National Music Centre Outreach Programs

The Cause

The National Music Centre (NMC) is a national cultural organization committed to amplifying a love, sharing and understanding of music. NMC is currently building Studio Bell, a new facility from which to deliver a range of programs for music lovers and artists of all ages.

As NMC prepares to move to into its new home in 2016, the organization\'s collection and galleries are being packed up and are no longer available for use in on-site school programming. NMC’s school programming previously served over 10,000 students annually throughout Southern Alberta.

In order to continue providing critical education programming and resources to students and teachers, NMC’s education team has conceived of a brand new outreach strategy that will take programs directly into schools.

Alongside our award-winning musician educators, students will use authentic instruments, artifacts, and objects not typically found in classrooms to develop inquiry, observation, and critical thinking skills all while adhering to the provincial curriculum.

The flexibility and relative low-cost of these programs ensures increased accessibility to schools, with the added benefit of allowing more schools to experience our collection and programming.

The Field Law Community Fund’s interest in education directly correlates to NMC’s dedication to education through music. Education programs at NMC strive to achieve NMC’s vision through original and interactive programs that use music in Canada as an entry point to explore curricular topics and support skill development.

The Field Law Community Fund would be used to ensure all outreach programs delivered by NMC are memorable, of the highest quality, and remain accessible to teachers and schools that may have limited resources. Funds would go towards materials, marketing costs, travel expenses, and Musician Educator wages.

Who Will it Benefit?

With the help of the Field Law Community fund, NMC will inspire 5,000 students and their teachers annually through its outreach programs. In 2014, NMC’s education team was honoured with two community innovation and leadership awards, recognizing the unique opportunities NMC brings to students and teachers.

Outreach programs give students the chance to explore core subjects in a new and interesting way, connecting to each other and our community through dialogue, promotion of life-long learning, and fostering the sharing of multiple perspectives and personal experiences.

The outreach programs that would be funded are:

• Superheroes of Sound (SOS). Grades K-6: This theatrical presentation invites students to sing, listen and move while exploring how sound works and how we can control it. SOS explores concepts of pitch, volume, timbre, and rhythm through storytelling and audience interaction.
• Celebrating the Acadians. Grade 2: Turn your classroom into an Acadian celebration! Students will explore historic artifacts, sing traditional songs, dance jigs, and play instruments in order to understand one of Canada’s dynamic communities.
• Build Your Own Theremin. Grades 3-6: NMC will transform your classroom into an electronics lab as your students discover one of the earliest electronic instruments, the Theremin. Students will discover how electricity and circuits work by creating their own Theremin with alligator clips, speakers, amplifiers, conductive play-doh, flashlights and more!
• Air Powered. Grades 3-7: Experiment with wind instruments by building natural trumpets out of ordinary materials such as hoses and funnels.
• While my Guitar Gently Speaks. Grades 3-6: Using hands-on exploration with guitars, wash tub bass and monochords, students will discover how guitars control pitch in three ways: string tension, density and speaking length.
• Sound Sampling. Grades 3-7: Create your own unique electronic music compositions using iPod apps, your voice, instruments from NMC’s collection and ordinary objects!