Fiddle Instructor to Teach Local Youth the Lively Art of Fiddling
August 28th, 2003
For Immediate Release:
Fall 2003. Over the next year, Strings Across The Sky (SATS) is undertaking The Cross-Canada Fiddle Project, a program designed to teach Aboriginal youth, living in remote areas of Canada, the lively art of fiddling. All classes will conclude with students invited to perform with a participating Canadian orchestra. Youth in Northern Ontario will have an opportunity to learn to play the fiddle (or perfect current skills) when Strings Across The Sky Music Director, Andrea Hansen, brings her special brand of teaching to local communities this fall. Ontario students are invited to perform with The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra in November 2003.
Andrea Hansen, C.M. is a retired violinist from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and co-founder and Music Director of Strings Across the Sky. Since 1988, Andrea Hansen has been volunteering her talent teaching youth to fiddle in the High Arctic (a fading art in the 1980s that is successfully being re-introduced by SATS). SATS teaching programs operate in 17 High Arctic communities and the organization has transported 150 donated violins to the north. In the fall of 2003 SATS students will begin performing with Canadian symphonies partnering with SATS in The Cross-Canada Fiddle Project. Please visit www.stringsacrossthesky.ca
Communities or schools interested in participating in this opportunity should contact Strings Across The Sky immediately at info@stringsacrossthesky.ca or by calling 416-699-3773.
Logistics
What: Music Director, Andrea Hansen, will spend 4 days in the community, teaching a group of 10-15 youth to play the fiddle. On the 4th day, students will put on a local concert for the community. In November, students will perform in Thunder Bay, with The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Cost: FREE
How: Hansen will teach in the community for 4 days. SATS provides violins for student training. (We also encourage donations of local violins for local students.) The community is asked to provide the students, teaching space, interested local musicians to help and a “performance spot” for a community concert.
Time Commitment:
- Training sessions will be completed in 4 days.
- Students can then choose to travel to Thunder Bay, at their own expense, to rehearse on November 19th and then again on the 20th. Students will perform with The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra on November 21st and 22nd.
The Ontario Arts Council, Adventure Canada, DAC Group and private individuals who believe “music does make a difference”, generously support the Ontario leg of The Cross-Canada Fiddle.
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