Songwriting Workshops for Youth

Project Information

Songwriting Workshops: For Youth ages 12 to 18, there are three in-community workshops where youth will be working with singers and artist facilitators to co-create a music piece about immigration and encounter. There will also be mentors (Stewart MacNeil, Bryan Cherwick, and Robert Deveaux) at each of the locations giving information and telling stories of their experience or families experience with immigration to Canada and Cape Breton. For more information please call (902)563-1696. The deadline for registration is June 15th.

Songs and Stories of Immigration and Encounter

More Updates Coming Soon

Project Information

Songwriting Workshops: For Youth ages 12 to 18, there are three in-community workshops where youth will be working with singers and artist facilitators to co-create a music piece about immigration and encounter. There will also be mentors (Stewart MacNeil, Bryan Cherwick, and Robert Deveaux) at each of the locations giving information and telling stories of their experience or families experience with immigration to Canada and Cape Breton. For more information please call (902)563-1696. The deadline for registration is June 15th.

 

 

 

 

 

Singing The Circle: Music Education from Birth to Adult

 SINGING THE CIRCLE: MUSIC EDUCATION FROM BIRTH TO ADULT
(AN EDUCATOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EVENT)
8:30 a.m. to 3 pm, Friday, October 20th, 2017
Cape Breton University
The symbol of a circle is deeply symbolic on many levels and sacred to healing practices of our Indigenous peoples. Singing the Circle workshops are designed to explore and celebrate the basic human act of singing and the artistic use of the human voice through the circle of life–from the time of birth through to death. Through inhalation and exhalation, tension and release, the physical act of singing combined alongside a positive relationship with our voices provides health and a sense of well-being. Music “circles” exist in the form of canons, singing games and dances, or in conducting gesture. The circle is a common metaphor for the reflective process of coming to understand our task as music educators. Singing the Circle workshops present an opportunity to reflect, refresh, renew, and rejoice. (Ardelle Ries, Singing the Circle, May 2017)
 
As part of Singing the CircleThe Centre for Sound Communities, in partnership with the Boardmore Playhouse at Cape Breton University, invites you to participate in:
“Singing the Circle: Music Education from Birth to Adult.” Details of the day’s schedule and descriptions of presentations can be found below. Please note, additional activities  in conjunction with World Singing Day (October 21st), are being planned and will soon be announced!

 

Registration is now open:

 www.singingthecircle.eventbrite.comUpdate: Early bird registration: 15 September 2017, $65 + applicable fees

Last day to register in advance: 5 October 2017, $80 + applicable fees

Registration fee includes morning nutrition break, lunch, and afternoon coffee and cookies.
SCHEDULE
Registration fee includes morning nutrition break, lunch, and afternoon coffee and cookies.
SCHEDULE

Singing the Circle: Music Education from Birth to Adult

(Boardmore Playhouse, Cape Breton University)

Registration: 8:30-9:15 am

Welcome and Introductions: 9:15-9:30 am

Session I: 9:30-10:30: It All Starts With Singing (Ardelle Ries, U Alberta)

Nutrition Break: 10:30-10:45am

Session II: 10:45-11:45 am : Doing Away With Classroom Management: Teaching for Musical Transitions

LUNCH (NOON to 1pm)

Session 3: 1-2 pm: The Wonder of the Child Voice

Final Plenary Discussion: 2-3 pm

SESSION ABSTRACTS

Session I: It All Starts With Singing (Ardelle Ries, U Alberta)

In late 16th century, British composer, William Byrd (1543-1623) published one of the first English songbooks. Within this book, Byrd wrote of the wonder of singing and reasons why “all ‘men’ would learn to sing.” Designed to address the needs of both classroom music and choral—through songs, games, and dances—this session will focus on the importance of singing for musical, intellectual, and personal development and how Byrd’s ideas, although centuries’ old, remain true today.

Session II: Doing Away With Classroom Management: Teaching for Musical Transitions (Cathy Benedict, U Western Ontario)

Classroom management problems arise when teachers fail to understand that focused musical transitions are essential for successful lessons.  What if, rather than managing children, we design lesson plans that flow so tightly music making is all we worry about?  Participants will experience a series of elementary lesson plans that demonstrate musical activities and transitions that serve to facilitate safe, creative musical environments.  Join us as we say ‘No’ to managing and ‘Yes’ to making music. 

Session III: The Wonder of the Child Voice (Ardelle Ries, U Alberta)

Our voices, and especially our singing voices, are miraculous forces of nature designed to help us survive, to communicate, and to create! Children’s voices—flexible, adaptable, and resilient—move through many developmental stages. As we prepare to celebrate World Singing Day, this session will examine the singing journey from early years through to adolescence with suggestions for a sequential vocal curriculum and suitable repertoire.

Digital Intern Orientation

Today our ten digital interns began their orientation at the Centre for Sound Communities. We would like to congratulate and thank them for being a part of this project. We are really looking forward to getting started with such a great team!

The orientation began with a warm welcome for our interns, an overview of the project, and then introductions, as well as icebreakers. Our Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator, Amy and Matt, took the interns on a tour of CBU campus to get to know the university. After lunch, interns took photographs and created biographies that can be found under the digital interns tab of our website. Later in the afternoon, the interns met one on one with their coordinators.

Good luck to everyone who will be starting their WordPress training tomorrow, continuing through the week until Friday.

Your invitation! Launching the Centre for Sound Communities

Dear colleagues and friends,

 

Please join us next Thursday, September 22nd, as we celebrate the launch of our new research space, the Centre for Sound Communities!

Please extend this invitation widely – all are welcome.

Refreshments will be provided.

The launch of the new Centre for Sound Communities will be broadcast, live, on Mainstreet Cape Breton, CBC Radio One, with host Wendy Bergfeldt.

 

For more information, and to RSVP, contact Brittany Erickson, Special Research Projects Manager at the Centre for Sound Communities:
brittany_erickson@cbu.ca / (902) 563-1613.

 

cfsc-launch-poster