WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDRENWHO IS MAY’sCHILD?RECENTLY:•Figaro’s Wedding(Against theGrain Theatre)as the smarmy Alberto;•The Lesson of Da Ji(TorontoMasque Theatre)as the Flesh-EatingKing;•Dichterliebe: ThePoet’s Love (ColemanLemieux & Co.)not your basic songanddance routine;•Schütz and Buxtehude(Theatre of Early Musicwith U of T’s ScholaCantorum);UPCOMING:•A Poet’s Love (TaliskerPlayers);•Airline Icarus(Soundstreams) asthe pilot.Know our MysteryChild’s name?Send your best guessto musicschildren@thewholenote.comby April 24.1987, and not yet a tall,dark, baritone.National Music Campin Orillia, Ontario, with theToronto Children’s Chorus.March’s Child Jack MacQuarrieMJ BUELLThe WholeNote’sBandstand columnist sinceSeptember 2006, JackMacQuarrie was born onChristmas Day,1925, and raisedin Walkerville Ontario (nowWindsor).How many hats cana music-loving fellow wear ina lifetime? Just ask the manwho has 30 or so instrumentsin his house.There was no band in JackMacQuarrie’s high school,but he was bitten by theband bug in grade 11 whenhe joined The High TwelveClub Boys Band (sponsoredby a service club), and thenthe local Kiwanis Boys Band.They were “borrowed” by thecommanding officer of thelocal naval training unit who’dbeen asked to recruit a reserveband. Boys as young as 12 through 17, whose parentsgave permission, found themselves Probationary BoyBandsmen with a uniform and pay – for rehearsals,Navy parades, concerts in the park and Navy events.MacQuarrie went on active service after high school.He learned some new instruments – those involved inradio and radar. When WWII ended he completed hisundergraduate degree at U of T where he played in theVarsity Band, the Conservatory Concert Band and theU of T Symphony. One memorable university summerhe played trombone six nights a week in a dance bandat the popular Erie Beach Pavilion – seven days a week,from nine until midnight. Sundays they’d go to Detroitand hear all the touring big bands – Ellington, Kenton,Burnett, Herman, Dorsey.MacQuarrie returned to sea during the KoreanWar as a Navy Lieutenant Commander and divingofficer. He laid aside music during those seven years,but since 1957 has played continuously in professionaland community ensembles too numerous to listhere, including the Don Bowes Big Band, the SwingMachine, the Newmarket Citizens’ Band, The VillageBrass (a quintet), and the Markham Concert Band.With music fuelling his lungs, mind and spirit,MacQuarrie returned to university, acquired an MBAand then did four years of graduate studies in engineering– investigating human performance in hostile(underwater) environments. Hereceived a Massey Fellowship underRobertson Davies. He workedfor some time at marketing inthe airborne electronics business.He’s a past president of theSkywide Amateur Radio Club, wasthe first instructor for the HartHouse Underwater Club and is stillactive in the Naval Club of Toronto.In January 2013 MacQuarrie wasawarded the Queen’s DiamondJubilee Medal for contributionsto Canada.Today MacQuarrie and his wife,Joan Andrews, are both volunteersin research on brain functionand aging, comparing musicianswith non-musicians, at theBaycrest Centre. They continue torenovate their 150-year-old house.MacQuarrie retains a commercialpilot’s license, writes and edits,and plays regularly with the Newmarket Citizens’ Band(tuba), Swing Machine (bass trombone) and the DonBowes Big Band (tenor trombone).Music in your life when that childhood photo wastaken? Music was always in the house – lots of radiofrom Detroit stations. My mother was a semi-professionalsinger, church soloist, and for a time, a memberof the Detroit Light Opera Company. My father was adedicated opera fan, and the Metropolitan Opera wason our radio every Saturday afternoon. My motherorganized a vocal quartet which practised regularly inour living room for some years.Earliest musical memories? I remember my mothersinging the role of Buttercup from HMS Pinafore as sheworked around the house. My Grade 2 teacher took usto a concert by the Detroit Symphony.Music in your family now? My wife, Joan, was headof music at a high school, is assistant conductor of theAmadeus Choir, conductor of the Village Voices choir,sings in an all-women’s choir and plays flute in twogroups. For some years we were both actively involvedwith the organization of CAMMAC music camps.This year I have cut back from five rehearsals a weekto three. Music is the dominant theme in this houseevery day.Jack MacQuarrie’s interviewcontinues at thewholenote.comJOAN ANDREWSCONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS!•Mooredale Concerts presents The Canadian Brass (April 27 MacMillan Theatre), whose memorable performances havemade them world-wide ambassadors for the brass quintet. Each of these five are virtuosos but their unique ensemble soundis what sets them apart. They will play a spirited program featuring works by Bach, Schumann, Brahms, Gershwin, Bizet,Waller, and some traditional popular classics. A one-hour Music and Truffles concert for young people (1:15) precedes the3:15 main concert. Kenneth and Pauline Hodge and Doug McInroy each receive a pair of tickets!•Hannaford Street Silver Band’s 2014 Festival of Brass is three remarkable days, April11-13, of masterclasses with guestartists, band showcases and concerts, including The HSSB Youth Band, The JazzFM Youth Big Band, brass bands formacross Ontario and beyond, Pennsylvania’s the River City Brass (dir. James Gourlay), and the grand finale “Slide Show” –HSSB with guest conductor Patrick Sheridan and soloist Wycliffe Gordon, trombone virtuoso. Cynthia Sloane and FraserMcKee are each the lucky winners of a three-day pass.•John Brooker and Frances Giles each win a copy of HSSB’s latest CD, Ontario Reflections: Hannaford Live, VOl.1Music’s Children gratefully acknowledges Christina, Francine, Joan, David, Ray, Nan and Archie.60 | April 1 – May 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
