Dr. Watson’s lecture was a fun and interesting lesson on improvisation. He began by playing three short excerpts of jazz music and asked us to simply write down what we hear, but in the mind of a 7th grader- a difficult task for me! I had to put aside the “pretentious musician vocabulary” that I have become accustomed to using this year and think back to the mind of a 12-year-old. I really enjoyed just listening to the music itself, because I don’t usually have the opportunity to listen to jazz music since my specific area of study is classical music (though I do love musical theatre!)
We then had the opportunity to improvise a 12-bar blues. At first I was skeptical, because I don’t typically like to improvise. As mentioned in many earlier reflections and annotated bibliographies, jazz and improvisation/composition was not a focus for me. The initial “listen and repeat” activity was actually really fun. When he started to go around the circle to get us to improvise by ourselves, it made me really nervous- scatting in front of the class was not something that I really wanted to do, but it ended up not really being a big deal at all. I really appreciated the way that Dr. Watson eased us into improvisation. By breaking up short melodies and doing sing backs, we all got ideas of how a 12-bar blues should sound, and what kind of intervals are used. Without standing in front of the board and telling us what the roman numeral scale degrees of a blues scale are, we all learned how to play/sing one. Also, by introducing the notes 2-3 at a time, it made the process much less overwhelming for me, especially as someone who does not typically improvise with the blues scale. The discussion after the activity was also very interesting, and many of the things he said I wholeheartedly agreed with. In teaching improvisation, I believe it’s important for there to be less of a structure (even though it makes me nervous!) I think this way because in my own rare experiences with improvisation, I was much more musical when I was spontaneous and didn’t write everything down. Overall, I really enjoyed Dr. Watson’s lecture, and it really gave me a new perspective on improvisation, and that maybe it isn’t so terrifying like I originally thought. In the future, I look forward to using some of these exercises with my own students! By playing a “blues beat” similar to what he played in our classroom, I could have my students do call and response exercises with me. I would also incorporate the use of lead sheets, where my students would play the melody line along with the roman numeral analysis that would either already be existing on the sheet, or that we would figure out together. Then, I would have my students play the chords and improvise a melody on top. There are endless possibilities with improvisation that I am very excited to explore!
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When I interviewed Kathleen, I think I expected vastly different answers because of her intense musical background, but what I found was that many of her answers were similar to Vanessa’s.
One of my favourite things she said was “music is everything in my life… I’d be empty without it.” This is totally something I can connect to, and to hear that music means everything to her was almost reassuring, like I am not the only one who feels this way, and to hear that from someone as young as she is (14, grade 10) made me really happy. Both Kathleen and Vanessa said to me that the listener decides what makes music great- which did not surprise me- but what DID surprise me was Kathleen’s response to whether or not there is “bad” music. I was interested to hear that she believes there is “bad” music, and I was really impressed with her justification. She said that “The more you put into your music, the better it’s going to be. Like, there’s some really lazy music that isn’t very good. Like, Baby Got Back? Bad music. Red Solo Cup? Bad song.” From this conversation, I found that Kathleen believes that good music tells a story and has a lot of effort put into it. Does it have a message, is it lyrically smart, is it clever, etc. Listening to Kathleen talk about her favourite music was such an experience, because you can tell how musically intelligent she is and that she truly loves what she does. In interviewing Vanessa (grade 10, 16 years old), I was so excited to hear her thoughts on what music means to her. She is a student who is not particularly involved in music, so it was so awesome to hear her profound thoughts about music. I thought she might have been insecure and afraid of the questions because of her opening statement: “I’m involved in theatre, but technical music has always been a struggle for me” and when she said “I feel happy when we’re car jamming because the words are written for me and I don’t have to think.”
Vanessa really gave me an interesting answer when she described the purpose of music as “somewhere to turn to when you feel like you can’t talk to anybody, to have fun, and just to express your emotion in a different sense.” I definitely agree with this statement! She also described music as “always changing” which I thought was really cool. “I think its something that people can really bond over, it allows people to have a connection.” I loved this and it is something that I totally agree with. Music has brought so many amazing people into my life, and it's really nice to see that so many people feel the same way. In fact, I met Vanessa for the first time when we did a musical together! Vanessa said that there is no such thing as “bad” music- this totally surprised me! Going into this interview, I thought that as someone who was not as familiar with music might say that there is bad music. I was so excited to hear her take on that! I think the idea that there is no “bad” music, just “different” music is really cool and I was so happy to hear a profound thought like that from her. Talking to Vanessa was so great, because even though I thought she might have been insecure about her answers, she had a lot of profound thoughts and spoke very intelligently. This was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed talking to my friends about music, as I went into the interview with some preconceived notions about how they might respond to my questions, but was surprised by their answers! What I really liked was that there was not as much pressure to keep up a “professional” atmosphere while I conducted the interview- it just felt like I was having a conversation with my friends. I think that in turn, this might have affected the quality of my questions, but I still found out a lot of really interesting things from my friends and I really enjoyed talking to them about music.
