This is the final installment in which Gibsons guitarist/songwriter/music teacher
Bonar (creator of “The Six Rings” method of learning music) profiles a few of
the spectrum of teachers whose of talented mentorship is a special part of the
Coast lifestyle. Bonar noted earlier that the various teachers contribute to a
unique synergy and a hothouse capable of nurturing outstanding artistic talent.
The teachers have many things in common (including a dream of a Place des
Arts for the lower Coast). Parts 1 and 2 of the series are archived for reading
at www.goingcoastalmagazine.com
Find out more about Bonar, his music, and his method at www.myspace.com/bonar_songs
Bonar also teaches privately:
phone 604.886.4893 to check availability.
Joe Hatherill is a relatively recent transplant
to the Coast and couldn’t have come from a
more different world, landing one our shores
not quite four years ago from Hertfordshire,
England.
“When I arrived,” Joe tells us, “a music teacher
had just left the coast and a choir director
had just left and so, being new here and with
more time on my hands than anything else,
I jumped right in.” Joe joined the Sunshine
Coast Community Orchestra as conductor and
took on the role of Choirmaster with the Pender Harbour Choir. He also teaches
saxophone, flute and clarinet privately (www.joemusic.ca)
“Michelle Bruce, who was conducting the Intermediate Orchestra — and who
was really a driving force behind the Community Orchestra for a long time
— encouraged me to get involved. Then, when Lyle Carter passed away a
while back, I took over conducting the Concert Band and (renowned fiddler and
teacher) Blaine Dunaway took over conducting the Orchestra.”
As part of the performing arts scene and teaching community, Joe notes that
“when it works and it is satisfying, then it’s very good. But there are things
missing.” He says, “For example there is no overall body coordinating things in
the performing arts. Another example is we have two high schools right here,
but there are no musical theatre productions.
“You know, I find it very anomalous that there is an absence of a kind of town
square both here on the Sunshine Coast and also in Vancouver,” Joe observes,
“and I think that has an impact on music and performing arts. You know, in
London (he draws me a little diagram) there are all these neighborhoods that
adjoin one another and that sort of spill over into one another but there is also
a central part of town and that is really important to the performing arts scene
there.
“It is very different in England. In England it is not unusual for a performing artist
or a music teacher to expect to earn a decent living. For example, a typical day
in England I might accompany twenty students for their exams and I would get
paid £9 (about $20) per student. That is not a bad day’s work, but I could never
do that here.
“Maybe it’s a cultural difference, but, here in Canada nobody thinks it is unusual
for an athlete to earn a decent living or even a very good living from sports. It
seems as though the attitude with the performing arts is that because you are
doing something you love to do, then you shouldn’t get paid to do it, which
seems very strange to me.”
Carolynn Cordsen’s living room looks more like the
rehearsal hall for a small orchestra. A lovely grand
piano is the centerpiece, but guitars, bass, conga
drums and even a stray saxophone are strewn about
as if the orchestra has just taken a break and will return
shortly.
In fact, the small orchestra is right here with me, for
Carolynn herself actually plays and teaches all of these instruments. “I very
much have a multi-disciplinary approach,” she says. “I try to do different things
that are going to help move the student forward. For example, I entered a trio of
three students into the Performing Arts Festival last year who had not previously
performed together.”
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Carolynn notes that while “there certainly is an incredibly rich group of performing
arts teachers here, I do think we could do a better job working as a community.”
As president of the Sunshine Coast Chapter of the BC Registered Music
Teachers Association (bcrmta.bc.ca/sunshine_coast) she notes that “members
of the RMT have an advantage in that we do have a regular monthly meeting
where we share ideas about teaching and try to come up with different venues or
performance opportunities for our students. And I would like to put a call out to
music teachers to join the Association.” Carolynn notes, “We are trying to teach
our students not only to learn music, but to become and to think like performing
artists because those skills will serve you well in many different situations in life.”
A benefit concert of BC RMT teachers and friends at the Heritage Playhouse in
Gibsons last June raised funds for the local chapter of the BCRMT and for the
Roxelyn Etheridge Memorial Scholarship. Roxelyn Etheridge was an extremely
popular violin teacher here on the Sunshine Coast who left the Coast last year
and then passed away suddenly soon afterwards. Roxelyn was very active in
building a performing arts community on the Sunshine Coast for many years,
working as a board member of The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing
Arts, The Sunshine Coast Community Orchestra and the BC Registered Music
Teacher’s Association. Plans are afoot to stage a benefit concert in the fall of
2007 to honour the memory of this wonderful teacher.
Percussionist Barry Taylor’s mind
is a sonic playground. He brings a
unique combination of influences
and tangents to his ‘BeaTee Riddims’
teaching experience: more than 20
years of performance dating back to his
‘80’s days with popular west coast act
‘Roots Round Up’ (rootsroundup.com),
years as a sound designer for video
games; multimedia artist and web
designer; sonic sculptor with Chris
Bernatchez on their project Aleatora
- www.suncoastarts.com/aleatora
“There is a great community of
performing artists out here on the
Coast”, Barry says, “but I probably have
more connection with the community through performing than my teaching. I
think as teachers we tend to function as lots of little satellites.”
Although he ostensibly teaches drumming, Barry really teaches music in a much
broader and experiential way so he is always trying to find ways to stimulate his
students minds and then capture the learning moment with them. As Barry tells
it, “Sometimes we’ll just do a straight drumming part and other times we’ll learn
about designing a new sound on a soft synthesizer or experiment with trying to
evoke a certain feeling with the marimba or a brush on the ride cymbal.”
“To me it’s far more important that the student learns to understand music and
sound itself from inside the experience. I like to take students out on the deck
and say ‘what do you hear’ because I want them to learn to listen. At first they
say ‘nothing. I don’t hear anything.’ but then they start to really listen.”
Explore the BeaTee Riddims experience at www.suncoastarts.com/barrytaylor.html
A full-time resident of the Sunshine Coast since 1999,
actor/playwrite/director Anne-Marie Lindell allows her
background in theatre to inform her teaching. Many young
musicians found their stagecraft enriched through taking
her program “Acting from the Inside Out.” Today Lindell still
takes on private clients for what she calls “Stage Survival”
coaching. (Call 604-886-0742 for more info.)
“I provide support for people who have a ‘product’ or an act or specific
performance and who need to prepare or fine tune or who need help to
overcome blocks or obstacles. For example, someone preparing for an audition
or for a specific performance. I love to work in the one-on-one environment.”
Anne-Marie helps her students develop a broad range of practical acting skills
– from the dramatic (warm ups and centering) to the logistic (movement, focus,
audience management).
One well known local client, Lowry Olafson,
(another outstanding performer who also teaches)
recently enlisted Anne-Marie to help him smooth
out some of the kinks in his very popular school
songwriting workshop, “From the Page to the Stage
in One Day.” Lowry’s unique multi-skills-engaging
songwriting workshop demystifies the process for
students from grade 3 to grade 12. Offered through
the schools, “From the Page to the Stage in One
Day” is a fun and engaging 3-hour morning session
in which students write a song as a team, which
they then perform at a school assembly later in the
day. Find out more at www.lowryolafson.com
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