Conservatory Canada Workshop

  Conservatory Canada, based in London, Ontario, is a music examination board that was created in 1997 through the merger of the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music and the Western Board of Music (itself established in 1934 in Alberta to serve all of western Canada) Conservatory Canada now works with teachers and students throughout Canada and also in Kingston, Jamaica!

  Conservatory Canada had already used some Microjazz pieces in its piano syllabus, with considerable success. When American Popular Piano came out, it seemed ideal for the new Contemporary Idioms syllabus, which contains an improvisation element. This tour gave me an opportunity to present the American Popular Piano repertoire but also to demonstrate how the Improvisation Etudes, Skills and Technic components of the course can be used to build confidence in terms of improvisation, ear-training and piano technique.

  I toured with the Executive Director of Conservatory Canada, Victoria Warwick, who was demonstrating the other publications connected with the Contemporary Idioms syllabus – Hal Leonard books of popular songs, a new handbook for teachers and contemporary Canadian repertoire.

    The presentations were lively and entertaining, with plenty of audience participation. Many of the teachers and students who came were interested in converting to the new syllabus. One comment from a participating dealer:

Dear Victoria,

 

Thank you again for coming to Ottawa to give the workshop, I think it was a great success and everyone really enjoyed it - and are now hooked - as are we!

http://www.conservatorycanada.ca/publications/online.php

The places visited were:

London, Ontario

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Edmonton, Alberta

Vancouver, British Columbia

Toronto, Ontario

Regina, Saskatchewan

Ottawa, Ontario

JW Pepper Workshop

JW Pepper is the world’s largest retailer of sheet music. Pepper provides music direct to US customers year-round, with an extensive catalogue, ,a vast web site and online music clubs. They also have a number of retail outlets, including one in Chicago. The workshop was held in a hotel across the road from a Pepper retail store. Once again, one teacher was present who had already used American Popular Piano very successfully, so my presentation wasn’t the only vehicle for glowing remarks about how well the course works! Bill, the organizer, was very pleased with the reactions of the teachers and liked the series enough to recommend it widely. It was a small gathering, so pretty much everyone got a chance to play.

JG Windows Workshop

Newcastle, England

This workshop, held at the very impressive Centre for Life in the refurbished Newcastle city centre, was the first one that J G Windows had ever put on, so they were interested to see how it went! A group of around 20 teachers came and once again it was a presentation on American Popular Piano, with lots of participation from an ever more willing audience! The readability, instant appeal and ease of use at the early stages of this course of study was commented on and the unique way of teaching improvisation was also of great interest. 

Teachers find it hard to imagine moving to a new core series, so the components had to be explained clearly – learning to play the piano really well, lots of sight-reading and ear-training, repertoire that children will like and that they can choose…All of these elements began to convince some of the audience that this might be one of the few really new ideas to come on the market in some time.

Microjazz and Preludes were also showcased and it became clear that the existing materials and the new materials can work very happily together.

Summer Sizzle!

Palmerston, Ontario, Canada

Entering its 9th year, Summer Sizzle is a growing piano pedagogy symposium for teachers and students. It takes place in Palmerston, Ontario, a peaceful country setting. Summer Sizzle helps bring music and culture to rural educators and musicians while offering urban professionals a chance to further learning in a relaxed environment. Over 200 participants attend this annual event, which offers several specialized workshops led by international experts, launches new Canadian pieces with composers in attendance, hosts public concerts showcasing visiting composers, guest experts, teachers and students and boasts a full music trade show.

Summer Sizzle was expanded in 2007 to include a complete three-day Keyboard Kamp for students aged 11 to 21 as well as a half-day Children’s Program for students aged 5 to 10. Keyboard Kamp offers students master classes taught by experts ranging in subject matter from composition to overcoming stage fright. The  Children’s Program offers younger students (and their parents) a chance to engage with visiting composers in composition, rhythm, dance and music development programs.

In 2008, Novus Via Music was pleased to take part and were able to offer the services of Christopher Norton and Scott McBride Smith, the authors of American Popular Piano. Christopher, having just arrived from the UK, went straight into a full day of masterclasses, with students as young as 7 through to late teenagers. Each student had a mini-lesson, with an audience of teachers, other students and parents, on a Christopher Norton piece, from Microjazz, Connections and American Popular Piano. The students who Christopher particularly liked the playing of were chosen to take part in a gala concert the same night, which was very enthusiastically received by the capacity audience. Children and teenagers bounded onto the stage with real joy as they prepared to play pieces that they felt real affinity with. It was a moving and uplifting occasion for all concerned.

 The following day, Christopher and Scott did a joint presentation called “And it’s good for them!” which used American Popular Piano to illustrate how the basics of really good piano playing can be taught using music that students really like. Christopher then went on to give a presentation called “The Norton Code” which unlocked some of the secrets of playing popular styles, touching on terms like shuffle, backbeat and bossa nova and getting the audience to try being human drum kits.

Novus Via will be at the 2009 Summer Sizzle – we hope to see some of you there!