New song a tribute to local valour

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This article was published 08/11/2018 (2240 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A Tec Voc student is paying tribute to three of Winnipeg’s most recognizable soldiers with a song.

Fifteen-year-old Heidi Wright wrote the The Boys of Valour Road after driving past the large mural depicting Cpl. Leo Clarke, Sgt. Maj. Frederick William Hall and Lt. Robert Shankland at the corner of Ellice Avenue and Valour Road.

“I went home and I started researching and finding out who they were and I thought to myself that this would be a good Remembrance Day song to write,” Wright said.

The men lived on the same block of what was then called Pine Street and served in the First World War. All three were awarded the Victoria Cross — the highest medal awarded by the Government of Canada — for acts of bravery during the war.

“I just found that it was a cool coincidence and they all went to war and did these heroic things, they saved people and they put other people’s lives before them and I thought that was really touching,” she said.

Wright performed the song during her school’s Remembrance Day service on Nov. 9 and recorded a version of The Boys of Valour Road with the help of some of her classmates.

“They took the time to learn my song and I just think that’s so unreal,” she said.

The self-taught musician started writing original songs when she received a guitar for her 12th birthday. She released a CD earlier this year and had been working on The Boys of Valour Road since August.

Wright says she used the theme of colours to tie the song together with lyrics like “out of the blue, November rain” and “they had colours deep inside for which we have no names.”

“I used colours to represent how I thought they were feeling, like scared or mad or sad that they left their families to go to the war,” she said.

Tec Voc music teacher Jerry Semchyshyn has been teaching Wright for the last year and says he is impressed with her natural songwriting abilities.

“I think the neat thing that I admire about Heidi is that she understands that songwriting is more of a craft than a thing that happens out of the blue so she works on it consistently,” he said. “Her hard work is paying off and it’s nice to see her recognized.”

When she graduates high school, Wright says she wants to study music composition and become a music teacher “or maybe get discovered, that would be cool.”

A Tec Voc student is paying tribute to three of Winnipeg’s most recognizable soldiers with a song.

Fifteen-year-old Heidi Wright wrote the The Boys of Valour Road after driving past the large mural depicting Cpl. Leo Clarke, Sgt. Maj. Frederick William Hall and Lt. Robert Shankland at the corner of Ellice Avenue and Valour Road.

“I went home and I started researching and finding out who they were and I thought to myself that this would be a good Remembrance Day song to write,” Wright said.

The men lived on the same block of what was then called Pine Street and served in the First World War. All three were awarded the Victoria Cross — the highest medal awarded by the Government of Canada — for acts of bravery during the war.

“I just found that it was a cool coincidence and they all went to war and did these heroic things, they saved people and they put other people’s lives before them and I thought that was really touching,” she said.

Wright performed the song during her school’s Remembrance Day service on Nov. 9 and recorded a version of The Boys of Valour Road with the help of some of her classmates.

“They took the time to learn my song and I just think that’s so unreal,” she said.

The self-taught musician started writing original songs when she received a guitar for her 12th birthday. She released a CD earlier this year and had been working on The Boys of Valour Road since August.

Wright says she used the theme of colours to tie the song together with lyrics like “out of the blue, November rain” and “they had colours deep inside for which we have no names.”

“I used colours to represent how I thought they were feeling, like scared or mad or sad that they left their families to go to the war,” she said.

Tec Voc music teacher Jerry Semchyshyn has been teaching Wright for the last year and says he is impressed with her natural songwriting abilities.

“I think the neat thing that I admire about Heidi is that she understands that songwriting is more of a craft than a thing that happens out of the blue so she works on it consistently,” he said. “Her hard work is paying off and it’s nice to see her recognized.”

When she graduates high school, Wright says she wants to study music composition and become a music teacher “or maybe get discovered, that would be cool.”