Lola MacQuarrie

MacQuarrie, Lola

Lola (Frances Lane) MacQuarrie (b Smith). Educator, writer, b Winnipeg 30 Dec 1909, d there 24 Jan 1966; B SC (Manitoba) 1931. She was steadily involved in Winnipeg musical life after 1920, notably in the 1940s as choir director at Daniel McIntyre High School. Her choirs, with those of Gladys Anderson Brown at Kelvin Collegiate, set new provincial standards in their field. She became assistant director in 1947 and director in 1955 of music for Winnipeg schools, and in that position she revised the school music curriculum. She wrote and narrated many CBC school music broadcasts (notably 'Music for Juniors'), was co-author with Beth Douglas of Melody Makers, Treasure Tunes, and Happy Harmonies (Toronto 1959, 1961, 1965), and was an adjudicator of competition festivals throughout Manitoba. She was a founder (1959) and honorary president of the MMEA and president 1963-5 of the CMEA. The MMEA established a trust fund in her memory in 1966.

See also School music; School music broadcasts.