In October 1997 Tafelmusik presented its first education concerts to Toronto-area high-school students. Response from students, teachers and musicians alike was enthusiastic, and our educational programming quickly expanded to include a wide variety of activities for children and families, elementary- and secondary-school students and teachers, post-secondary students, and professional musicians. Below is a brief outline of our current education activities, as well as detailed accounts of two of our most involved initiatives: Baroque Education Day and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. All are evidence of Tafelmusik's investment in the artistic development of young musicians and audiences, a significant part of realizing our vision to be an international centre of musical excellence for generations to come.
Education Concerts
Tafelmusik musicians have developed a number of education concerts for students from grades 4 to 12. Narration is combined with music to introduce students to certain aspects of baroque and classical music. We offer four such concerts each year in Toronto to some 2,500 students, and in recent years have also taken these programmes to cities in Canada and the U.S.
Baroque Education Day
Each winter Tafelmusik musicians visit Toronto-area high schools to work with string classes. In the spring the various classes arrive at Trinity-St. Paul's to be immersed in a day of baroque music and dance. This programme was conceived by bassist Alison Mackay, and for the last two years has been run by violinist Christopher Verrette. See Chris' article below for a detailed account.
Four Seasons Project
For the past three years, Tafelmusik bassist Alison Mackay has worked with other Toronto artists involved in the Royal Conservatory of Music's Learning Through the Arts programme to take the Four Seasons project into selected grade 6 classrooms. Classes develop their own artistic response to Vivaldi's Four Seasons through drama, dance and visual arts in this exciting cross-disciplinary project.
Family Matinee
Each year Tafelmusik performs a special Family Matinee as part of its Toronto concert season. Though not strictly an educational activity, through the family matinees we are able to introduce children and families to the world of baroque music in an imaginative and entertaining concert atmosphere. This year's matinee, on Saturday, April 3, takes the audience on a musical journey to 18th-century London. Written by Toronto playwright Paula Wing with assistance from Tafelmusik bassoonist Dominic Teresi, the concert tells the adventures of a mischievous young orphan as he assists Handel in the preparations for the premiere of the Music for the Royal Fireworks.
Baroque Café
A new initiative this season, the Baroque Café offers secondary-school arts students a chance to develop a close relationship with Tafelmusik, meeting the musicians and attending selected evening concerts.
Tafelmusik Baroque Learning Centre
In 2002, Tafelmusik launched its "Baroque Learning Centre," an educational website supported by the Trillium Foundation and designed to introduce students, teachers and enthusiasts to the world of baroque music. It includes descriptions and photos of period instruments, an introduction to performance practice, and outlines of the lives and works of leading baroque composers. It is reached from a link on the Tafelmusik main web page at www.tafelmusik.org. The site also includes copies of some of the study guides developed by Tafelmusik musicians to support our music education concerts. These guides correspond to the music curriculum guidelines for elementary and secondary schools.
Masterclasses and Coachings
While on tour, Tafelmusik musicians are often invited to lead masterclasses or coach ensembles at universities, conservatories and schools. From leading an orchestra rehearsal at the Beijing Conservatory to coaching chamber ensembles in Montreal, this type of work inspires musical friendships around the world.
Professional Development Workshops for Teachers
New this season is a series of workshops for teachers presented in partnership with the Creative Arts Learning Partnership. Members of Opera Atelier, choir director Ivars Taurins and violist Patrick Jordan led three days of workshops offering teachers an overview of baroque music, art, architecture and theatre. Education Director Colleen Smith and Ivars Taurins also participated in the fall conference of the Ontario Music Educators Association.
Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute
The single most significant initiative undertaken by Tafelmusik in the last few years has been the establishment of the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. The institute offers Tafelmusik musicians the opportunity to pass on their experience and knowledge of baroque music and performance practice to advanced students, pre-professional and professional musicians. The institute has been made possible by the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation.
This month we are also delighted to announce that Tafelmusik had been named Baroque Orchestra in Residence at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto for a four-year term. Planning is underway for what promises to be an exciting and rewarding partnership, made possible by TD Bank Financial Group.
Through our education programming, Tafelmusik is seeking to develop both audiences and musicians for the future. We have received generous support from the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation and the Ontario Trillium Foundation, as well as the BMO Financial Group, the Henry N.R. Jackman Foundation, Imperial Oil Charitable Foundation, DuPont Canada Inc, and the Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation. Thanks to all our supporters, to the musicians and staff who have contributed their talent and expertise to developing these programmes, and to the students who have responded with enthusiasm to our music. Special notes of thanks are due to Tafelmusik bassist Alison Mackay, who conceived and implemented many of the programmes outlined above, and whose talent and imagination has brought music to life for so many Toronto children; to Martin Walmsley, who is a founding donor and tireless advocate for our education programmes; and to former Board President Lynn Haight, for her extraordinary support and encouragement in establishing the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.
