How music provides harmony in the divided world of politics – iPolitics.ca

There’s a special resonance to the holiday season in Ottawa, and Andrea McCrady is partly responsible. 

“Bells and Christmas are usually in the same sentence, whether it’s the poor Salvation Army guy ringing bells to get people to put money in the pot, or bells in church towers,” says Parliament Hill’s resident carillonneur.

Since 2008, McCrady, a physician-turned musician, has been in charge of the carillon and its 53 bells, which form the soundtrack of Ottawa’s political landscape.

The carillon is an elaborate instrument. Weighing in at 55 tonnes, the one on Parliament Hill has been playing to Ottawans (and visitors) since 1927, and McCrady delights in her role. 

“I definitely think of myself as playing for everybody out there,” she says, citing William Lyon Mackenzie King’s dedication speech, which referred to the instrument as the “voice of a nation.”

For that reason, McCrady programs her repertoire carefully. If a tune that’s adapted for the carillon has lyrics, they can’t be controversial; people might be humming or singing along. 

The repertoire also observes important Canadian dates, be they celebratory or sombre. On music legend Gordon Lightfoot’s birthday on Nov. 17, for instance, she’ll play The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Did She Mention My Name, or Canadian Railroad Trilogy. And on Dec. 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (also called White Ribbon Day), she might play Beverley McKiver’s Blue Flag Iris or Sarah McLachlan’s I Will Remember You, among others.

But other than the sixth, December is a festive month, starting with a day of songs devoted to Hanukkah, among them klezmer music. On Dec. 2, she plays Canadian carols, including Joni Mitchell’s River, a traditional Mohawk carol, and carols from French-speaking Canada. Other days have seasonal themes, such as tree-trimming on Dec. 3 (The Holly and the Ivy, Deck the Halls), holiday wish lists on Dec. 9 (My Favorite Things, I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas) — and, of course, songs with bells in them, on Dec. 7 (Silver Bells, Jingle Bell Rock).

While McCrady makes sure to take a non-partisan approach to the job, for some politicos, music is always a universal language. And while the bells might be associated with the legislature — whether it’s the carillon or notification that a motion is coming to a vote — music of all kinds makes its way into the political world.

Longtime Liberal MP Herb Gray was a very good pianist. So is Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who also trained in classic choral singing at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Choir School, so he knows his Christmas music. (This reporter attended the same school, and happened to take piano lessons from the mother of Jeremy Broadhurst, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s current chief of staff.) NDP MP Charlie Angus and former NDP MP Andrew Cash have extensive musical backgrounds, including playing together in the Camus-inspired punk-rock band L’Étranger in the ’80s. 

“Music has a unifying power, sort of bringing harmony where there’s discord,” said Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

When he’s particularly stressed at work, Lecce can sometimes be caught late at night retiring to the legislature’s piano, where, thanks to years of practice and music theory, he can riff a new tune on the spot as a little personal therapy. “It was really a release for me,” he said of turning to the piano during tense contract negotiations with teachers, or to unwind at home after a long day.

As it happens, the piano at Queen’s Park is near NDP offices. But when Lecce is tickling the ivories, the partisan rancor dissolves. “It’s a powerful lesson of how music can be such a unifying force in what can be a very divisive place,” he observes, adding that Progressive Conservatives like Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, Energy Minister Todd Smith, MPP Sam Oosterhoff, and MPP John Yakabuski are also talented musicians.

“I’m sure we could form some good cover bands,” he says of the talent at Queen’s Park, adding that Journey’s rock anthem Don’t Stop Believin’ would be a good choice — though any performance would have to be free, he says, because no one would pay to see such a thing.

And as much as music provides safe territory, where bonding can occur in a partisan world, above all, it helps to keep Lecce grounded.

“A lot of my Christmas experiences were around the piano,” he says of the memories the music brings back. “In a weird way, it reminds me of when life was simple: when I was with my family, my parents.” 

This article was first published in the iPolitics Holiday Magazine that was printed in early December.    

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