'To learn music in a musical environment'

Park in the lot the school shares with the Al Anderson outdoor pool, and you're at the door of one of the largest non-profit music schools in B.C. Inside the 19,000-square-foot building in City Park, lessons run from baby music classes and Suzuki violin to full orchestras.

It started with five people: Marilyn Lamont, Linda Bickerton-Ross, Leonard Woods, Peter Ewart and Dr. Keith Lamont. The school's history page says they wanted students “to learn music in a musical environment,” rather than in the isolation of private home studios.

In 1969, Langley Community Music School opened its doors to 28 young musicians. It exists because five people decided Langley's young musicians shouldn't have to learn alone.

A model, a 'no' from council, and a gift

It almost didn't happen in the park at all. According to a 2015 Kwantlen Polytechnic University release, Ewart first dreamed of an arts centre on his own five-acre property and built a model, but council turned it down over zoning and suggested City Park instead. Dr. Lamont then offered to pay to build the arts centre and donate it to the city.

The school says the building was “financed and built by Dr. Lamont and Peter Ewart and gifted to the City of Langley.” It became a non-profit society in 1972. When it ran out of room, senior Industrial Arts students at Langley Secondary built it a portable. In 1981 Shell Oil gave it an old Christian Science church building, which was moved to the site and became the “Auditorium.”

In 2015 KPU gave all five founders honorary degrees. “Without the founders' vision, collaborative effort, high degree of co-operation, diligence and perseverance, the arts centre and ultimately the music school may never have come to fruition,” said Barry Hill, a past LCMS president. Of the five, only Linda Bickerton-Ross isn't marked as deceased on the school's founders page. Hearing her memories of those first classes is the first thing we'd ask for.

From Grade 2 piano student to principal

The school has a habit of keeping its people. Susan Magnusson told the Langley Advance Times in 2019 that she moved to Walnut Grove in 1973 and saw an open house in the paper. “I attended the open house, met one of the founders Marilyn Lamont and was invited to join the faculty.” She later became the school's long-serving principal.

Her successor, Carolyn Granholm, started piano lessons at the school in Grade 2, became a teacher there and took over as principal in 2018. “What always impressed me was the spirit, enthusiasm, and passion of the teachers,” she told the paper.

A concert hall in the park

The current building opened in 2001 on the same City Park site, after a long capital campaign. It holds Rose Gellert Hall, a 250-seat concert venue, where the school's Rose Gellert Hall and Concerts Café Classico series bring Canadian and international artists, local musicians and LCMS faculty to the stage.

The school also commissions new music. By its 50th anniversary it had commissioned more than 40 works. “Our history of support for Canadian music makes LCMS very unique,” Granholm told the Aldergrove Star in 2019.

'A joy watching the children'

Programs run from babies to seniors: early learning, Suzuki, private lessons, choirs, jazz and string ensembles, and adult classes. As a registered charity, the school offers scholarships and bursaries. Cellist Ian Hampton, who joined in 1979, told the Vancouver Sun in 2019 that “The word 'community' is a very important part of our name.”

It also runs free family events, like an annual open house where kids can try the instruments. “It's always a pleasure to share music with the community, and a joy watching the children having fun learning about and trying different instruments,” Granholm told the Aldergrove Star in 2026.

The best way in is the same one Magnusson found back in 1973: a concert or an open house. Check the events page on langleymusic.com, park by the pool and walk in.

Photos: Langley Community Music School.