The Arthur W. Delamont Foundation for the past 30 years through Christopher Best has been researching, writing and publishing books on the B.C. Band Movement, public school music educators and music education in British Columbia. It is presently bringing the story to life on skytrain billboards around Metro Vancouver, to engage and inform the public about the powerful musical legacy that Vancouver has known over the decades.

The B.C. Band Movement started in 1928 with Arthur Delamont. Hundreds of boys passed through the Arthur Delamont School of Musical Knowledge over 65 years. His bands were the benchmark for all other bands. He was the first to develop a feeder school system that trained younger boys so they could move up to his Kitsilano Boys Band one day. He was the first to tour extensively with his band on trips that lasted from three to five months.

His boys went on to become the who’s who of Canada’s musical establishment leading dance bands and orchestras, teaching in schools and playing professionally at all levels. He had a vision that boys could play as well as adults and he proved it in the middle of the depression by competing at the Crystal Palace in London, England and taking first place against 35 of Britian’s finest collier bands.

In the 1960s, many of his boys were instrumental in getting band onto the curriculum of B.Cs public schools, where it has remained ever since. His boys went on to become public school music teachers as well.

The history of the BC Band Movement and bands in our public schools is important because in 2025 we live in a throw away society, If you don’t like something you throw it away regardless of its potential or longevity. With the advent of the computer, we don’t need to take the time to develop reading skills or cognitive skills because everything is instantaneous. None of this develops the person and makes us better more compassionate human beings.

Canada went from a pluralistic society to a multicultural society in just a decade in the seventies. New people bring in new ideas and values and often want to change everything rather than build on what is already in place. Part of the problem is not knowing what was already in place which is why developing a concise history on the value of music education of our youth is so important. It has a 100 year old history in Metro Vancouver.

This year in 2025, administrators in four school districts cut Grade 7 band programs in Surrey, Burnaby, Maple Ridge and Merritt (Maple Ridge has since gotten a one year reprieve). There is a reason they cut Grade 7 band because without a steady flow of new students into the high school music programs, class sizes will go down and then administrators will have the legal right to cut the band programs.

This has to change and the only way to change it is by building public support for bands in BCs public schools. This means informing the public of the great legacy of BC bands in Metro Vancouver and the great legacy of bands in our public schools which have been going strong now for 60 years!