Symposium on Singing and Song

This past weekend at Memorial, we were host to the Symposium of Singing and Song, and four day gathering of choir personnel from 12 different countries of the world.  I was lucky enough to be one of the student volunteers, and I had an incredible experience while I was there. 

The first session I got to enjoy was on "Singing Traditions". The first set of presenters were from Singapore, and they have created the "STAR" initiative. STAR stands for the Singapore Teachers' Academy for the aRts.  This was created just under a decade ago when Rebecca Chew noticed that there was no joy left in the children music classes she attended. She didn't see any folk music of Singapore, and the teachers were resistant to incorporating anything new to their lessons. So Rebecca, in combination with Hui-Ping Ho created STAR. They emphasize teaching teachers how to be better at what they do.  They incorporate traiditional Singapore concepts into the music and teach the contexts in which these songs are used. They have found that once the students have been given context of a piece, it has become more enjoyable for them. The main reason for creating STAR was to preserve so many of the Singapore musical traditions that were being lost in the music system.
The second set of presenters were from the USA, and they talked about African American identity in music.  What they mentioned a lot of was an alteration of the original texts of music so they are less raw and real for the young children who are singing the songs.  They too, as with the STAR creators, are pushing to teach context in the school system for the music.  I found this presentation to be the most influential of the weekend for me, because afterwards we had the opportunity to create a semi-round table discussion on the topic of identity in music and how that affects those who sing that music. I think this is a main factor as to why Newfoundlanders love singing so much. Our traditional music is raw, it tells stories of the things that happened in our lives, the tragedies and the heartbreak. This is what a lot of people don't seem to understand about music, particularly when planning a performance, the fact that not all music is meant to be "happy".  We discussed that African American music is telling the story of something that happened, it is a reality, and why not convey that reality in song? The connection a human can make when they hear about another's experiences is so powerful. Not to mention, if we always sugar coat the past, it will be forgotten because no one is continuing to tell the truth.  If that is lost, who's to say that we won't repeat those mistakes? People need to learn that the human race isn't perfect, and we learn how to be better with life experiences. We learn most when we are outside of our comfort zone, so why not do so in a group discussing a piece of music? The amount of emotion that can be tapped by the human singing voice is so much more than just the speaking voice.  This session had a huge impact on me and my ideals about how to teach students and how to approach new music going forward. We must put a context to a piece, and move outside our comfort zone to get to a place where true connections can happen through the song.