music education

BMus Community Music Class of 2020 💥

Today was supposed to be Convocation Day of the first graduating class of community music students in Laurier’s BMus. They have been with the program longer than me, and I’ve spent most of my last three years learning from them and their leadership, curiosity, ambition, kindness, commitment, and genuine enjoyment in each other’s company. A beautiful exemplar of a community of musicians who lift each other up and strive to make good change in the world through music. The community music specialization teaches musicianship, leadership/facilitation, and critical thinking. In students’ final year, they complete a capstone project: a music initiative… Read More »BMus Community Music Class of 2020 💥

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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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Reflections on RIME

As you might know, I am finishing my PhD in Music Education at the University of Toronto. So last week I attended the international conference known as RIME: Research in Music Education in the beautiful University of Exeter in England. This was the view from my bedroom window:             Besides the tremendous views, I also got a lot out of the conference itself. Now that I am back in Toronto, I find I am left both excited and troubled about the state of music education world-wide. Excited because I saw many presentations that examined a wide… Read More »Reflections on RIME

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