A new centre launched by the music and culture program at 澳门六合彩开奖接口 is removing barriers to making music 鈥 and not just for students.
Called , the research centre is working to teaming up with local organizations to create more opportunities for music-making on and off campus.
鈥The centre supports community partnerships and community-engaged research excellence grounded in the principle of reciprocity,鈥 says Laura Risk, SLS co-lead and assistant professor in the department of arts, culture and media. 鈥淲e're trying to help facilitate connections and really think about how we can contribute to the already vibrant musical world in Scarborough.鈥
SLS faculty member Roger Mantie calls the centre 鈥渢he glue鈥 that will hold together the music and culture program鈥檚 several partnerships, initiatives, research projects and programming. Professors in the program have frequently incorporated local organizations into their courses and research, but these relationships risked fizzling out when professors taught different classes or began new projects.
鈥淣ow we have a hub that can create stability and sustainability,鈥 says Mantie, associate professor in the department of arts, culture and media. 鈥淎nd organizations have a point of contact beyond a singular faculty member.鈥
The centre will also find new ways the university鈥檚 resources and strengths can support anyone pursuing their love of music. Risk says new partnerships and programming will always begin with the question: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 in it for the community?鈥 What the university gains will come second.
鈥淪LS is meant to be a very porous interface between the university and the community,鈥 says Lynn Tucker, SLS lead and associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of arts, culture and media.
All programming intends to be free and accessible for everyone, and pop-up and weekly music-making events for hand-drumming and ukulele, along with Brazilian Maracatu sessions with Juno-nominated master percussionist Aline Morales.
鈥淭he age range for some of those Maracatu sessions is eight to 80,鈥 says Tucker. 鈥淲e have families coming in with their kids. We've had people come in for date night. People drive up from downtown on a Thursday evening to attend.鈥
Music program marching to a new beat
SLS is just one of the ways the program is challenging what studying music at university can look like 鈥 students don鈥檛 have to audition to get into the program, and any student can join its bands, choirs, string orchestra and small ensembles, no matter their course load or field of study. The program evolved in response to students鈥 interests and goals, and in 2015 it adopted three new areas of focus that guided what would be taught and who would teach it: community music, music and society, and music creativity and technology.
鈥淭he main thing that differentiates it from almost every other university music program in Canada is that there's no audition to get in. Different and diverse musical backgrounds are celebrated in the curriculum and you get people from all walks of life,鈥 says Lloyd McArton, a PhD candidate at U of T St. George鈥檚 Faculty of Music and research associate with SLS. 鈥淭he focuses are really special, music and technology isn't really prominent in a lot of music programs in Canada.鈥
The refocusing guided four hires and a slew of new courses, including ones on DJ cultures and digital music creation, and others that explore music鈥檚 intersection with health, movies, society and technologies. A suite of courses dedicated to community music were also introduced, which have students observe and interact with local organizations鈥 music programming.
One of the community music courses鈥 culminating projects is to write a mock grant proposal for a new community music project in collaboration with an existing organization, then pitch the idea to the class and community partners. Fourth-year student and SLS research assistant Delicia Raveenthrarajan took this course and had previously acted as a teaching-artist-in-choir with , a free music program for students in underserved communities, so she proposed a new staff role dedicated to community engagement. The organization has used her proposal to inform their systems and practices.
鈥淚t was really cool because I got to interact with them through my studies and in my professional life,鈥 says Raveenthrarajan, who is double majoring in music and culture and mental health studies. 鈥淚t's important to de-centre the university at some points so we鈥檙e going out into the community and amplifying the voices of community partners.鈥
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