Education 499/591 participants at Government House
Listen to MP3s of:
Students in Aboriginal education course
create songs, perform for L-G
By Patty Pitts
It’s not unusual for students learning to play new instruments or tackle new musical compositions to perform at the end of their course—but few students hold that performance in Government House in front of BC’s new Lieutenant-Governor Stephen Point and play instruments they created themselves.
Yet that was the setting for about 50 graduate and undergraduate students, and some faculty members, who participated this fall in the Faculty of Education’s 499/591 course on Indigenous teaching and learning. The course, developed by Dr. Lorna Williams, director of the faculty’s Aboriginal education program, is designed to give future teachers knowledge about the history, languages and cultures of Aboriginal people.
Students in this year’s “Earthsongs” course learned from sessional instructors Butch Dick and John Elliott, who were assisted by volunteer knowledge keepers Glenn Patterson, Fabian Quocksister and Bradley Dick, who was also a student in the class.
“The whole course is designed for students to get a sense of how teaching and learning occurs in the world of Indigenous people,” says Williams. “It’s a natural process and the idea is to have the students experience it.”
Indigenous songs are often considered the property of First Nations families, so the students, working in teams, developed new songs for the course. Five songs were given to the faculty for use by future students and one, composed by Bradley Dick with help from George Shuagnessy, was given back to the Unity Drummers for safekeeping.
“The knowledge keepers either used their language or English to teach the song, and the students were encouraged to get a sense of the land that UVic sits on [traditional Coast Salish territory] because that’s where the song comes from,” says Williams. “The students were told to use whatever inspires them.”
“It was amazing,” says third-year music education student Catherine Gillis from Vanderhoof, who took the course out of an interest to learn more about the Aboriginal culture of many friends back home.
Kyla Belanger, a fifth-year education student from the Lower Mainland describes the course as “Inspiring. It made me gain an appreciation for Aboriginal culture. I now have pieces of music that I have permission to use, and I won’t be so afraid to teach them now.”
The students were equally proud, and attached, to their drums. “Once you make them,” says fifth-year education student Angela Quinney, “they become your babies.”
|
