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Volume 17 Issue 3 - November 2011

  • Text
  • November
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • December
  • Arts
  • Symphony
  • Theatre
  • Musical
  • Orchestra
  • Choir

Back to the present: the

Back to the present: the November meeting of the Duke EllingtonSociety will be held on Friday November 18 at the TorontoReference Library, 789 Yonge St. The evening will be titled “TheDuke in Canada” and I’ll be there with a quartet playing the musicof Ellington and Strayhorn. You don’t have to be a member to attendand admission is free.Earlier the same week on Tuesday, November 15, from 6pm to9pm, there will be a “Jazz Party” at Quotes Bar & Grill, 220 KingSt. W., Toronto, with an all-star line-up of musicians and it is sureto be a memorable evening. Regular readers may remember thatthree months ago I wrote about Kate Weich who passed away June16 of this year. The event is a celebration of her life and there willbe a cover charge at the door, all of which will go towards abursary to be established in her name at York UniversityAs always, happy listening.Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader andformer artistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz. Hecan be contacted at jazznotes@thewholenote.com.Sidetrackedjack macquarrieWhen contemplating this month’s column I had intended todive right into reporting on the gathering storm of performancesby community musical groups for the coming fall andwinter season. However, four random recent events, each with someform of musical connection, have conspired to remind me just howpervasive musical influences are in my life, and to derail me frommy appointed task.The first of these was a paper recently published in the Journalof The American Psychological Association which compared theperformance of a variety of tasks by musicians and non-musicians.Having been a volunteer subject over the past few years for thisstudy at the Rotman Research Institute of the Baycrest Centre andthe Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, I wadedthrough the academic jargon. One phrase stood out: “Despite thescant data on aging and musicianship, the picture emerging is thatlifelong musicianship mitigates age-related decline in cognitivetasks …” In short, making music is good for you.I could have told them that: One year ago, I wrote about how theNew Horizons Band established at Long and McQuade had grownto 24 members by its third week. It’s now a daytime group and anevening group with total memberships of 42, and a new beginners’daytime group of 22 is under way with another slated to beginin January.In these startup groups the social rewards of playing in some formof musical ensemble have quickly come to the fore. As we see fromthe academic studies, making music with friends has many rewardsbeyond the pleasure of creating music. If you are not musicallyinvolved now, get on the bandwagon; it’s never too late.Second sidetrack, the ultimate in serendipity, happened a coupleof weeks ago on my way home from a rehearsal. Like so manyToronto streets at this time of year, my route was undergoing majorrepairs. To cut a long story somewhat shorter, as I stepped out of thecar to locate the source of the clanking, a gentleman walking a dogCombinableBags for: Guitar DJ Cello Wind Brass Ukulele LaptopDec. 10 St. Lawrence CentreToronto 416-366-7723Dec. 17 The Studio @Hamilton Place 1-855-872-5000Dec. 18 Markham TheatreMarkham 905-305-7469Limited EditionUkulele Gig BagsCall for the location of aretailer near you1 800 690-051526 thewholenote.comNovember 1 – December 7, 2011

