Every July, MusiCounts highlights our donors and partners that support our mission to make music education accessible across Canada. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to those that help make MusiCounts what it is today.

Meet Andrea England from CMRRA — outside of her daily job, she founded a songwriters show called Four Chords and the Truth. Starting this year, MusiCounts is the charitable beneficiary.

What part of MusiCounts’ mission do you resonate with the most?

MusiCounts’ important interaction with students — future generations of potential creators and musicians — at a pivotal time in their lives: supporting their creative expression by giving them access to instruments, and the space in which to explore and develop their artistry, is so critical…also, providing equity to budding creators, whether it be within a classroom or within a remote or rural community where it may not have previously existed, really resonates with me.

I come from a very small town on the east coast of Nova Scotia; and although we had a very small school, we had a full music program. If it were not for that music program, those music teachers, and also my parents’ ability to buy a keyboard for me, I might not be doing what I'm doing. I think back to “What if I didn't have the program?” or “What if my parents couldn't afford to buy me the keyboard that I needed? Where would I be?” I feel like MusiCounts steps into that gap for so many students. Where parents or communities or schools are unable to provide for whatever reason, where there's no fully equipped music program, there's still a chance.

That's an amazing answer. I hear that a lot, too. Without the public school system, how much would I know about music? For a lot of people, that's what introduces them to music in the first place.

Yes, and then there’s the matter of mental health, and the healthy outlet and social interaction that can provide kids. The issues young people face these days, with the addition of online bullying and pressure, and the interruption and isolation the pandemic caused…music is not a substitute for mental health care, but it can support mental wellness. Music creation and/or performance can allow kids to express themselves in a way that can feel really safe and producer. I've been (and still am) a musician, music educator and presenter, and a music business educator; so supporting MusiCounts just feels like a really natural step for me.

Tell us about how you help raise funds for MusiCounts? What's your experience been like?

We're just starting, because we developed this relationship just prior to my first official MusiCounts event, which was the most recent installment of Four Chords and the Truth, a songwriter series I founded, curate, host, and present at TD Music Hall here in Toronto within the Massey Hall/Allied Music Centre complex. I grew up in Atlantic Canada where songwriter circles are really common in the community, more so than in the rest of Canada where they often occur as part of industry conferences or festivals…of course, the JUNOS have a great annual songwriter showcase which they produce in conjunction with the Awards each year…but there wasn’t really a regular, non-industry, multi-genre songwriter showcase in Toronto, so I founded one at Dakota Tavern in 2015 to share some of the songs my cowriters and I were writing. It's amassed quite a following and has become a favorite event for songwriters to play, and that’s only grown since we moved to TD Music Hall post-pandemic. I've been fortunate to have featured over 130 songwriters, and dozens and dozens of JUNO Award winners, Hall of Fame members… We have also been blessed to have surprise guests at every show: the very first was Serena Ryder and the most recent was Aysanabee.

Our 10th anniversary show in May marked the beginning of our support for MusiCounts (after 10 years of supporting the Unison Fund) and the MusiCounts team and I worked together to create a donation page that specifically allows people to donate musical instruments and tools that songwriters typically use, including digital audio workstations (DAWs), keyboards, guitars, ukuleles (the first instrument for many kids) and lyric notebooks. I also manufactured co-branded MusiCounts x Four Chords and the Truth notebooks to sell at the event with all proceeds going to MusiCounts, along with posters signed by all each show’s featured songwriters . We made QR codes available at the merch booth and amplified MusiCounts and our giving page on stage.

We're just getting started and we hope to do bigger campaigns: my first goal is to fund an entire program.

Do you have any words of encouragement for those who are looking to fundraise for MusiCounts? Why should they partner with MusiCounts?

My advice on this might be more valuable years from now, but right now, it’s that every little bit counts. My philosophy for Four Chords and the Truth, which is stated on our site, is: “In everything we do, also do good”. Some people think “I can't raise money” or “I can't do something because it's only going to be $500, or $100 or—” No. Just start: everything you do matters, and almost everybody starts small. You don't have to wait until you know you can reach the lofty goal in your head…just by amplifying you can help a charity find the person or people who can help. If you have received from music, then you should give back to music.

That's amazing advice.

I get all teary when I think about it because I really do believe in it. I think of kids in the small towns or big cities who have never met anybody who does [music] for a living, and they probably sit there and wonder if they could do it. Maybe they don't have the mentorship early on, or give up before they are empowered to be who they really know they should be. I love that MusiCounts reaches out to those communities. That's the dream: to go to some of the communities that never get to see a Four Chords and the Truth or a JUNOS songwriter circle — let them be inspired by that, help them meet the songwriter who wrote one of their favourite songs, and let them know, one day, it can be them up there.

*Interview condensed for readability.

About Andrea England:

Andrea England is fully immersed in both the creative and business sides of the music industry. An award-winning singer-songwriter, she has released three albums of her own in addition to landing cuts/co-writes with JUNO & GRAMMY award winning artists. The founder, curator and host of Toronto’s critically-acclaimed songwriter series, Four Chords & the Truth, England is also the Associate Director of Publisher Engagement and Strategy at the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), a SoundExchange company, where she brings a unique and holistic perspective - as a creator, educator, and analyst - to support CMRRA’s publisher and self-published songwriter clients; a Director on the Board of the Songwriters Association of Canada (S.A.C.); and an active volunteer, songwriter mentor, creators’ advocate, and music industry educator.