Specific thoughts about each interview are listed under their videos! Overall, I loved doing these interviews. It was really interesting comparing the answers from my two friends and realizing that they weren’t entirely different. Though they were said in different words, they all had the same root. Both girls eventually came to the same answer, with the exception of one question. I loved the opportunity to talk to my friends about music and I hope we can have more conversations like this in the future! Dr. Wright’s lecture focused on summarizing an organization called “Musical Futures” that was founded in the UK and then expanded into Canada. This organization encourages a new way of thinking about teaching music, and makes use of informal learning processes found outside of school. I think this is really important, because it supports the idea that all students learn differently, and may excel in areas found outside the classroom. There are so many defining factors that go into this program as well: entitlement (engaging all students), relevance (connection between in and out of school experiences), practical/hands on (learning by exploration), etc. All of these are such key factors that go into effective teaching/learning.
Dr. Wright described the pedagogy as students learning in groups with friends, and setting goals and working out how to achieve them. She also describes the teacher’s role as primarily a facilitator, modelling and guiding rather than instructing. I think that’s great- using the teacher as a facilitator will encourage students to explore music on their own and come to their own conclusions, which is definitely a goal of mine for my students. I want them to explore music and love it in their own way, not to love it because I do. The activity we did in class was a lot of fun- Dr. Wright allowed us to make groups with our friends and learn and cover pop songs by ear. This was great! It helped me to train my ear and listen for chords/what sounded good with what my friends were playing. It was a fun experience and allowed me to try an instrument that I was unfamiliar with. This is definitely an activity I would love to try with my students (or at least a variation of it). This is something I would incorporate with learning chord progressions. Upon learning the simple ones (I IV V I, etc.) I would encourage my students to search for songs that have the same chord progressions and cover a song of their choice. Then, after tackling that, I would challenge them to pick their favourite song and find the chord progression by themselves. Something I found interesting was a quote by anthropologist Stephen Mithen: “Music is encoded into the human genome.” I think this is just so cool- the idea that we are programmed to enjoy music is something I would love to research some day. Why is this? Why do we like what we like? I definitely agree with the fact that music is an essential part of being as a human: without music, life would feel empty. Overall, this lecture was a lot of fun! I was happy to have the opportunity to try a new instrument and learn to play a song by ear. These are definitely activities that I will use with my students in the future. Kelly’s lecture about students who are forced into music classes was very interesting and enjoyable! I particularly enjoyed the exercise she presented about having her students write her letters on what they thought about music class. This is definitely an exercise that I want to use with my future students so I can better understand what background they are coming from, what they know, what they like, and what they hope to gain from music lessons. I also really enjoyed our discussions on what assumptions were made about Kelly and her class, and what assumptions we made on what kind of students they were and what they thought about music.
I loved hearing about her students. The letters they wrote to her were amusing, saying things like (keeping the same grammar of their notes) “i dont like music, i dont make music and i DONT like you”. But then, we heard their composition that they made up during a lunch period with pens and pop cans. Upon hearing what they created, my jaw just dropped. I was so amazed that a group of 7th graders who said they couldn’t create music actually could create something so cool! I definitely couldn’t create something like that when I was that age- or I never tried! What really surprised me was that these students claimed to not like music at all, but they were inspired to compose something like that. I was also very intrigued by the comment “it’s not YOUR music”. I assume that these students made the assumption that Kelly does not have an appreciation for other genres of music that are not classical- which is definitely not true, as she stated, she doesn’t even typically listen to classical music. This story was really cool, but what I appreciated even more was what she did with what she learned that day. She found a way to replicate the circumstances they had during that lunch period, and allowed them to compose their own beats. Kelly handed out books by Chris Raschka and replicated the assignment that she gave her students. She had us read the books and discuss what we thought the piece that the book is connected to would sound like. My group specifically had the book “Giant Steps”. We thought a lot about how there might be layers of instrumentation and crescendos/decrescendos, etc. I wish we had gotten the opportunity to actually create these songs, but still, the conversation was very interesting. This is definitely an activity I would do with my students in the future to encourage composition. Kelly’s lecture was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about how to engage unmotivated students. I absolutely loved doing this interview. Getting the chance to sit down with my teacher of seven years and discuss her musical journey was really eye-opening and rewarding. I got to listen to her philosophy of teaching and really understand her methods and catch a glimpse of what her musical journey was like.
