As part of my studies at Carleton this year, I have been improving my writing in part with the intent of presenting papers at conferences. Quite a bit different than the grant writing I have been doing over the years. I applied and was accepted to speak at the Canadian Society for Traditional Music‘s Annual Conference this month in Sydney, Nova Scotia. I had never been to Cape Breton Island before and it was fantastic! The conference was entitled “Exhibiting Music”. I travelled with Carleton Profs and colleagues Anna Hoefnagels and Carolyn Ramzy. What a treat! We had a great time hanging out together in the University dorms, exploring Sydney and the giant fiddle, as well as attending sessions at the conference that were thought provoking and creative. I especially found the workshop on writing to be useful. I also had a chance to reconnect with some people I have not seen since my Toronto days. Really wonderful to catch up with everyone. My paper was entitled “The Ecology of Groups: Conditions for Collaborative Music and Health Making in West African style Drum and Dance Ensembles”. I did a video analysis of a performance I directed at Carleton U with Baobab Youth and the Carleton Ensemble, and linked the analysis to the health benefits of participating in a group such as that. I was really pleased when a few weeks later I was awarded the CSTM Student Paper Prize! The organizers of the conference at Cape Breton University planned a day outing to Louisbourg which included lots of traditional music and food in a spectacular setting. Oh, and there was a pub night or two. Here are a few pics:
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