Education

Blue Arch Music is dedicated to providing exciting and engaging music education for a wide variety of ages, in many different formats. We will work with you to create an educational experience that will deepen your understanding of music.

• School Programs
• Ensemble Coaching
• Private Instruction

School Programs can be enhanced with custom workshops of one to five visits, using music to better understand art, math, science, and humanities. Our classes are active and highly participatory. We develop concepts in your curriculum using music as a catalyst for learning.

Available for all learning environments of all experience levels: private school, public school, home school groups, private music studios, summer camps.

Workshop Topics

The Mystery of Time (rhythm and meter)

Time is a fuzzy concept. Music makes time an object rather than just a concept. With pulse or beat, time is quantified into regular packages that can be manipulated into patterns of meter and rhythm. Explore how our bodies feel rhythm and meter with hands-on demonstrations of our interactions with time. Simple and compound time; duple, triple, and quadruple meters and musical notation will be demystified to allow deeper understanding of music and how it changes our understanding and perception of time.

Number and Patterns in Cross-Rhythms

Music is full of patterns. Rhythmic patterns often interact with each other to form interesting textures of cross rhythms. Exploring these interactions will give a new way of looking at math. Number Strand deals with multiples, factors, composites, primes and ratios and fractions; Pattern Strand deals with generating, extending, recording, and charting patterns; Shape and Space using geometric objects to visualize interactions of patterns, will all demonstrate how music uses math in its rhythmic dance.

Early Canadian History through Folksong

Canadian folksongs are historical artifacts that can be used as fascinating gateways to explore and develop a greater understanding of the lives of pre-Confederation Canadians (First Nations, French, British, and Métis). Songs highlight our resource industries that contributed to the foundations of the Canadian economic system and give insight into how people lived and interacted with each other. In addition to learning a number of Canadian folksongs, participants will engage in creative writing to describe in song what their own lives are like and how they interact in today’s world.

Resonance (the physics of sound)

Sound lies at the heart of music, but how does sound actually work? Resonant sound is characteristic of musical instruments that can sustain a definite pitch. This sound is made up of a complex combination of sounds forming harmonics or overtones. Exploring the harmonic series provides insight into how we perceive the sounds that make music. Concepts of consonance, dissonance, musical scale, intonation and tuning systems will all be made clear when the magic of overtones is revealed. (We will also explore cool mathematical experiments done by ancient Greek philosophers like Pythagorus, and fathers of modern science, Galileo and Newton.)

Music and Technology (podcasting, GarageBand)

Podcasting can be a great way to share your message with the masses. The most successful podcasts are crafted by producers who understand how to use editing tools to make the listener’s experience enjoyable. Adding nonverbal sounds like theme music, sound hit punctuations, and foley (sound effect) sounds can enhance the listener’s experience and create a deeper connection to the text. Learn simple techniques with basic sound technology and editing to take a basement tape and turn it into a radio show.

GarageBand is a simple and powerful application on all Apple devices, both OSX and iOS. Learn how to unlock the design features of this amazing audio tool to explore and create your own artistic visions in sound. Recording, editing, mixing and processing are all examined and explained in language you can understand. No longer a ‘black box’ full of mystery, GarageBand can be a simple, effective tool for all of your audio creations.

Composition

A Melody a Day. Being literate means being able to read and write. If we are to be musically literate then writing music should be an everyday activity, just like reading music. Starting with simple explorations of melody, musical ideas can be developed and expanded with simple techniques that do not require enlightenment from the muses, or divine insight into the cosmos. By writing simply and easily, you will gain confidence to explore more complex structures. Musical ideas are expanded into phrases, phrases joined into musical sentences or period structures, and period structures can create musical sections that are put together to create Binary or Ternary musical forms. Simple, fun and satisfying – enrich your musical literacy with A Melody a Day.

Pentatonic Perspectives. Pentatonic scales are used in all musical cultures across the world. They come in a variety of forms and are expressive while also easy to experiment with. Starting with a simple melody, texture is expanded with multiple voices using complementary rhythms and ‘grooves’ that can be used as a basis to improvise new melodies. Modulating to other forms of pentatonic scales can add variety and extra expression to your compositions. Vocals, instruments, and percussion interact to launch a fascinating world of Pentatonic Perspectives.

Ensemble Coaching

Ensemble coaching of string orchestra, string quartet, fiddle groups, or chamber ensembles. We specialize in teaching traditional and Baroque music styles. These skills can enrich performance experiences for everyone.

• Fiddle styles in Blue Arch Music arrangements
• Baroque HIP
• Improvisation
• Reading Music for Fiddlers
• Never played in an ensemble before? Tips and tricks for making that transition into ensemble playing. (Summer workshop)

Private Instruction

Private instruction that sees music as a lifelong pursuit is available for strings, flute and theory and composition. Weekly lessons or module packages of four lessons intended to explore a specific area of focus.

• Fiddle styles
• Baroque practice
• Improvisation
• Simple System flutes, Baroque Flute and Irish Flute
• How music works (theory)
• Creative music (composition)