BAROQUE EDUCATION DAY
by Christopher Verrette
Tafelmusik will once again host string students from Toronto schools in a Baroque Education Day on April 7, 2004 at Trinity-St. Paul's. In preparation for the event, members of the orchestra are already visiting five schools, where they rehearse with the string orchestras and give an introduction to playing baroque music in an historical manner. The students are preparing three movements from Handel's Water Music, which they will play together at the end of the day on April 7.
I have found this programme to be an excellent step toward making contact with our future audience, and it is always satisfying when we learn that some of the students are already attending our concerts. At the Education Day we not only perform for the students, but with them as well. Over the course of the day, we explore baroque music by playing it, listening to it, and dancing to it. Each student attends a sectional rehearsal led by a member of the Tafelmusik Orchestra. This gives students the opportunity for detailed work with a specialist of their particular instrument. A new feature last year that we are repeating this year is baroque dance instruction. Led by Daniel Gariepy, director of La Belle Danse, everyone learns some basic baroque dance steps and principles of posture and carriage so that by the end of the class they can dance to the same music they are learning to play. Daniel is a gifted teacher, and it is always amazing to see what he can achieve with the students in such a short time.
Tafelmusik performs a short concert for the students which always includes information on the historical and cultural context of the music. We are also putting together a career panel to discuss the opportunities and challenges of working in the classical music business with the students, who at this age have many choices to make. I hope we can help.
The culmination of the day's work is a play-through of the music with all the orchestras together, which I lead, assisted by other members of Tafelmusik strategically placed throughout the very full gymnasium. This is the opportunity to pull together everything we have learned over the course of the day and to have a satisfying community experience that calls upon not only our individual skills as players but also our abilities to give and take direction and play cooperatively in an ensemble. I'm looking forward to it!
THE TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE SUMMER INSTITUTE
by Charlotte Nediger
In 1998, Chris Wilcox invited us to be orchestra in residence at the Scotia Festival of Music. We were to perform several concerts, and to teach a 12-day course in baroque music on period instruments for advanced students and pre-professional musicians. We left the course inspired by the students and the work we had accomplished, and with the idea that we would like to do this again. We did return to Scotia Festival three years later, but by then had dreams of establishing our own institute here in Toronto, with the resources of the entire Tafelmusik orchestra, choir and staff. With the tremendous support and conviction of Board President Lynn Haight, and the expert guidance of Managing Director Tricia Baldwin, the dream became a reality in 2002 with the first annual Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. After ten days of intensive teaching and spirited music-making, we knew with certainty that this was an important and essential initiative in Tafelmusik's history.
Now accepting applications for its third year, TBSI offers 65 advanced students, pre-professional and professional musicians an intensive course in vocal and instrumental baroque repertoire and performance practice. Expanded to two weeks, the course offers masterclasses, orchestra and choir rehearsals, chamber ensembles, private lessons, and a wide array of lectures and workshops. In addition to members of the Tafelmusik Orchestra and Choir, the faculty includes singers Ann Monoyios and Catherine Robbin, and Toronto Consort Director David Fallis. Opera Atelier Co-Directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Zingg led opera workshops and dance classes respectively. Participants and faculty unwind at film nights (with a baroque theme, of course!), social gatherings, and informal reading sessions (last year included a memorable Sunday-night readthrough of the Bach B-Minor Mass). The institute includes several faculty and participant concerts, and culminates in the glorious sounds of the Grand Finale, with the combined forces of the TBSI orchestra and choir, and the Tafelmusik Orchestra and Choir - 100 performers in all, directed by Jeanne and Ivars.
We established the institute with the goal of providing an in-depth learning environment for future performers of baroque music on period instruments. Our success can be measured by the presence of several TBSI alumni on the Tafelmusik stage: violinists Aisslinn Nosky, Julia Wedman, and Cristina Zacharias all perform regularly with the orchestra, and Michael Follert, Erik Houlihan-Jong, Will Johnson Mark Russom and Andrew Pickett all sing in the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. Other alumni can be heard in cities around the world.
As Artistic Coordinator of TBSI, I clock long hours, overseeing a complex and busy schedule while teaching harpsichord and continuo. The long hours are amply rewarded with musical discoveries, warm friendships, and glorious music-making. I recall one day last year in which I taught 8 hours and spent many additional hours at my desk. I returned home absolutely exhausted, but also exhilarated, reminded why I chose this profession in the first place: because being able to share the making of music with others is an honour and a privilege.
Tafelmusik performs a short concert for the students which always includes information on the historical and cultural context of the music. We are also putting together a career panel to discuss the opportunities and challenges of working in the classical music business with the students, who at this age have many choices to make. I hope we can help.
The culmination of the day's work is a play-through of the music with all the orchestras together, which I lead, assisted by other members of Tafelmusik strategically placed throughout the very full gymnasium. This is the opportunity to pull together everything we have learned over the course of the day and to have a satisfying community experience that calls upon not only our individual skills as players but also our abilities to give and take direction and play cooperatively in an ensemble. I'm looking forward to it!
