CentreVisits Program in Toronto

The Canadian Music Centre (CMC) CentreVisits program, which is open to music instructors and their students, is designed specifically to help build awareness, strengthen understanding and increase appreciation of Canadian composers and their work.

Through professionally guided use of the CMC’s unique collections, customized assignment packages and composer-led workshops at the CMC National Library in Toronto, students can be introduced to samples of the CMC’s growing collection of 20,000 works by over 700 Canadian composers. If desired, classes may also add a composer-led learning session to their workshop experience.

For more information, or to make arrangements for your own CentreVisit, contact CMC-Ontario at 416-961-6601 ext. 207 or ontario@musiccentre.ca .

A Song to Share

"To Our Canadian Troops" Commemorative CD song project supports our Canadian Forces members, their families our Veterans and the Military Families Fund. Beginning through advanced band arrangements are available at http://www.toourcanadiantroops.ca . This project is endorsed by the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, General Walt Natynczyk, Chief of the Defence Staff, General(Ret) Rick Hillier, The Royal Canadian Legion and The Naden Band of Maritime Forces Pacific.

Dennis Leclair, singer/songwriter has been invited to perform "To Our Canadian Troops" for Prime Minster Stephen Harper and 1600 guests at the True Patriot Love Gala in Toronto on November 10th. The 7th Toronto Regiment, RCA Band and Fern Hill Choir will accompany Dennis during this performance. As a former band teacher, Dennis hopes that music teachers across Canada embrace this song as our Canadian anthem to be performed at Remembrance Day and special occasions to welcome our troops home safe.

Roster of Artist to Visit Your Schools

Liven up the creative experience for your students, bringing new perspective, skills and inspiration with a guest artist in your classroom.

The Ontario Arts Council is happy to present the Artists in Education Roster and the Aboriginal Artists in Schools Roster. The roster is available to teachers working at elementary or secondary schools registered with the Ontario Ministry of Education, or federally funded.

For more information please click here.
To browse the 2009-2010 Rosters please click here.

Native Drums/Native Dance Curriculum for your Classroom

Add native drums and/or native dance to your classroom by visiting these websites which provide lively curriculum materials. The websites also feature stories, myths, music, interviews, and videos from selected First Peoples’ cultures across Canada. These materials bring to life the important role of music and dance in the cultures of First Peoples’ of Canada.

nativedrums.ca
Teacher Resources Kits for secondary levels directly related to provincial curricula including lesson plans, references to background materials, in-class exercises, quizzes, and grading rubrics.

nativedance.ca
Contains more extensive teaching materials along with a comparison of the provincial/territorial requirements at both elementary and secondary levels.

Music Advocacy Begins at the Front of the Classroom

John Phillips wrote an excellent article on music advocacy for the Canadian Music Educator (Volume 50 – Number 3, Spring 2009) in which he states that “music advocacy begins at the front of the classroom” and then challenges all music educators “to develop a plan for efficacy in order to maintain and develop continued interest and growth in their program(s).” Read the full article here.

John Phillips is currently serving as Education Officer responsible for the revisions to the Ontario Arts Curriculum 9-12. He teaches undergraduate music education classes at York University and the University of Toronto. He is also a PhD candidate in Musicology at York University.

The NAC Musicbox

The National Arts Centre has launched the NAC Musicbox, a first-of-its-kind, online music archive of National Arts Centre Orchestra recordings as part of ArtsAlive.ca, the NAC’s award-winning performing arts educational website. The NAC Musicbox is an online music collection with a player that allows users to search, create playlists and stream more than 150 select archival performances by the NAC Orchestra from the past 40 years. The website also contains a virtual music exhibit that enriches the music collection with an enticing array of related photos, essays about the historical background, ideas of what to listen for, and educational activities. Visit www.artsalive.ca.

Of Special Interest to Music Educators

Musical Futures
The 'Musical Futures' project is a £2m, four-year music education action research project created in England. The aim has been to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11-19, in music activities. Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, this project is a partnership between the Innovation Unit of the Department of Children, Schools and Families, Youth Music, and the Music Manifesto. In addition to ongoing research, the project has produced several copyright-free, downloadable resources available for use by educators around the world. For more information on this important project and to view and/or download Musical Futures practitioner resources, please visit http://www.musicalfutures.org.

NEW Canadian Jazz Resources Online

Canadian Jazz Archives Online
Explore 30 years of streaming jazz concerts, plus documentaries, photos, biographies, and chronologies of Canadian jazz. The CJA site also features curriculum-relevant teaching tools for your classroom, customized for Grades 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12.
www.jazzarchive.ca

JAZZ.FM91 Toronto Youth Jazz Ensemble
Recommend your most promising students for an audition. Students from across the city will come together at JAZZ.FM91 to rehearse with a renowned jazz educator, and perform throughout the year. Uniforms and instruments provided. Email community@jazz.fm for details.

Of Special Interest to Band Teachers

CBA ONLINE MUSIC THEORY PROGRAM
The CBA (Canadian Band Association) is pleased to announce that Level One of the new CBA Online Theory Program is now available at www.canadianband.ca.

