creating

New publication out!

I am part of a five-year opera creation project Reflective Iterative Scenario Reenactments (RISE). I collaborated with Cynthia Kinnunen, a Laurier graduate student and an incredible music educator specializing in ukulele (although good at a lot of things!). Together we incorporated community members into the opera creation process of two projects. Cynthia and I found it really challenging to incorporate participatory music practices into the opera creation processes. In part, we began the project at the height of the pandemic, when no one could gather. Another difficult aspect is that even when gathering became possible, most of the project team… Read More »New publication out!

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Introducing The Gahu Project

I am thrilled to be leading the research component of The Gahu Project. The Gahu Project is a racial justice community music initiative in the Waterloo Region of Ontario that brings together youth, professional artists and arts organizations to explore and discover the music of Ghana. Through a series of workshops, high school students will engage in conversations about racial justice and learn Gahu, a recreational and social dance music of the Ewe people of Ghana which combines drumming, dancing and singing. The event will culminate on Music Monday (May 6) as over 400 local high school students will gather at Kitchener City Hall… Read More »Introducing The Gahu Project

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taking the risk in vocal improv

I was in Kananaskis at the Fine Arts Council conference of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. I gave two workshops on vocal and movement improv, and we had a grand time. In the first session, I introduced participants to the fundamentals of circle-singing–the improvisation technique of Bobby McFerrin (here’s my favourite Bobby McFerrin video about the pentatonic scale). My group of music and drama teachers were so amazing! No one had sung in this style before, and by the end of the session, we were free-form grooving and experimenting, with one participant improvising a whole song! In the second session, I… Read More »taking the risk in vocal improv

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