August 2016 Notes
Kerilie
McDowall NCM
As musicians, as we progress throughout our studies and careers, goal-setting and planning becomes important. It is often very easy to get distracted from our focus and get off track from our desired goals. The process of scheduling performances and rehearsing orchestral/ensemble/ band projects is a task unto itself. Working on your original compositional works and materials for commission, performance and recordings is also a lot of fun, but requires some serious work and study.
Working towards worthy musical goals and activities is very enjoyable. An organizational idea is to make a plan outline to follow for summer and also for winter on how you would like to organize your musical studies and activities for the year. The study of music is useful throughout our entire careers as musicians. Even the most accomplished professional musicians like to target new challenges on their instrument(s) and work on advanced professional development with a good teacher or highly renowned mentor. Decide which self-development musical projects you will focus on for summer and also fall. Will you be focusing on technique and performance skills, composition, auditions, competitions, festival and ensemble performances? Are you working on progressing with your RCM exams and improving your skill set?
Ask your Nanaimo Conservatory of Music instructor to help you plan your musical studies for the next year. Are there areas that need improvement? Would you like to work on a new additional musical instrument? Are you considering becoming a music teacher as a future career? Perhaps you are working towards your first recording?
There are many challenging and fun goals that you can work towards as a musician whether you want to teach professionally, perform, compose, record or just have fun with music as an amateur hobby. Talk to your instructor or call the NCM office to learn more so that we can help you reach and accomplish your unique special goals and dreams!
NEW
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Board is pleased and excited to announce
the appointment of Barbara Livingston as our new Executive Director. Barbara hails from Vancouver, where she has
most recently served as Executive Director of the Vancouver Bach Family of
Choirs. Barbara has had a thirteen-year
career as a senior arts administrator, and extensive experience in governance. She
is an accomplished voice teacher/opera coach, having been a member of the
Victoria Conservatory of Music faculty, and served on the VCM Faculty
Association executive, and the VCM Faculty Evaluation team. Barbara also enjoyed a highly successful
career as a professional opera and concert singer, performing principal roles throughout North America. In 1998, she received the George and Jane
Heffelfinger Pacific Opera Victoria “Artist of the Year” award. She studied voice performance at the
University of Victoria and has an Advanced Certificate in Arts and
Entertainment Management, supplemented by courses in strategic planning,
development, governance, leadership, grant writing, social media, marketing,
and related subjects. Barbara has an
outgoing, cheerful personality, and has been enthusiastically and unanimously
endorsed by former employers and colleagues, as a leader who is able to find
innovative solutions to challenges, and to encourage and foster commitment from
colleagues. We are confident that
Barbara will lead the Conservatory to the next level, and we look forward to
extending her a very warm welcome upon her arrival on August 1st.
AUGUST 2016 SUMMER AND FALL MUSIC CLASSES REGISTRATION
NCM is offering exciting FUN Ukulele lessons, World Music Guitar Lessons, Musical Theatre Workshops, Summer Jazz Intensive, Flute Workshops, and Kindermusik for ages birth to 5 years old in August this summer. We are now also accepting registrations for the fall and school year for all of our music lessons and classes. Individual lessons in a wide variety of instruments and voice are offered. Whether you are a serious music student, wish to upgrade your technique or are a complete beginner, we have the instructor for you!
All ages and skill levels are welcomed from beginner to advanced. All of our instructors are highly qualified, caring professionals. Most instruction is held on a weekly basis in the studios in the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music building at 375 Selby Street, in downtown Nanaimo. A few teachers use their studios off campus. Scheduling is arranged with the individual instructors by mutual agreement. Here is a list of the instruments we teach in and their instructors:
BASSOON Katrina Russell CELLO Brendan
Millbank
CLARINET Susanne Bullock DOUBLE
BASS Ken Lister
FLUTE Jennifer Cluff, Cindy Speelman FRENCH HORN Karen Hough
GUITAR
Patrick Olmsted HARP Marilyn Rummel, Hayley
Farenholtz
PIANO,
JAZZ Dick Smith PIPA Meijuan Li
PIPE
ORGAN Peter Orme SAXOPHONE TBA
THEORY
(PRIVATE) Teresa Borek TROMBONE John Capon
VIOLA
Karl Rainer VIOLIN Karl Rainer, James Mark, Joan
Blackman
VIOLIN Calvin Dyck , Leslie Krull OBOE Pippa Williams
CHOIR Marian Smith, Lindsay
Suddaby VOICE Christine McMahon, Mary Jackson PIANO
Teresa Borek, Pippa Williams, Carol Fetherston
Nicole Arendt CHOIR Marian Smith, Lindsay Suddaby
Don’t miss out! We
also offer group ensembles and orchestras. Learn more about what we offer by enquiring
at the office. Contact the NCM office at 250-754-4611 to find out more and to
register.