I believe that an overarching theme of the whole interview was emotion and how it connected to singing. We spoke a lot about how emotion can heavily influence a singing lesson or performance. It was an issue for both of us during our musical journeys, and so it was really nice to be able to discuss that. This theme connects to so many aspects of her job- in my interview, she quoted an old teacher of hers that said "Singing lessons are 90% psychology, and only 10% singing." I completely agree with this statement: the way your voice sounds and how you produce the tone you make can be influenced easily just by the day you had. I remember that I used to have many stressful days in high school, and I would go to my voice lessons and just spend 20 minutes talking through it with Catherine, because my stress and emotion would be reflected in my sound- I would be tense and tight, which is not what you want to produce a healthy sound. So, as a private studio teacher, Catherine also doubled as a therapist for me, and for many of her other students I'm sure. She spoke to me a lot about how she loved her job because of how much she could relate to all of us and build a deep connection, a safe space. In order for her students to trust her, she said she needed to make it known that it was okay to have emotion and to express that. Emotion is an evident hurdle in her job, but sometimes it's also one of the best parts about it. Yes, sometimes you need to get through that obstacle of the horrible day you had so you can make a healthy sound, but sometimes emotion is part of that breakthrough, which is a huge confidence booster when that finally happens. There were so many things that we talked about that I didn't get to include in my interview transcript, because we went off track or that it just didn't fit anywhere nicely in the order of things. But I think learning about how she deals with new students who are uninterested in classical repertoire, or unmotivated students was just fascinating. As a hopeful future educator, I loved learning about techniques to use. We even spoke about the benefits of studying with a multitude of teachers. Catherine believes that the more people you learn from, the better. Then, you can have multiple different tools in your toolbox and be able to help many students of your own in different ways. I just loved this interview. It was so different, reaching over that student-teacher relationship and turning it into colleagues/friends. She was so willing to share her wealth of knowledge with me, and that was just truly a wonderful experience. Catherine Arcand-Pinette has a BMus from U of T and a MMus from Western University in vocal performance. She has been teaching at the Merriam School of Music for over a decade. She is a co-founder of the Enriched Vocal program at the school and has been an extremely influential part of my life for 8 years. The following is a transcribed version of our conversation. A huge thank you to Catherine for taking the time to sit down with me so I could conduct this interview!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks so much for sitting down with me! Let's start out simple: how did you first get into music and singing? I had a choir director who approached me and said, "you should sing." And I remember being really confused, because I said "that's just what I do!" Up until that point, I was going to be a doctor! But I loved to sing, and so that conversation is what did it for me. And who was your first teacher? Her name was Marguerite Coulridge, in Oakville. I loved her. I came to singing lessons really late, I started the year before I went for auditions for school. I had been singing for a long time, but never in that kind of way. I found it so exciting, she really opened up my sound in a way I didn't know was possible. She was really warm, an older lady. So you only started singing in lessons a year prior to your auditions? Yup! Do you have a favourite moment with this teacher? Anything that really sticks out? No, not with that one. I just remember her generally being so warm and so supportive. She made me think I could do anything. Did you ever sing in studio recitals or anything like that? I did a lot of singing at church. That was huge for me, I had a really supportive choir director who let me sing in a lot of stuff. But yeah, my she had a studio recital every year. Was there anything she ever said to you that really stuck out? She was the one who first allowed me to open my space. I had never done that before, you know, that whole "open throat yawning" thing. She was the one who did that for me, and she made me feel like my voice was huge. Until then, I was only using it about 50%. I think your voice is like this too! You're young, your body just needs to catch up. The hardest thing is having patience. I've always thought that about you, that you just need more time. Yes, for sure! That's what I'm finding is the most difficult right now. But having great teachers helps too! When did you decide that that was what you wanted to do? For me, it happened sort of organically. I decided I wasn't going to be a classroom teacher because I hate large groups of small children (laughs). At that point I was on a track, I had a plan. You know, do my masters, COC ensemble, that sort of thing. And then I started teaching to make money on the side and realized that I loved it, and I thought I was pretty good at it. So you like your job? I love my job. What is the best and worst part about it? The best part is the people. Everyone, the coworkers, the students (but mainly the students!). I find that you get to relate with them onto a level that you don't relate with anyone else. You become their confidante, their mentor, their mother... I mean, you're their teacher, but you're also so much more than that. It's such a lasting and enriching relationship. You get to know more of them than a lot of other people in their life gets to