The Online Theory Program is web based and does not need to be downloaded. Students can access the course anywhere there is internet access. The program is student and teacher friendly and correlates directly with the CBA Voluntary National Curriculum and Standards.

The course will include six levels. Level One (available now) is the equivalent of a preliminary theory course. A person completing Level Three will feel confident in completing a university music department theory entrance exam. Level Six will be the equivalent of the RCM Grade 2 Theory exam.

The program is initially being introduced in two phases.
» Phase 1 (FREE) allows students to complete assignments on computer and receive their score immediately. The first of the six levels is now online.
» Phase 2 will allow a teacher electronic access to each student’s assignment and test scores. Everything is self-evaluating. A modest school user fee will cover the administrative costs of entering each student’s name into the program. Phase 2 is currently under development.

Of special Interest to Band and Percussion Teachers

The Band Teacher’s Percussion Guide: Insights into Teaching and Playing Percussion at www.stewarthoffmanmusic.com/band-teachers-guide.php is a new, online resource developed specifically for junior high and high school band directors.

The Band Teacher’s Percussion Guide explains orchestral percussion and drum set techniques, provides marking schemes, guidelines for student evaluation and valuable articles and suggestions as to how you can most effectively incorporate percussion into your programme.

You’ll also find free, downloadable percussion duets and ensemble music complete with written notes on performance and suggestions for evaluation.

And should you have any questions of your own, Stewart Hoffman, a percussionist and former high school band director, will be happy to answer them.

To visit The Band Teacher’s Percussion Guide, go to www.stewarthoffmanmusic.com/band-teachers-guide.php and follow the link at the top of the page. To receive the latest articles and downloads, contact Stewart at info@stewarthoffmanmusic.com to be placed on the mailing list.

Of Special Interest to Music Educators

Baroque Adventure: the Quest for Arundo Donax is a wonderful CD for music-lovers of all ages and will be of particular interest to teachers of Grade 4-6 students as a lively introduction to the joys of baroque music and the world that created it.

The Coalition for Music Education in Canada is pleased to welcome the partnership of Tafelmusik and Analekta with the release of Baroque Adventure: The Quest for Arundo Donax. This new CD box set featuring the celebrated Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra will entice the imagination of young listeners and their parents alike!

An enthralling orchestral escapade in 18th-century Europe, Baroque Adventure: The Quest for Arundo Donax comprises 2 CDs featuring a story filled with adventure and intrigue superbly narrated by Blair Williams (in English) and by Albert Millaire (in French), with music clips underlining the action, brilliantly delivered by Tafelmusik. A bilingual 20-page, full-colour booklet featuring striking illustrations by Katy Lemay (using her distinctive eye-catching collage technique) is included, along with Baroque Delights - one of Tafelmusik's most popular recordings previously released by Analekta.

Both Tafelmusik and Analekta are committed to a long-term collaboration to introduce Canadian children and students to Baroque and Classical music. Baroque Adventure: The Quest for Arundo Donax is the first of several recordings in the new TafelKIDS^TM series. Analekta has created a new partnership with the Coalition for Music Education in Canada and will donate $1 from each CD sold in Canada. The Coalition for Music Education in Canada believes that music is key - to learning and to life. Contributions through this wonderful project help us continue to do the important work that needs to be done to help save music programs in our schools. Increasing public awareness and education, providing support to teachers and parents, working with many organizations across the country - all are important mandates for the Coalition that can be sustained with your support. The Coalition is grateful to Tafelmusik and Analekta for helping us continue to make a sustained and significant impact on public attitudes towards music education in Canada.

Ingrid Whyte, executive director of the Coalition has this to say about the Baroque Adventure CD, "It's not simply about listening to music but about engaging kids in music and all that it offers. Music creates context for history and cultural awareness. Music stimulates the imagination and paints vivid pictures in the mind that words can often not convey. The Quest for Arundo Donax does this all beautifully - with humour, with excitement, with mystery, with suspense - and, of course, with superb musical selections and performances. Thank you, Tafelmusik, for opening the door to the joys of baroque music to a new generation, with the first of what we hope will be many TafelKIDS experiences on CD."

Baroque Adventure : The Quest for Arundo Donax
Arundo donax is a bamboo-like plant native to France that is used to make reeds for musical instruments like oboes and bassoons. In 1704, Queen Anne of England is distraught: at war with France, the English are fast running out of arundo donax. When it's all gone, so is the music! So the Queen sends two of her youngest subjects, Frances and Edward Purcell (children of the late composer Henry Purcell) on a quest for the famous plant. The journey takes them from Venice to Versailles. Along the way, they meet Antonio Vivaldi and Louis XIV, but also spies and many dangers. Will the youngsters succeed in their quest?

Baroque Adventure : The Quest for Arundo Donax (cf. AN 2 9832) is available as of November 1, 2005 and retails for $24.99 (GST and S/H extra). Orders may be placed online (non-member pricing) or retailers across Canada. Coalition members receive special pricing of $19.99 (GST and S/H extra). Place your order online (member pricing) or email your order to info@coalitionformusiced.ca.

For further details, please visit www.analekta.com/Tafelkids.

www.analekta.com
www.tafelmusik.org