Music

Wintersleep performs 'Weighty Ghost' with high school music class

The Juno-winning band thrilled Edmonton music students on recent tour stop.

The Juno-winning band thrilled Edmonton music students on recent tour stop

Students from J. Percy Page high school play their cover of the hit song Weighty Ghost with Wintersleep, the band who created it. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

Last year, the senior music class at J. Percy Page High School in Edmonton beat out hundreds of other music programs across the country when they won first place in the 2018 Canadian Music Class Challenge in the high school senior vocal category.

They earned top honours for their spot-on rendition of Wintersleep's 2007 hit "Weighty Ghost." 

First prize was $5,000 in new music equipment for their school, and a plaque.

The members of Wintersleep were so impressed with J. Percy Page's winning entry that they decided to sweeten the prize. At the band's recent tour stop in Edmonton, they invited the students to join them to perform "Weighty Ghost" onstage.

The fact that they let us play with them was just so crazy.- Amber Lee, Edmonton high school student

CBC Edmonton was there to capture the moment.

The students were thrilled at the opportunity to perform with the band.

"The fact that they let us play with them was just so crazy," extolled J. Percy Page student Amber Lee. "We've been so excited about it for so long, so it's really cool to be able to experience that."

Earlier this year, the music students from J. Percy Page high school in Edmonton joined Wintersleep on stage for a performance of the band's hit single "Weighty Ghost." (Jacob Feniak)

Over 1,000 Canadian music classes signed up for the 2018 Canadian Music Class Challenge. Every year, CBC Music in association with MusiCounts — the charity of the Juno Awards — launches the Challenge to engage music classes across the country with Canadian music. 

The official song list for the 2019 Challenge will be released in June.