Please call the Conservatory to connect with these instructors so you can meet
them and set up lessons. Hope to see you soon!This August join faculty guitarist Patrick Olmsted and have fun exploring the music of the world through the guitar and other instruments! Courses may include Gypsy Jazz Guitar, Spanish Guitar, The Mighty Uke! (ukulele), Latin and African Guitar, and Finger Style Arranging. Ask also about our World Guitar Classes! World Guitar Classes run on Thursday evenings August 11, 18 and 25th, with novices at 6-7 pm and Intermediate from 7-8 pm. Ukulele class is held August 9, 16 and 23 with novices from 6-7 pm and Intermediate from 7-8 pm. Lessons are only $10 per class; do not miss out on this fabulous deal! Register at 250-754-4611, at 375 Selby St. or ncmusic@island.net.
KINDERMUSIK-
Kindermusik is a fun, special class environment
where you and your child can play, sing, laugh
and dance together as your child learns developmentally, cognitively and musically. Classes are
for ages from birth to five years old. From babies, toddlers, to pre-schoolers
and big kids, it’s a ton of fun! 2016 Summer classes for August are starting up
very soon! Classes will take place Thursdays from 10:15 -11 am August 4, 11, 18
and 25th, 2016. Call the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music now to
register at 250-754-4611 and reserve your spot now, as classes fill up fast!
FACULTY AND STUDENT FEATURE SPOTLIGHTS: MARY
JACKSON- SUZUKI PIANO, VOICE FACULTY B.
MUS., ARCT, AVCM, GTMLI, BCRMT
Mary Jackson began her
piano studies at the age of five in Ladysmith. At seventeen, she moved to
Victoria to study with Robin Wood at the University of Victoria, earning her
Bachelor of Music degree with Distinction, followed by her ARCT in Piano
Performance with First Class Honours. As a Suzuki Method specialist, Mary
studied and instructed at Suzuki workshops and summer schools in Canada, the
United States, and Japan, and became a teacher trainer for the Suzuki Association
of the Americas.
Over the years, several
of her former students have successfully embraced music as a profession, but
Mary loves to work with people of all ages and abilities, and her deepest
satisfaction comes from helping students with less obvious
gifts explore potential they didn’t know they had.
Mary studied voice at
the Victoria Conservatory of Music, where she earned her AVCM diploma in Voice
Pedagogy with Distinction. Besides teaching solo singing, she has
directed choirs, sung with opera and musical theatre companies in Victoria, Kelowna and
Kamloops, and coached children’s choruses for Pacific Opera Victoria and Viva
Musica (Kelowna).
NCM
STUDENT- ISAAC CARTMELL
Isaac Cartmell lives in Parksville with his
parents, Ben and Rosario. Isaac comes to the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music twice a week for Suzuki
Piano lessons with Mary Jackson and also enjoys his Kindermusik classes with
Nicole Arendt.
Isaac just turned four in June. He was very
lucky to observe a fascinating prepared piano as played by a master and met
with the highly renowned, top award winning prepared pianist from France, Benoît Delbecq when he was performing at the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music on June
28, 2016.
His father Ben says that Isaac Cartmell is an active little guy. Isaac enjoys riding
his bike and has always been interested in music. There have been many guitars
and a lot of other musical instruments like pianos, ukuleles, and cymbals
around the house for Isaac to experiment with and play. Isaac likes listening
to different types of music and loves to dance. He stays very busy and enjoys
his Tai Kwon Do, music and swimming classes. Isaac’s plans for this summer
include visiting the park, swimming, camping and enjoying his fun music lessons
at the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music.
COMMUNITY
EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
NANAIMO CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA (NCO) SUMMER PERFORMANCES- 2016 Summer Concerts: Wednesday, August
17, 2016. "Concert In The Park" Maffeo Sutton Park, Nanaimo 6:00
pm -7:30pm. Admission is
free. Bring your lawn chair and picnic supper.
A second performance takes place Saturday, August 20th, 2016 at St. Mark's Anglican Church, 138 Hoylake Rd, Qualicum Beach, 6:30pm. Enjoy coffee and dessert followed by the concert at 7:30pm. Tickets (cost includes coffee and dessert): $20 Adults/ $5 Students/ Children under 5 are free. Tickets at: www.nanaimochamberorchestra.com/
VANCOUVER ISLAND SYMPHONY PEFORMS AT SYMPHONY BY THE SEA- August 6 at 6 p.m at Maffeo Sutton Park. A
free event. Conductor Calvin Dyck will perform his famous Yankee Doodle and Variations
wearing his favourite hat, Flamenco guitarist Eric Harper will delight you, a
waltzing couple will dance to Strauss’ Voices of Spring and the Skipping
Sensations (ranked as #3 in Canada) will perform the Can Can!! A highlight of
the concert will be when the audience pops over 3000 paper lunch bags to get a
dramatic exploding canon effect for the 1812 Overture!! For more information, visit www.vancouverislandsymphony.com or call 250-754-0177.
HITS ON FITZ- August 5, 2016, 11:30, The Old City Quarter. Join Hits on
Fitz in the Old City Quarter for a fun and laid-back singing competition with
cash prizes for best youth, solo/duo and band. If you'd like to compete
for cash prizes, head on over to the OCQ website to download an entry form. www.oldcityquarter.com/events.Not a
singer? Then come hang out with us at the Gallery Row Stage all day on August
5th starting at 11:30am. We'll be taking in the sweet sounds, tapping our toes
and singing along.
