CYMC Junior Strings Program: July 5th to 10th.
We are pleased to announce the return of the Junior Strings program this summer. Lasting for six days, the program will run from 9:30 to 12:00 noon each day as a comprehensive program of string orchestra instruction for young string players, ages 9 - 12.
Designed to inspire confidence in young players, the Junior Strings Orchestra will help students develop their musicianship skills through the fun of playing with an orchestra. Repertoire is chosen to include a wide variety of styles that appeal to young players. Learning more about orchestral techniques and skills such as interpreting conductors’ beat patterns and signals, various bowing styles, rhythmic awareness within the ensemble, and learning to read musical notation specific to orchestra music will prepare players for success in all their ensemble playing.
Requirements for this session are a basic level of music reading and a minimum of one year of study. More experienced players will be given opportunities to lead sections and play short solos in our repertoire.
Instructors are once again Michael Klazek and Susan Colonval-Klazek, who enjoyed a very successful Junior Orchestra at the 40th anniversary CYMC.
Playing with Susan Colonval at a concert July 2010
Out of town students wishing to participate in the Junior Strings program may enquire about possible homestay arrangements. In the past, some families have spent a week vacationing in the Comox Valley using the mornings for “parent time” and the afternoons and evenings for family activities.
The faculty will be Michael Klazek and his wife, Susan Colonval from Victoria. Michael studied composition, piano and viola at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary where he received his degree in music education. His principal mentor was conductor Kenneth G. Neilsen. He conducted award-winning choirs, bands, orchestras and musical theatre ensembles in the high schools and universities of Edmonton and Calgary for twenty years before moving to Victoria in 1989. Here he taught orchestra, band, and choir programs at Oak Bay High and Mt. Douglas Secondary. With his wife, Susan Colonval, he co-ordinated the school district’s renowned Festival Orchestra and Prelude Orchestra programs. They also co-taught the Strings Mentorship program at UVic.
Michael has conducted the University of Alberta Male Chorus, Sing Out Edmonton, the Jubilaires Theatre Company, the Calgary Civic Orchestra and the Calgary Concert Band. He has played viola and clarinet professionally in over a dozen orchestra and bands in Western Canada and Washington State. In our Victoria and Vancouver Island music scene, Mike is a respected musician who has made music with nearly every one of the Island’s orchestral ensembles. Whether working as a player, conductor or coach, his focus is on enjoying music’s expressive nature and on the story within the notes.
Susan Colonval-Klazek is delighted to be invited back to CYMC to lead the Junior Strings Orchestra along with her husband Michael Klazek. CYMC played a big part in inspiring Susan’s musical development, as she attended the camp as a student from it’s very first year as a Centennial Project in 1967, and for a number of years later. She looks forward to “giving back” by providing exciting musical experiences, opportunities for new friendships and, hopefully, inspiration to CYMC’s younger players this summer.
Susan brings a wealth of experience to the position. She taught the String Orchestra programme in the Victoria School District for twenty years, retiring in 2007. During those years she worked with all levels, from beginners in elementary school through to advanced high school students, and co-developed two very successful and well established string orchestras, the elementary/middle school Prelude Orchestra and the high school Festival Orchestra.
Susan holds a Bachelor of Music from U.B.C. in violin performance. Early in her career she played with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and throughout with numerous orchestras and ensembles in Vancouver, Victoria and Washington State. Currently, she regularly performs with the Vancouver Island Symphony, the Sooke Philharmonic and the Victoria Chamber Orchestra where she volunteers as the orchestra’s scholarship chairperson, continuing her quest to foster the love of string playing in young people.