders, ambassadors and other dignitaries. “That was a life-altering experience,” she says about watching her student play pieces honouring three Indigenous veterans, as well as former Senator Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire.“
Veterans Wendy Jocko (third from left), Lance Corporal McParlon (in uniform) & Emily Armour with students in Ottawa
Growing commemoration
Currently, the Music for Veterans Project is involved in two new efforts: the Honouring Garden, created in collaboration with Nova Scotia’s Veteran Farm Project Society to commemorate women veterans, and Oaks of Remembrance, a unique living memorial marking the 110th anniversary of World War I’s Battle of Kitcheners’ Wood.
Part digital and part environmental, Oaks of Remembrance will see new Garry oak trees planted at Saanich’s Royal Oak Burial Park, where current trees will also be designated as memorials for individual veterans; the public will then be able to go online to hear the musical compositions and learn about both the veteran and the student.
“Oaks of Remembrance will commemorate members of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, Vancouver Island’s only infantry unit, who wear an oak leaf battle honour on their uniform representing this 1915 battle in Belgium — they’re one of the few units in the whole Commonwealth who actually wear a battle honour on their uniform,” Armour explains. “And since Royal Oak Burial Park already has a connection with the Commonwealth War Grave Commission, it’s going to be a beautiful fusion of nature and music that will stand forever as a fully embodied remembrance.”
The sound of history
When asked if she has a favourite moment over the last four years, Armour hesitates. “I don’t know if there could be just one, there have been so many: seeing tears in the eyes of a veteran as they listen to the music, talking to a family member about somebody who recently passed away . . . it all reminds me of how important this project is.”
As a veteran told Armour after hearing the piece composed for him, “You and your students have no idea how much this piece of music means to me, and I will use this gift to get me through some of the tougher days ahead.”
