March 28, 2015

Last weekend, The Aeolian and The Ontario Registered Music Teachers Assocation ran a weekend of concerts and pedagogy presentations.  André Laplante and Sara Davis Buechner gave stunning performances with a vast array of repertoire.  The presentations focused on bringing back an “authentic” focus for music making in a community context.  André spoke about his early studies and the horrors of his early experiences with teachers trying to live vicariously through him.  I gave a presentation on Emotional Intelligence and building a conscious focus of teaching “EQ” to our students.  D&S Pianos presented the latest technology of “hybrid pianos” which are transforming the ability to practise creatively and do so in apartments and condos.  Joel Faflak from the “Advanced Studies in Arts and Humanities” from Western University talked about fear, failure and making space for the creative process.  He asked the question “Are we too busy doing and not taking enough time to waste time and get ready to create?”.  Sara gave practical presentation on piano technique where she focused on methods from the past.  We concluded with a stunning presentation by David Visentin from El Sistema Toronto.  He asked the question “Are we living up to the promise of social outcomes in our teaching?”.

Although there were thematic links to many of the presentations, there were also contridictory ideas.  I was happy with this!  It is in this tension of contradictions that we become creative!