Volume 27 Issue 8 | July 1 - September 20, 2022

IN WITH THE NEW
From left to right: Andrew Timar, Debbie Danbrook, Jin Cho and Rene Meshake
Two musical exercises in cultivating
cultural understanding
WENDALYN BARTLEY
It is often said that music has a special power to bring
diverse people and cultures together. Two events
in July occurring just two days apart highlight this
truth – one local, one international.
North Wind: On July 16 at Toronto’s Heliconian Hall, North Wind
Concerts is bringing together four Toronto-based musicians – each
playing different types of wood or bamboo flutes – onto the same stage,
for a concert titled “Encircling the World: Flutes II” part of an ongoing
series. Combining flutes from Korea (the daegeum played by Jin Cho),
from Japan (the shakuhachi played by Debbie Danbrook), from the
Anishinaabeg First Nation (the pipigwan played by Rene Meshake), and
from Indonesia (the suling played by Andrew Timar), the focus will be
on an exchange of musical ideas and approaches to performance.
As artistic co-director Alison Melville explained to me, although
many efforts have been made over the past 20 years by classical music
organizations to stretch thematically beyond the boundaries of the
European tradition, not much has changed when it comes to drawing
in new audiences. “There’s something more fundamental that has to
happen,” she said.
One key ingredient often missing is a primary focus on the music
itself. How do people from different cultural backgrounds actually
approach playing the music, and when, and why? “What instruments
do you play that are like mine? If I listen to the way you play your
instrument, how can that inform me about how one plays music, and
even in understanding what music is?” Even though different fundamental
techniques may be used when it comes to different wind
instruments, exploring common elements, such as how to play with
air, for example, can be informative. Regarding drawing in new audiences,
people familiar with the music of their own culture are more
likely to attend a concert such as “Encircling the World: Flutes II”; in
so doing, they will be exposed to other approaches to music-making,
traditions that they otherwise wouldn’t experience.
During the concert, each of the four players will play their own set,
combining their performance with stories about their relationship
to the instrument and their approaches to music-making. These
sets will be followed by the four performers coming together in
different combinations either to improvise or to perform something
preplanned.
The evening will end with a chance for conversation with the audience.
Melville pointed out, for example, that two of the performers
are playing instruments different from the cultural heritage they were
raised in. An interesting question to think about is why they made
that choice, and what it has meant to them to pursue a career on that
particular instrument.
THE IMPASSIONED
STORIES
of ten composers
who altered
the course of
musical history
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22 | July 1 - September 20, 2022 thewholenote.com