Sight-Singing with Art Levine

This workshop will explore issues of musicianship, including what might be understood as general “competence”; how your imagination works both for and against you; and how to use techniques and tools to make reading and learning music easier, faster, and more enjoyable. These include not only the elements of sightsinging (intervals, rhythm, solfa syllables, and analysis) but also ways of coming to terms with the context of a musical phrase or passage, and of probing the role of the imagination. The workshop will deal with music in a variety of styles, from Josquin to Jobim, and from Bach to Borodin and beyond. Participants will discuss and sing musical examples provided by the workshop leader. They will also have the chance to pose their own questions about approaches to music and, if they wish, to present sample problems of their own choosing.

Art Levine (recently-retired professor from York University), has had a long career teaching musicianship and musical analysis, as well as harmony and counterpoint, including at the Royal Conservatory, at York and privately. His varied activities have included a multiyear CBC radio program (“This is Art”), playing guitar and ukulele (with a particular interest in jazz standards), the study and performance of Brazilian samba, Indonesian gamelan and Hindustani vocal music, and researching Western vocal and choral practices, especially of Renaissance composers and Bach. He has prepared performing editions of countless choral pieces from the Renaissance and pioneered in guiding singers in the use of part books and facsimile editions. He is also an expert in the history of solmization (“do-re-mi”) and its cognates in the Western world and beyond, and a gifted music educator. (Limited to 20 participants.)

Information: Contact Tim Moody.

Location: Northern District Library is at 40 Orchard View Blvd, 1 block north of Eglinton Ave. and ½ block west of Yonge St.

Complete form with your cheque or money order payable to CAMMAC Toronto Region and mail to Sight-Singing Workshop 48 Ridgevale Drive, Toronto M6A 1L1 before February 28, 2016.