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Toronto Musicians Association News<br />
compiled and edited by Brian Blain<br />
Mentorship Program<br />
The Toromo Musicians' Association has been approached by Teresa<br />
Roberson of the Toronto Training Board which is piloting a Career/<br />
Job Mentorship Program for secondary students with learning disabilities.<br />
This program is in association with numerous children's<br />
services programs including local school boards and the YMCA.<br />
The immediate need is for 2 volunteer mentors with experience in<br />
the music field, specifically: a mentor to help a student interested in<br />
writing songs in the R & B and hip hop area. and a mentor for a<br />
bass player/ singer. The students are in Grade 11. The mentor is required<br />
for a one-hour meeting once a month co help direct the studem<br />
's choice of training and career path. Please contact Rosemary<br />
Galloway at 416 421-<strong>10</strong>20, or rgalloway@torontomusicians.org if<br />
you are interested in this program. We will connect you with the<br />
Toronto Training Board.<br />
Instruments Wanted and To Loan<br />
The TMA committee continues to develop the student instrument<br />
loan program. To date we have gratefully received some instruments<br />
with a recent lead to many more not being used by a school now<br />
closed. We hope to have those instruments available in the near future.<br />
We do have some instruments to distribute! We are looking for<br />
a student who needs a violin. While these instruments are not very<br />
valuable, they will allow a student to have an instrument for practice<br />
purposes at an early stage of their development. We are looking for<br />
specific instruments too: we have a request for a cello for a very<br />
promising student in high school now using a school instrument. In<br />
addition a request for band instruments for a family interested in taking<br />
music lessons together. H you have instruments to loan or donate<br />
please call Corkie Davis at 416-503-3<strong>10</strong>6, or e-mail at<br />
corkie.davis@sympatico.ca<br />
A Note from the Country<br />
Popular TMA member Jack Mcfadden recently fulfilled a lifelong<br />
dream, and moved co the country. He writes, "I'm about a half hour<br />
south of Owen Sound, on a small lake, or about 2 hours north of<br />
Toronto. I'm hoping co keep working with my old friends from<br />
town, and have been busier than ever, since' I moved. I just did a<br />
recording with Bob deAngelis, and another with Debbie Fleming."<br />
Jack plays every Thursday at Sgt. Pepper's in Markham, with Ted<br />
Roberts, Frank Wright, and Don Vickery. sometimes with extra<br />
guests.<br />
Performing Arts Lodge<br />
The Performing Arts Lodge, located ac 1<strong>10</strong> the Esplanade, right in<br />
the heart of downtown Toronto, has a number of bachelor and one<br />
bedroom units which it is required co rent at market price. These are<br />
very attractively priced for such a central location. The great majority<br />
of apartments in the building are reserved for those qualifying for<br />
a rent which is geared to their income and the waiting list for such<br />
units is long. However, right now, the waiting list for apartments at<br />
market rent is very short and the chances of obtaining one quickly<br />
are g_ood.<br />
The Performing Arts Lodge has a mandate to provide housing<br />
exclusively for members of the performing arts communicy (proft:ssional<br />
performing artist or as a member of an associated profession<br />
- e.g. production, writing. promotion, administration, education<br />
on or for the performing arts, or representing performing artists). If<br />
you think you qualify and would like to live in a bright, cheerful.<br />
well maintained building with locs of community spirit please contact<br />
the Building Manager at 4"16-955-4645 to find out more.<br />
We'd like to hear from you<br />
The Toronto Musicians· Association invites WholeNote readers to<br />
give us your li:edback on this new column. If you have any suggestions<br />
for m:ws items relating to members of the Toronto Musicians'<br />
Associa1ion. please forward them to Brian@Blain.com. Please inducle<br />
the woip "Wholenote" in the subject line.<br />
.<br />
What We Do:<br />
The Tallis Scholars<br />
by Peter Philips<br />
BooK Shelf<br />
The Musical Times Publications<br />
256 pages $25.00 US<br />
available from<br />
www .musicaltimes.co.uk<br />
440 1442 879097<br />
Peter Philips was once asked after<br />
a concert , "What do you really<br />
do?" His outrage sparked him to<br />
write this delightful and fascinating<br />
look at what being the director<br />
of a pioneering ensemble devoted<br />
to renaissance vocal music actually<br />
involves.<br />
Philips formed Th·e Tallis Scholars<br />
over thirty years ago to take<br />
renaissance polyphony out of the<br />
church and into the concert hall.<br />
He is not, he emphasizes, trying<br />
to save souls, but to bring the<br />
music to life.<br />
Bue he was also keen co show<br />
that 'serious music does not have<br />
to consist only of<br />
the Germanic<br />
orchestral tradition and evenings<br />
at the opera'. He does admit chat,<br />
LO relax, he listens to romantic<br />
symphonies. But he really dislikes<br />
opera.<br />
With his quintessentially British<br />
wit and mischievous humour,<br />
Philips is thoroughly entertaining.<br />
A publisher, columnist, scholar,<br />
organist and record producer, he<br />
offers fascinating details on the<br />
process of recording, rehearsing,<br />
conducting, building a program<br />
and touring. He describes what<br />
renaissance polyphony is, how it<br />
should be performed, and above<br />
all why it should be heard. In doing<br />
so, he opens a window onto<br />
how great performers make their<br />
art.<br />
The Tallis Scholars under rile direcrion<br />
of Peter Philips<br />
perform<br />
ar Roy Thomson Hall on Tuesday<br />
Dec. 7 ar 8. 00<br />
by Pa.meta Margles<br />
Scripts: Librettos For Operas<br />
and Other Musical Works<br />
by James Reaney<br />
edited with an introduction by<br />
.John Beckwith<br />
Coach House Books<br />
360 pages $24. 95<br />
The Canadian spirit has never<br />
manifested itself more resonantly<br />
or less earnestly than in these<br />
opera librettos by James Reaney.<br />
Many are based on actual events,<br />
and all are full of local colour,<br />
but they are so personal, elegant,<br />
and hilarious they transcend legend.<br />
In true Canadian style, Reaney<br />
is absorbed by the daunting physical<br />
presence of this country. In<br />
Canada Dash, Canada Dor he<br />
takes us across the Great Lakes,<br />
and up Yonge Sc. to the Sharon<br />
Temple, where a number of these<br />
works were performed, along the<br />
way celebrating icons like Bon<br />
Ami cleansing powder, 'the first<br />
indication that the country was<br />
bilingual', and rhapsodizing over<br />
a Government publication describing<br />
all the weeds of the<br />
country.<br />
Reaney creates a whimsical<br />
and surrealistic landscape, as<br />
though Gertrude Stein visited<br />
Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga<br />
Country. But Reaney's rich poetic<br />
imagination reveals an expressive<br />
vision thal transcends its<br />
Canadian roots.<br />
Of the nine opera librettos collected<br />
here, eight were set co music<br />
by the editor of this volume,<br />
John Beckwith, a masterly composer<br />
whose roots also run deep<br />
into the spirit of this country.<br />
The fine paper, spacious lay-out.<br />
and wonderful illustrations, including<br />
Reaney's own drawings,<br />
give this volume the presentation<br />
it deserves.<br />
WWW. rH EWH0LfN01 f .COM<br />
--OccEMAER 1 <strong>2004</strong> -FEBRUARY 7 2005
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