SEEING ORANGE | ALLAN PULKERTeachers! Stand OutFrom The Crowd!Even with opportunities for unguided self-teaching proliferatingthrough the internet, music remains largely an oral tradition,handed down directly from teacher to student and consistinglargely of showing students how to teach themselves, which is doneby what is usually called practising, and which I like to call guidedself-teaching.When a student studies music by taking lessons with a teacher,the effectiveness of the lessons – gauged by how well the studentprogresses – depends on two things: the receptivity of the studentand his/her ability to attempt and then to master the things thatthe teacher recommends; and the teacher’s ability to assess whatthe student is able to do and not do, and to recommend techniquesand skills to practise in the time between lessons. The fit betweenteacher and student therefore becomes a more important criterionthan anything else in determining whether learning music becomes arewarding experience.With this month’s launch of The WholeNote’s online ORANGEPAGES searchable directory we are taking the first steps towardshelping music students and would-be students find that perfectmatch. Already over 145 teachers, community music schools andsummer music programs have filled out the online questionnaire thatenables them to be found through our ORANGE PAGES, with moresigning up every day.All that being said, we are under no illusions that we have suddenlybecome the only, or even the primary way for this crucial matchmakingto take place. The search for and finding of a musical mentorcomes in many forms, as the following three short descriptions ofexisting education-related musical resources show.Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association: The OntarioRegistered Music Teachers Association (ORMTA) was establishedin 1936 to establish high standards of private music instruction inOntario. I spoke to Etobicoke-Mississauga branch president VirginiaTaylor, about ORMTA’s contribution to music education: “ORMTA,”she told me, “provides a superior level of teaching, which ensuresparents and students alike of a studio experience that is of the highestquality.” Membership requires not only a good musical education butalso evidence of effective teaching. In other words, members musthave done some teaching before becoming members of ORMTA.Once a member, however, “ORMTA gives a teacher the advantage ofcontinuing education and learning by attending the many workshops,master classes and conferences offered through the organization.”ORMTA also offers student assessments, by which, Virginia told me“students are able to have their work audited by another professional,which…gives [them] an unbiased opinion of their performance.”She also raised another very interesting benefit. Anyone who hastaught, whether in the school system or privately, has to be veryaware that one of the occupational hazards of the business is the lackof contact with one’s peers. ORMTA, Virginia pointed out, in organizingworkshops and conferences, also provides camaraderie throughcontact with other music teachers, and also “a forum for bouncing offteaching questions.”ORMTA encourages non-members to join. Everything you need toknow about joining the organization is on their website. “Our workshops,”she told me “are open to non-members, and we encourageteachers who are not ORMTA members to participate in them. ORMTAhas given my teaching life excellence and much meaning, and alsomy personal life, as I have colleagues with whom I am constantly intouch, andwho share the same life that I do. Their ideas and advice Igreatly treasure.”Anton Kuerti conducts the Mooredale Youth OrchestraMooredale Youth Orchestras: An opportunity available to studentsonce they are at grade four level and beyond, is the three Mooredaleyouth orchestras, which were started back in 1986 by the late KristineBogyo so that her two sons, one of whom played the violin, the other,the cello, would be able to play in an orchestra.I spoke recently to William Rowson, who became the conductor ofthe Junior and Senior Orchestras in 2008. We began by talking aboutthe benefits of participating in the Mooredale program. Althoughsome of the orchestra’s alumni, he told me, become professionalmusicians, it is not so much about producing professionals as it isabout realizing what is possible. “I challenge them, and at first theyare overwhelmed, but then they go on to work out how and what theyneed to practise and how to make use of their time.” Young people,he said, “are up for challenges, they want to be great, and if you showthem what is possible and how to achieve it, they will achieve.”One of the challenges Rowson brings is to treat his orchestramembers like professionals in the sense that he expects them tocome to rehearsals with their parts learned; it can be necessary towork on certain passages with only one section. To keep the rehearsalflowing and to keep the other sections actively involved he asks themto listen, to see if they can hear how it could be better, to hear wherethe phrases are going and to be able to articulate the character ofthe piece.While much of the orchestras’ repertoire is standard – everythingfrom early Haydn to Warlock’s Capriole Suite – it does also work ina certain amount of contemporary music. Rowson, who has a PhDin composition, has written works for his orchestras, and contemporarycomposers are invited to bring works for the orchestras toread through.Regardless of what music the orchestras are working on, the aimis always to give the experience to the members of working throughdifficulty to make things possible.Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario:The Conferenceof Independent Schools of Ontario (CIS Ontario) is an association ofschools which are not publicly funded and which meet a number ofrigorous criteria. I chatted with Jan Campbell, the executive director ofthe association about the place of music in the independent schools.While there is no common consensus or policy about the placeof music in education, there is, she told me, huge value placed onstudent programs outside of the academic programs.One of the products of this commitment will be the Conference ofIndependent Schools Music Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on April 14.Over 40 of the 44 member schools will be participating in this majorcollaborative effort, each having prepared for months in advanceto achieve a high level of musicianship and artistry. Choirs, orchestrasand bands will all perform, and the grand finale will be a massedchoir and orchestra spectacular.Just as with the Mooredale Orchestras, this event provides greatmotivation and inspiration for students and teachers alike as well asan opportunity to meet many new people and colleagues.The event is close to sold out but tickets will be available for thedress rehearsal. Please see the ad on page 69 for details.CHRISTINA CAVANAGHthewholenote.com April 1 – May 7, 2014 | 61
