If you're looking for someone to inspire students to study music, you don't need to look any further than the maestro.
Just ask the students at Taylor Park Elementary School, who are all still abuzz about their visit from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's music director, Bramwell Tovey.
The conductor stopped by Taylor Park on Thursday morning (May 8) as part of the VSO Connects program.
"He really connected to all the students and all the staff," says an enthusiastic Anne Kang, a music teacher at the school who also happens to be a Burnaby city councillor.
Taylor Park is the only elementary school in Burnaby currently taking part in the program, which offers nine separate modules over two years - all of which introduce students to some aspect of the orchestra, instruments and music.
Tovey's visit to the school was the "Meet the Maestro" module, and it involved all the students in the school.
Tovey was greeted outside the school by a welcoming party that included students lining the walkway with banners and student leaders who met Tovey to welcome him to the school.
He then joined the students for an assembly in the gym, where the students sang a welcome song.
Then Tovey took over, playing the piano for the school and talking about his many roles in life - as a conductor, a composer, an instrumentalist, a family man, a father, a taxi driver for his kids.
"He's a musician, but he's so much more than that," Kang says, noting he helped the students to understand that's true of themselves, too - they can be musicians and still love playing soccer, for instance.
Tovey used his time with the students to introduce them to a host of different types of music, including classical, jazz and blues. He showed off his composing skills by creating an impromptu composition for a student who had a birthday, incorporating the letters of the student's name into his work.
"That was phenomenal," Kang says, noting Tovey created a theme and variations that ran through several styles of music.
She noted that Tovey was able to use humour to draw the kids in, and he took the time to get them to think about what they were hearing in different pieces of music.
"He was able to connect the music to our curiosity," she says. "It really intrigued students of all ages."
And yes, she does really mean all ages - even the kindergarteners, she says, were heard saying, "Maestro, he was really awesome!"
The visit from Tovey was just one small part of the VSO Connects program.
Grade 2 students at the school have already enjoyed the ABCs of Instruments, which gave them a hands-on chance to explore and play with at least four different types of instruments.
In another module, students look at ways to create and compose music to tell a story.
"The students came up with really creative ways of using instruments we already have in class," Kang notes.
And intermediate-age students are currently working on a composing module, led by a UBC music student who's working on a practicum with the VSO.
Next year, the school will follow up with four more separate modules that explore music in general and the VSO in particular.
The goal, Kang notes, is to get every one of Taylor Park's 570 students engaged in some aspect of the the VSO connects program over the two years.
"We're hoping that all students somehow get to experience this, in different ways," she says.
Kang notes that the program is a valuable addition to the school's already vibrant music and arts programs - something she says exists in all Burnaby schools thanks to the support of the school district.
For more on VSO Connects, check out www.vancouversymphony.ca and click on the Education & Community link.
