Ottawa musicians delight and instruct Iqaluit’s young

A three-day music event in Iqaluit gave local music students a taste of life on the big stage and the possibilities that go with a career in music.

“Music Alive,” a program sponsored by the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre, staged four concerts and a series of musical workshops in Nunavut’s capital Jan. 22 to 24.

On Jan. 22, the NAC’s Brass Trio performed with throat singers Sylvia Cloutier and Madeleine Allakariallak and with the Inuksuk High School choir in a community concert called “Bringing the Qaggiq Back.”

Through the “Music Alive” program, the National Arts Centre helps to support the musical culture of Nunavut by designing, in collaboration with local partners and advisers, a comprehensive, multi-year music program.

And the program also aims to help strengthen the capacity to teach music among Nunavut’s educators and musicians.

On Jan. 23, the NAC’s Brass Trio visited Inuksuk High School’s brass band, where the choir played a brief concert and then broke off to work individually with students.

Karen Donnelly, the principal trumpeter at the NAC orchestra for the past 15 years, told students about her journey from a high school program much like theirs, in Regina, Sask., to playing on stage with some of the world’s most renowned musicians.

The students were impressed when Donnelly told them about appearing on stage with world famous cellist Yo–Yo Ma.

To maintain her standing as a trumpet virtuoso, she said she practices three hours a day.

“If you want to be at the top of your game, that is the commitment you have to make,” Donnelly said.

And, while the trio visited Iqaluit to share their talent, Donnelley said they were overwhelmed sharing a stage with local throat singers and the high school choir.

“What we try to achieve as is an ambience and a musical experience that will allow people to transport themselves away from their lives, that is what art is,” Donnelly said. “What we experienced yesterday with you guys was exactly that.”

During the community concert held Jan. 22 at Nakasuk Elementary School, the brass trio, throat singers Cloutier, Allakariallak and the Inuksuk high School Choir all collaborated on a song by the late Nunavik singer and songwriter Charlie Adams.

“This was the first time this particular piece of music had been played with a traditional western orchestra,” Inuksuk band teacher Mary Piercey said.

Having professional musicians coming to the north to share their experiences and give the students focused instruction is also invaluable to the students, Piercey said.

“I teach the kids the basics of there instruments but I am a pianist by trade,” she said.

“So for a professional trumpeter to come to the North and give personal one-on-one lessons about the idiosyncrasies of their instrument, the student’s learning curve goes way up,” Piercey said.

For budding trumpet players Newkinga Moss and Rachel Niego-Akavak, who plan on pursuing music careers and possibly becoming music teachers, the opportunity to be taught by Donnelly was invaluable.

“I didn’t know that posture mattered so much,” Niego-Akakvak. “I learned that we are squishing our lungs when we slouch.”

Right now, both girls said they practice between one and two hours a day, but on hearing about the commitment it takes, they say they will devote even more time to their music.

And while the students in the brass band got personal instruction from the trio, the NAC made arrangements for Cloutier to give the choir a one-hour throat singing lesson.

“I was asked by the NAC to come teach a class and I really wanted to help Mary Piercey with the work she is doing with the youth,” Cloutier said.

There’s a gap between her grandmother’s generation, who knew how to throat sing, and her mother’s generation who had their culture suppressed after being sent to residential schools, Cloutier said.

“Throat singing was almost lost, but it is strong right now and a lot of young people are making a big effort to learn,” Cloutier said.

All of the visiting musicians expressed their desire to continue working with the students.

This commitment is easier for Cloutier, who lives in Iqaluit, but now, through technology donated by the NAC, it will be possible for members of the NAC orchestra to continue offering lessons to the students.

A camera with a satellite link will allow the students to receive instruction through video conferencing.

“We will start to have private lessons between the orchestra players and our students,” Piercey said. “So that they will have ongoing instruction with these world-class musicians.”