see. You see their insecurities, and all of that stuff. You really know them. I love that. I also love being able to help them achieve their goals. My favourite moment is when we have that breakthrough, or they get into their schools, it makes it all worth it. It's what its really about. So is there even a "worst" part? I wouldn't say it's the "worst", but the hardest part is that its incredibly emotionally exhausting. In order for singers to come in and sing their best, you need to create a space where they trust you completely. They can't be holding any of that stuff back, or they just won't be singing their best. One of my teachers at U of T, Lorna MacDonald once said to me that singing lessons are 90% psychology and 10% singing. And it's really true! You might have to work on what specific kind of day your students have before you sing. This piece is also part of what I love, but it's also so exhausting. You have 3 or 4 or 5 days a week of students coming in and its just emotions everywhere! I remember my lessons being like that too, very emotional near the end. Yeah! Of course! My own lessons were also like that because they have to be! You need to be able to go in and vocalize your concerns and say, "I think I suck" so you can move past it. I've had lessons where we don't even sing! It's like, pull up a chair and tell me what's going on in your life. So, as we're reminiscing about all of our memories together, do you have a favourite moment, not just with me, but with any student that really sticks out to you? There are so many! One of the nicest moments was our last recital when we both surprised each other with songs. Like, I did "Lindsay the Starbucks Girl" and then you did your quartet with the other girls. I've never had that before. I've never had so many students graduate at once and I've never had any of them like, serenade me like that and I don't know if I'll ever have that again. It was just awesome. I was also exceptionally proud watching you and Emma perform at the Oakville symphony. That was an amazing experience! I just remember having such a good final year with Merriam; everything just clicked. Right! And it built your confidence which is so important. I remember I had a year at U of T when everything just sucked. My lessons were awful, my classes were awful, I just felt awful because I didn't have that confidence and it really made a difference in my singing. Any other memories, good or bad that stick out to you? I have a wonderful memory of a student who I did not think that university level music would be possible for her, got in everywhere she applied through sheer balls and hard work. I never wanted to put limits on my students. I'm honest with them in saying that its going to be a hard road for them because of whatever, but it's not my choice or my right to tell them what they can and cannot do. It was just really satisfying to see that happen for her, and very affirming for me to remind me that it isn't my place to make decisions for my students. It's the audition panel's job to shut that door if they aren't ready, not mine. Also, this particular memory is something that I have learned from since then... sometimes, when kids go off to school, I have a lot of trouble knowing where the boundary then becomes. I had a student that had a lot of trouble and was calling me a lot, and I kind of cut that off, and said you need to start bonding with your new teacher and that can't happen if I'm still this present in your life. It did NOT go well and now this student is no longer in music... it was not good. That was hard because I felt that I let this person down. I had the best intentions, but in hindsight I should've tried harder to be supportive while also encouraging her to bond with her teacher. Is your teaching style entirely your own or would you say it is influenced by other teachers you've had? My teaching style is entirely influenced by teachers I've had. That's why I think its so important to take the opportunity to study with as many teachers as you can whenever you get the chance. The best thing that ever happened to me, even though it was also the worst thing was to go to U of T and then have the opportunity to go to Western. Had I stayed at U of T I probably would've stayed with Lorna because it was what was safe, but in studying with Mary Lou Fallis, I had a whole new set of tools in my toolbox. I always try to have at least 5 ways to teach any given thing because different things will work for different students. What would you consider to be the difference between a good student and a bad student? I would say openness. As long as they're open to change and new ideas and willing to take chances, you can work with that. It's the students who are not willing to do those things that are the hardest to teach. And continuing on that track, what about a good lesson and a bad lesson? I had a horrible one yesterday, I wanted to leave. It was because of that openness thing. They weren't trying. As long as you TRY, I can work with that. If you're not gonna try, why are you wasting my time? I don't even care if you didn't do your homework or anything like that. Although, it's also so frustrating when you have a student with high potential who just doesn't put in the work. I used to be kind of obsessive about that, I thought it was my job to make my students practice. I understand that a student needs to motivate their students, but like, when you're 16, I shouldn't have to tie your shoes for you. Figure it out. You've probably had a lot of new students in your years of teaching, so I'm curious to know what you've done in the past about students who are uninterested in classical technique? This happens ALL the time, like 99% of people. The reality is that classical technique and classical repertoire are different things. Most students have no problem learning about how to sing properly, its that they don't want to sing in Italian. Usually I take it