Informances/Residencies

Photo © Seeley-Swan Pathfinder

Although public performance is an essential element to each 2 Valleys Stage residency, the real focus of our series is the educational component. During their stay, each one of our guest artists or groups presents inspiring, interactive sessions - which we call "Informances" - with students in the Seeley Lake Elementary School, Swan Valley School, and Seeley Swan High School.

These guest artists offer students workshops, lessons, discussions, or play activities in the arts. In addition, they provide support and encouragement for student musicians and for others studying or evidencing an interest in the performing arts. We're proud of our emphasis on the importance of providing meaningful, educational, and enriching experiences in the performing arts to students in the schools, as well as many home-schooled children who choose to join us.

Below are glimpses of these interactions between students and artists.

Jack Gladstone Informance
(This slideshow is best viewed in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari web browsers)

Peter Park conducting members of Dolce Canto performing at Seeley Lake Elementary on November 18, 2011.

 
Tom Benson demos a loon call technique for SLE students during a collaborative performance of Mi’kmaq Honour Song.

Dolce Canto member Malcolm Lowe is shown interacting with SLE students.

2 Valleys Stage Residency: Broken Valley Roadshow

By Scott Milner, Director, 2 Valleys Stage for the Seeley-Swan Pathfinder, February 3, 2011

Broken Valley Roadshow performing at Swan Valley School. The band was fantastic: engaging and entertaining the students.Upwards of 140 people heard the Missoula-based Broken Valley Roadshow perform Sunday afternoon, January 23 at Seeley Swan High School. The concert of top shelf bluegrass music had been anticipated for some time; a lot of people were in town for Winterfest events and the concert was one of the highlights of the season.

Performing artists like Broken Valley Roadshow who contract with 2 Valleys Stage do more than put on a Sunday concert, they spend time teaching and performing in the three local schools. Usually they first perform for the whole school - what we call "Informance" - then they meet with two or three classes in that school for interactive workshops.

School outreach started Monday morning at the Swan Valley School. After some tunes to warm the students to the music, members of Roadshow began to talk and answer questions about their lives as musicians and how long they had each played their instruments, how they came to play a particular instrument, what they write songs about, and what other kinds of work they do besides perform music.

They demonstrated their instruments and passed the violin and mandolin around so kids could hold them and make a sound. Students were also engaged when they were handed colorful scarves, each one corresponding with an instrument: red for the bass, blue for the dobro, white for the guitar, etc. They were asked to raise the scarves high for loud, or lower them for soft dynamics - directing the band with their gestures. What ensued was a highly unusual sonority of instruments coming in and out of the texture at the command of the students, who began experimenting with how this made the band sound. What a great way to get young people with only a little musical experience to start listening!

At Seeley Swan High School the band performed for all the students, who were spellbound by the close ensemble work, sweet harmonies and sometimes furious musical energy they were hearing come from the stage. Broken Valley Roadshow then gave three workshops for Mr. Green's music classes.

In one of the sessions the high school students helped write a new song. This went at a lightening pace. Students contributed the main idea, most of the lyrics and a good deal of the music under the band's masterful guidance.

The band members showed the students how words and music can be put together meaningfully in a verse - how a topic like basketball can hold many deeper meanings when put into a song! The lines were written down then all performed the new song.

Another session focused on singing harmony - one of the main features of bluegrass music. A few different approaches were suggested to get started in this skill, such as picking a note of the tune and sticking to it. Students also tried singing a harmony part above or below the melody, moving in parallel with the tune. The teaching was gauged for the ability levels of the students, and at last the whole room succeeded in singing harmony to "Will the Circle be Unbroken."

Some students were surprised to see that the band members like to switch instruments, the bass player playing guitar, the guitar player doubling on mandolin, etc. The point being: you don't have to be stuck on one instrument for life!

Tuesday the band came back to play an Informance and teach three workshops at Seeley Lake Elementary. The Roadshow members were impressed with how attentive and engaged the SLE students were, both while being audience members and when participating in workshops. Have you ever tried clapping and singing the rhythm of a song with one hand against that of a partner while your partner claps and sings a different song against your other hand? Elementary kids are good at this, and experienced a surge of brain energies, as I could tell from the animation in their faces as they worked with the artists. Broken Valley Roadshow communicated to the brain, heart, and soul with their bluegrass music, and, for a time, showed us all how to get there.

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In the video below, Seeley Lake Elementary School enthusiastically enjoying the music of Dennis Stroughmatt and L'Esprit Creole.