Canadian musician to hold workshops at New School
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
Next week the classrooms of Nantucket New School will literally be filled with the sound of music.

For the second consecutive year, Canadian singer and songwriter Katherine Wheatley will spend a week at NNS helping students in grades pre- K to eight compose their own lyrics and music for songs they will record and present in concert at the school on Friday, March 14.

In a phone interview with Wheatley last week, the artist explained that she has been working with school children in Canada and the U.S. for three years. She became associated with NNS because a Canadian friend of hers is sister to Cecil Barron Jensen, the school's director of development, who suggested the school would welcome her program.

Wheatley launched her musical venture with children out of economic necessity. She quickly found it was a gift to her spirit and sees many advantages to presenting the young with musical opportunities.

"I have been delighted by this generation," she said. "They are very smart and open, and there have been cuts to programs for [school] arts and music, and I think creative thinking is what's going to save us."

"Songwriting is not just a creative process. In working together to create a song, they really collaborate," she continued. "It makes people take creative risks and feel confident when they create something. It is a complicated world, and it requires the ability to problem-solve. Learning to develop a song is when you can examine possibilities. Music is part of our evolution. People are meant to be engaged in it rather than be observers. It really feeds our souls."

The week-long school process begins with discussing what a song is and its components. Then the children are asked what they feel it is important to write a song about. The ideas, which can be combined, are voted on by the kids to pick a theme. Though Wheatley said the topic can range from peanut butter to pets, and that last year the NNS students had free range, she wants to focus this year on the subject of peace. The students will opt for a particular angle, such as through a soldier's eyes, peace in the family or peace in a general worldwide sense.

The next step is asking the students to describe the object of their song. "Magically, it always happens that some have the same rhythm and rhyme to them," Wheatley said.

Once a verse is established, the children have a lesson in melody writing and the musical scale, from which they can decide at what note they want their song to begin and if the sound should go higher or lower.

"After the melody is created they get very excited once they can sing that first verse," Wheatley said. "This whole program is about making students feel great about themselves."

The students will have some classes grouped together so they are able to produce six songs of two-to-five minutes in length. The writing takes about three days and then rehearsals are scheduled at the end of the week.

Wheatley said a school-contained situation such as this does not occur often, which makes the experience even richer and more fun.

"It is very intense, but very rewarding," she said of the children's workshops which conclude with actual recordings. NNS Headmaster David Provost, an accomplished musician in his own right, will serve as recording engineer at the school.

She became enamoured with music when she was a student and has become a mentor to youth with similar aspirations or even those who are just curious about the field.

Wheatley plays guitar and prefers contemporary folk music. She performs at many folk festivals and in folk venues, but also enjoys country music. She plays with many of Canada's finest artists, as a member of Betty and The Bobs and playing guitar with Wendell Ferguson's band, The Smoking Section.

A live performance of the students' songs followed by a concert by Wheatley begins at 6 p.m. on March 14

at the NNS. I