called out “it’s your tailpipe.” Soon, in his drivewayaround the corner, he had supplied wire and toolsand had my tailpipe secured for my trip home. Atsome point during his mission of mercy he spotted myinstrument case and said “do you play trombone?” Iasked how he had recognized the case, he informedme that he played guitar and cello, and naturally theconversation shifted to music. He is from Gore Bayon Manitoulin Island, where he also sings and hiswife directs a local choir. When I pulled out my walletto buy a CD of his wife’s choir singing some of heroriginal compositions, we had another jolt. On seeingthe name Jack MacQuarrie, my name, he asked “Howdo you know him?” It just so happens that anotherJack MacQuarrie (a distant relative whom I met manyyears ago) is a friend and publisher of the local GoreBay newspaper. The beginnings of another musical friendship?Third distraction along the way this month was hearing abouta musical study by two meteorologists at Oxford and ReadingUniversities who traced prevailing weather phenomena in differentparts of the world over the years and concluded that the contentand style of many works of the classical repertoire could be directlylinked to the prevailing weather in the region where the composerslived. With the help of my research assistant Mr. Google, I locatednot only that study, but an extensive, if less scholarly, article titled“Weather in Classical Music” by Richard Nilsen in the ArizonaRepublic. It is an extensive compendium of compositions cataloguedby composer and title according to the seasons and various weatherphenomena. Gives a whole new spin to the excuse of “being underthe weather.”Fourth and final digression? I was presented with an unusualopportunity to make music — the grand opening of a new municipalparking lot in a community north of Toronto. My musical zenith hadarrived, I thought, and I would wait to tell you about it. I arrived inthe area only to find an array of “Do Not Enter” and “No Parking”signs. You guessed it — there was no place to park. I arrived too lateto play for this great event.So, what is happening in the local music scene?For starters, Silverthorn Symphonic Winds (SSW) kicks offtheir 2011/2012 season with a free public music clinic, presented inconjunction with the Westmount Music Departmentand Arts Westmount Music. Led by 2010/2011artist-in-residence Peter Stoll, clarinetist, “FromPractice Room to Concert Hall” will provide tips onhow to practise effectively and how to improve yourensemble playing. Not just for clarinetists, the clinicis geared toward high school instrumentalists andadult amateur musicians. For details, see this month’sEtcetera listings under “lectures.”(For the comingseason, SSW has announced that its 2011/2012 artistin-residencewill be one of Canada’s most respectedhorn players, Christopher Gongos. In 1998, Gongosjoined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where heholds the position of associate principal horn.)To start their season this year, the HannafordStreet Silver Band once again joins forces with theAmadeus Choir under the baton of Lydia Adams for a performanceof The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by the Welsh composerKarl Jenkins. The work is a reflection on war and peace in amulti-cultural, global society. It draws its text from classical poets,biblical verses and traditional mass, as well as from Muslim, Hinduand Japanese sources. In the other portion of the programmeon November 12, the band will be under the direction of GillianMacKay. The HSSB will perform Kevin Lau’s Great North Overtureand Barbara Croall’s remarkable Gi-Giiwe Na?, an allegory for brassand percussion inspired by Native soldiers. The men of the AmadeusChoir will join the HSSB to perform Harry Somers’ A ThousandAges and Stephen Chatman’s hauntingly beautiful Reconciliation.Christopher Gongos.Definition DEPARTMENTThis month’s lesser known musical term is Articulosis: a chronicdisability leading to fuzzy attempts at staccato playing.We invite submissions from readers. Let’s hear your daffynitions.Coming EventsPlease see the listings for full details.Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments andhas performed in many community ensembles. He canbe contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com.INDEX OF advertisersAcademy Concert Series 33Ad Summum Events 46Adam Sherkin 39Aldeburgh Connection 42Alexander Kats 56Amoroso 62Analekta 8Antonin Kubalek Memorial 30Arraymusic 37Arts and Letters Club 56Associates of the tso 14ATMA 5Aurora Performing Arts Group 39Bach Children’s Chorus 22Bloor Street United Church 38Canadian Men’s Chorus 24Canadian Opera Company 29Canadian Sinfonietta 41Cantemus 40Capella Intima 37Capella Intima 50Cathedral Bluffs Symphony 34Chamber Music Society of Mississauga30Christ Church Deer Park Jazz Vespers25Christina Petrowska Quilico 19Classical 96 69Continuum Contemporary Music 31Cosmo Music 26Counterpoint Commnity Orchestra 46Counterpoint Musical Services 26Earwitness Productions/Eve Egoyan 44East York Choir 45Eglinton St George’s 48Elmer Iseler Singers 21, 40, 44esprit Orchestra 72Essential Opera 33Etobicoke Centennial Choir 45Eybler Quartet 39Gallery 345 29George Heinl 22Grace Church on the Hill 48Hannaford Street Silver Band 33Heliconian Hall 58International Resource Centre forPerforming Artists 56John Laing Singers 50Jubilate Singers 41Koffler Centre 17Larkin Singers 37L’Atelier Grigorian 61Latvian National Opera Foundation 47Lawrence Park Community Church32, 56Leon Belov 57Liz Parker 58lizpr 56Lockwood ARS 57Long & McQuade 26Margot Rydall 57Mary Lou Fallis 56Miles Nadal jcc 56Mirvish Productions 15Mississauga Symphony 41Mooredale Concerts 33Music at Metropolitan 39Music Gallery 19Music Toronto 9, 31, 36, 44, 48Nagata Shachu 36Nathaniel Dett Chorale 13Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation 32Nocturnes in the City 30, 43Norm Pulker 57nyco Symphony 17Oakham House Choir 41Ontario Philharmonic 16Opera in Concert 11Orchestra Toronto 46Oriana Women’s Choir 24Orpheus Choir 70Our Lady of Sorrows 47Pasquale Bros 55Pattie Kelly 57Pax Christi Chorale 45Peter Mahon 23Platinum Concerts International 42, 51Rose Theatre 10Royal Conservatory 4Samantha Chang Productions 30Silverthorn Symphonic Winds 34Sinfonia Toronto 36Soundstreams 43St Michael’s Choir School 23St. Olaves Church 42St. Philip’s Anglican Church JazzVespers 25St. Stephen in-the-Fields AnglicanChurch 58Steve’s Music Store 20Sue Crowe Connolly 57Tafelmusik 2, 3Talisker Players 35The Singing Voice Studio 58The Sound Post 20Toronto All-Star Big Band 26Toronto Beach Chorale 41Toronto Centre for the Arts 28Toronto Chamber Choir 46Toronto Choral Society 32Toronto Classical Singers 47Toronto Concert Orchestra 35Toronto Consort 70Toronto Masque Theatre 11, 33, 34Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 31, 48Toronto Operetta Theatre 11Toronto Symphony Orchestra 71Toronto Welsh Make Voice Choir 37Tyndale University 44U of T, Faculty of Music 7Vesnivka Choir 29Vicki St Pierre 57Victoria Scholars 31Village Voices 40vivA! Youth Singers 44Windermere String Quartet 38Yamaha Music School 57November 1 – December 7, 2011 thewholenote.com 27

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