SUSAN CONKLING
Lori-Anne Dolloff is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. She has taught undergraduate choral conducting, graduate courses in Narrative methodology, Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and directed Faculty choirs. Early in her career she founded the Mississauga Festival Choir, which she conducted for 22 years. Her current passion is working in the schools in Nunavut. She has published two book chapters on these experiences, including the forthcoming “To honor and inform: Addressing cultural humility in intercultural music teacher education in Canada,” in Visions for Intercultural Music Teacher Education.
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Laurel Forshaw holds a Master of Arts in Music Education (Choral Conducting) and Kodaly and Orff-Schulwerk certification from the University of St. Thomas, MN. She is currently a PhD in Music Education candidate at the University of Toronto and conductor of the Strata Vocal Ensemble in Hamilton, ON. In Thunder Bay, Laurel was the Artistic Director of the Dulcisono Women’s Choir, founder of the Rafiki Youth Choir, facilitated professional development for the Lakehead Public School Board, and taught LakeheadUniversity. Laurel created a program, Raising Voices, for women to learn music literacy and vocal skills in a supportive choral setting.
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Scott Jones is a musician, educator, and activist from Nova Scotia. Scott earned a Bachelor of Music from Mount Allison University before studying choral conducting at the University of Manitoba. Inspired to break down social barriers through music and artistic expression, Scott launched VOX: A Choir for Social Change and Don’t Be Afraid, an antihomophobia/transphobia campaign. His work has taken him to South Africa, where he presented at the Pathways to Resilience Conference in Cape Town. Scott continues to explore choir as an agent for social change and is pursuing a PhD in music education at the University of Toronto.
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Cynthia Peyson Wahl holds a Bachelor of Music Education (University of Regina) and an M.A. in Music Education (University of Toronto). She has taught vocal music at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg for fourteen years. Cynthia became interested in music as a vehicle for social justice while learning about the rich tradition of political action music in Trinidad. She was inspired to use choral music and community building to work towards a more just society with the young musicians she teaches. In 2018 Cynthia’s chapter “A Choral ‘Magical Negro’” will be published in the Palgrave Handbook on Race and the Arts in Education. She is currently working on her PhD in Music Education at the University of Toronto.
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Musical Communities in Conversation
This presentation provides an opportunity to interrogate the practices of 4 music educators in response to MayDay Action Ideal VII. The “robust communities” that we seek to create and nurture in each of our various contexts are problematized with reference to the additional call to action to decolonize our educational practices. Rather than eschewing the differences that exist between school music, faith-based music and community music contexts, we find insights from the synergy created when programmes are set in conversation with each other. We will articulate these insights and make suggestions for moving forward in the increasingly diverse mandate of music education curriculum.