as a partnership. I throw you a bone, you throw me one back. So we'll do that Adele song, but we'll sing it properly, and you're also going to learn something that I choose for you. I usually start with folk songs, because they're more accessible. Right now, I have a bunch of pop singers but I give them vocalises to improve their range, but they won't have to perform them, and I have them sing their pop songs with proper technique. What was I like when I first came to you? (laughs) You were sort of like a little pop singer with a shouty little sound. It was perfect for your age. You had an overdeveloped bottom because you had been singing a lot on your own, and one of the problems in schools right now is that classroom music and school choirs are on the decline, and a lot of music is being taught by non music specialists, and they have students singing in the completely wrong range. I remember you HATED your head voice, it was such a struggle getting you to sing up there! You tried to shout those notes too. But, I try to incorporate everything. So when my students do performances, I don't want to throw their insecurities out there for everyone to see, we can do that in the studio when they're in a safe space. If singing below the break in that pop song is gonna boost your confidence, that's what we'll start with for recitals. I remember I used to be a teacher that would say "oh no, you have an underdeveloped head tone so we're gonna sing all head tone all the time," but that doesn't work. It doesn't boost confidence. That's the important thing, is if the student is confident in themselves and the performance they gave or are about to give. Do you ever get tired of hearing the same beginner songs over and over again? No. Never. Every voice sings them differently. Every student has a different take on them. Some songs I just don't like, but every teacher is like that. Like, there's this one Brahms piece that I HATE, but I'm sure its something that other teachers give their students all the time. You've seen a lot of students come and go... do you think you've made a difference in any of your students lives? I hope so... I get lovely Christmas cards! They make a difference in my life, and I believe that you can't have that happen and not be a two-way street. There's that connection you have with your students that goes back to the whole emotion thing, and you can't fake that. I'm still in contact with students that I taught 15 years ago to the point of going out for tea or catching up on Facebook. It really is a lasting relationship, and that bond is like a family bond. You guys are my family. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today, I had the pleasurable experience of attending a workshop run by Dr. Randall Allsup. There were a number of activities throughout the morning, beginning with listening to a percussive song, and discussing what exactly we heard. I really enjoyed this discussion: it really opened my eyes and helped me to discover new things about this piece of music, things that I never considered before. For example, when discussing the dynamics of the piece, it was said that there are no crescendos and decrecsendos which surprised me- I thought that I had heard one or two. In reality, the change in dynamic came from the overlapping and introduction of new instruments. I found this exercise to be really interesting- Dr. Allsup made us think about what we heard, but more importantly, he wanted to know how we got to that idea. He asked us questions about what we heard and was genuinely interested in our ideas.
Another interesting question he asked us was how we would teach this concept in our own classrooms. As a future educator, I really enjoyed listening to everyone's ideas on how to use this piece in a music lesson. My original thought was that I would do a play-a-long with my students and have them find the subdivisions and downbeats in this already percussive piece. Some of the other ideas I found really interesting were using this piece to teach composition of ostinatos, and as an intro to 20th century music. I found this "simulation" really great- I like to think about certain concepts and how I would teach them to my students, and learning from my peers is even better. Even as a teacher, I never stop learning and I think that's so exciting. Dr. Allsup had us create our own ostinatos, which was a really fun activity (although I'm not a fan of being put on the spot). Everyone got into groups and created their own piece, similar to Ostinato Pianissimo (the piece we heard first) and presented them to the class. I loved hearing everyone's creations, and it was really cool to see how some people made music out of simple items like tea cups or notebooks. This was an interesting activity, and we had a lot of freedom to be creative and do whatever we wanted. Going back to Lesley Dawe's article about the importance learning how to compose and be creative, I thought this was a very good approach to this exercise, although I still went back to my roots of craving more direction in this activity. The last (and my personal favourite) activity of the day involved interpreting a Chinese song. Being a singer, I loved this. We had to create lyrics, a soundscape, and even a descant. The end result was something so amazing, and it all came together in just 20 minutes. I had a job of my own- to lead the ending. This proved to actually be more stressful than I thought! It was a challenge for me to find the right note after the percussion stopped, but the group and Dr. Allsup was supportive and I had a really good time with this activity. He left us off with some advice: to avoid binary thinking, which means thinking in black and white, like there's a right or wrong. In teaching, there is no right or wrong, and everything is not all in black and white. There are infinite shades of grey, and it is important that every educator recognize and respect that. Overall, this workshop was a great experience. I really enjoyed the activities and I feel that this workshop gave me many new ideas on musical pedagogy and I believe that experience will improve myself as an educator. Lindsay:
