From Sunday November 20th to Saturday November 26th, The Canadian Federation of Music Teachers is celebrating the 61st annual Canada Music Week.
Canada Music Week® is dedicated to music in its fullest sense, but since 1967 particular focus has been on the Canadian cultural content. Thousands of Canadians experience Canada Music Week festivities each year in their communities.
On Friday, November 25th, 2022, the Brandon and Westman Branch of the Manitoba Registered Music Teachers’ Association will be holding a Canada Music Week event that will be held at Brandon University’s School of Music.
The event starts at 4:00pm with a Composition Workshop that focuses on the creative aspect of composition. Guest clinician Theresa Thordarson, a composer and musician from Winnipeg, will lead the workshop, and guide students through the compositional process. As Dianna Neufeld the President of the Brandon/Westman Branch of the MRMTA explains “Students will learn how to develop their musical ideas in a very interactive workshop.”
Following the workshop, at 7:00pm at Brandon University’s Lorne Watson Recital Hall there will be an evening concert open to the public of Canadian compositions performed by area students. Some of the students may even choose to perform their own compositions.
Marking Canada Music Week is very important to Neufeld. “We have so many Canadian Composers that I sometimes think are unrepresented or at least not even acknowledged. They are writing some fantastic music. It’s really nice to see us be able to support our local composers and our National composers. There is a lot of repertoire for us to explore…and it just gets me excited to see other teachers stepping up with their students and wanting to share in Canadian music as well.”
For more details on the Canada Music Week celebration that is happening on Friday, November 25th at Brandon Universioty as put on by the Brandon/Westman Branch of MRMTA you can visit their website.
The event will be available through Zoom in addition to the in person event. The cost is free for students. What a truly excellent way to revel and rejoice in the vast landscape that is Canadian Music!