The sixth annual Resonate Music Conference has a decidedly different look this year.
The rustic natural setting of the Beaver Creek camp south of Saskatoon has been replaced by flickering home computer screens and mobile phones.
“The bad news is the traditional conference had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Prairie Spirit School Division (PSSD) Learning Coordinator Dave Carter. “But the good news is our team of music educators found a way to make it happen anyway.”
Arrangements for the popular conference, which attracts several hundred students and teachers from across the province, were pretty much complete when PSSD educators had to pull the pin in mid-March.
“It was pretty disappointing,” said Carter. “But Kendra Worman, a music teacher who’s been involved in this from the beginning, and Will Martin, our other music education facilitator, said ‘hold on, we can still do this’.
“In a very short time, they organized a virtual conference online. The nice part is that all the artists and facilitators we contacted are not only available, but eager to participate.
“Since the pandemic hit, the music industry has pretty much shut right down. With a virtual conference, it doesn’t matter that they aren’t able to travel, they can join in from wherever they happen to be.”
The conference, which runs May 27 and 28 as well as June 3 and 4, is open to any Grade 7 through 12 student with an interest in music. Workshop sessions for various instruments, as well as song writing and First Nations drumming and singing, are included in the conference offerings.
In addition, concerts by several artists with interactive sessions following the performances provide students with an opportunity to learn from professional musicians. The big name on this year’s conference concert schedule is Bombargo, a band that hails from Saskatoon but has achieved international fame.
“Bombargo joined us at the conference three years ago when they were just starting out,” said Carter. “Since then they’ve toured internationally. They’re doing the spotlight performance. The interesting thing is some of the performers are in Saskatoon and one of the band members is in Bali, Indonesia.”
Details of the conference, including guest artists and workshop schedules, are available online at www.resonatelive.ca .
Carter said students can register for any workshop, and simply click online to take part.
But it’s also open to teachers, he added. In fact, the online experiment is proving very popular with educators.
“One thing we’ve learned from this experiment is how much teachers want to participate in the online learning,” said Carter. “The professional development aspect of this is very important for teachers. Not too many are able to book off three or four days to come to the Beaver Creek conference, but they are able to take part in online sessions.
Carter said the online music conference is just one example of how the pandemic has forced educators to think outside the box.
“I think in the future we’ll see more of a blending of online sessions and face-to-face learning experiences,” he said.