Hi Sarah! Your who am I video was great, hearing about your musical journey and successes was very exciting and fulfilling! In your video, you mentioned having a good foundation of voice. What do you consider to be a "good foundation" of vocal technique? What do you consider to be "valuable teaching aspects"? What is a good teacher to you? Did you have a teacher that gave you these ideas? What kind of teacher do you want to be? You said you wanted to get a degree in Music Therapy as well! With a degree in music education and music therapy, what are you planning to do? Were you nervous working with children with Fantasy Fables the first time? Was it a natural fit or was there a learning curve? How did it feel the first time vs. the last time you did it? Sarah: Hi Lindsay! Thank you so much for watching my video! I believe it is beneficial to develop a good technical foundation for voice and it is important for singers of all genres to incorporate classical technique into their vocal development. I feel that I have developed a strong technical foundation as I have always studied classical vocal repertoire and technique along with musical theatre, pop and jazz. I believe that a teacher who is patient, kind and has discipline holds valuable teaching aspects because they are able to strongly support their students and to create a space for their students to feel safe and comfortable. I have had a few high school teachers who I felt held positive teaching aspects as they were extremely supportive and held high expectations and this motivated me to always be improving in order to be the best student and performer possible. I want to be a teacher who inspires students to always do their best and to develop into well rounded individuals. With a degree in music education and music therapy, I would like to work in a school for students with special needs and to help them develop academic and social skills through music therapy. When I initially began working for fantasy fables I was extremely nervous as it is a very demanding role to be playing and you have to stick to a certain disney character for the full duration of the party. I think the biggest challenge initially was ensuring I did not get nervous or break character and to develop a strong knowledge and disney background as young children will constantly ask you questions you may not know the answer to and you might have to make something up and remain in character. I feel that now I am completely comfortable while performing as a princess because it creates such a positive and enjoyable experience for young children as they strongly look up to you and admire you. Thank you so much, Sarah ... Hi Lindsay! I really enjoyed watching your video! You put in a lot of effort and you were very descriptive! You stated that you began your studies at Merriam school of music, how did you discover this music school? You mentioned that you worked in your grade 12 year as a teacher, what did you find to be the most challenging aspects while teaching young students? You have been involved in many musical productions, which has been the most memorable show you have been apart of? What made you choose Western's music program during your university audition journey? Thank you, Sarah Lindsay: Hi Sarah, Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed it! It was actually my parents who put me in music lessons at Merriam. I have been told that before I started lessons, my parents put my sister in the Ontario Conservatory but for reasons unknown to me didn’t like it, and so they found Merriam. They enrolled us there (my sister in 2001, and me in 2004) so it was them who found it for me! For me, the most challenging part about teaching young students was trying to manage the energy they had. Specifically, my class was five 3-year-old boys, and they were adorable, but also extremely energetic! It took some time for me to figure out how to manage them and tailor my classroom activities to suit their energy. I would do things like make up dances to teach them about rhythms, or we’d sing songs about the music alphabet. That was really helpful in managing their energy! Choosing my most memorable show is difficult! I would say that it is a tie between High School Musical and Oklahoma. HSM is where I met some of my closest friends, and I will never forget that. The music was incredibly fun, and to be totally honest, the entire show felt like a giant joke because of the ridiculous 2005 dialogue! I loved it, and I will never forget it, but Oklahoma was my last production with Merriam. That was a very bittersweet two weeks! It was such a fun show (and it was also the show where I did my first ever stage kiss, which was a really… weird [for lack of a better word!] experience!) So both shows are very memorable for their own reasons. They were both incredible experiences though, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything! I decided that I wanted to go to Western a long time ago! My sister goes here currently- she’s in her second year Master’s in Vocal Performance and Literature (I think that’s what the degree is called…). In my grade 11 year, I visited her over my March Break and audited her classes, choir rehearsals, masterclass, and even had a lesson with Jackie, and that’s when I knew that I had to come here. My week spent here was incredible, and I loved every minute. I did have a moment of weakness after my Laurier audition when I was very torn between the two, but it was ultimately my opportunity to study with Jackie, scholarship money, and the overall amazing program they have here that made me decide to come to Western! Thank you so much for your thoughtful questions, and I’m really glad you enjoyed my video! Lindsay |