Past Teacher Workshops
Brain Gym Workshop for Music Teachers
FREE for members of ARMTA Calgary
Non-members
are welcome for a fee of $30
Participants will learn:
• Brain Gym® activities to promote improvement and ease of focus, participation, self-regulation, organization, coordination and communication
• Observation skills useful to both teachers and students to notice such things as: if they are ready to learn, rehearse, create, perform, what support they need, when they have integrated new learning…
• Brain – Body connections that impact performance
• The foundational understanding and skills needed to use Brain Gym® effectively in teaching, rehearsing and performing
Topics and Activities Include:
• What it means and feels like to be ready to learn
• How to “warm up” our brain – body connections
• Activities that help us to focus and concentrate with ease
• Activities that help us to organize and remember
• Activating the right and left hemisphere of the brain to work together
• Physical skills for listening, reading, fine motor coordination
• Techniques to rehearse more efficiently and effectively
How does Brain Gym® work?
Brain Gym addresses the physical aspects of learning. We use the empowering synergy of clear intention, awareness and movement to draw out the innate potential in people of any age.
Brain Gym® activities help us to switch-on our muscles and integrate our involuntary reflexes to make learning easy. Dr. Dennison says, “When we do Brain Gym® movements, we’re building a neural network upon which to embed new learning experiences.” This facilitates our innate ability to learn and function at optimal efficiency.
• Develop the neural connections that support whole brain processing.
• Access and organize sensory modalities (auditory, visual, kinesthetic)
• Support completion of developmental stages for effective co-ordination of eyes, ears, hands and the whole body.
• Improve memory.
• Become responsible for our own learning
Brain Gym® (and Educational Kinesthetics) considers:
• the body and brain as one whole system
• the muscles and senses as working in synergy.
• effective learning is based on physical experience and a firm foundation of sensory and motor
skills.
• using movement to support, draw out and develop innate intelligence for learning
Brain Gym® (and Educational Kinesthetics) considers:
• the body and brain as one whole system
• the muscles and senses as working in synergy.
• effective learning is based on physical experience and a firm foundation of sensory and motor skills.
• using movement to support, draw out and develop innate intelligence for learning
Some Comments from Participants:
"I noticed I saw things more holistically, more of the big picture.
When I used Brain Gym® activities with my students, they noticed they felt more relaxed, calm and clear. When one student played cross-overs and trills, I noticed more control."
Colleen Athparia, Concert Pianist, Calgary, AB
"Thank you, Dana! A wonderful way to bring new light into the studio."
Andrea Case, Cellist, Calgary, AB
Always fascinated by the connection between the brain and the body, Dana was drawn to Brain Gym® by the power of movement and simple, elegant balancing processes to transform the way we function in the world. He received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Educational Kinesiology Foundation for facilitating the translation of BRAIN GYM® into Croatian and bringing the work to Croatia. A dancer all his life, he has taught workshops and worked as an Artist in Residence with Sun.Ergos, A Company of Theatre and Dance in Canada and 13 other countries and has developed work exploring the relationship between words, images and movement to create choral/movement pieces from poetry. His passion is to assist people to develop movement literacy and is licensed as a Brain Gym®, Movement Exploration and Dominance Factor instructor.
Spoken Arts:
A Beginner's Workshop
FREE for ARMTA Members and Adult students of ARMTA Teachers
Members of the public are welcome for a fee of $25
As ARMTA members, you likely know you have Spoken Arts teachers in your ranks, but have you ever secretly wondered “What on Earth do Speech Arts teachers do?"
...and even more secretly, “Maybe I would like to teach Speech Arts?”
Then this is your chance to find out how we magically turn normal people
into super-powered communicators full of confidence!
We’ll walk you through some of the basics of the discipline during this interactive and practical workshop; give you an orientation to the type of students we work with; and demonstrate how we do the work we do.
Expect to contribute your thoughts, ideas, and observations (and maybe even get in on the fun!) as we work with texts, situations, and real-live students across multiple developmental stages, genres, and pedagogical approaches.
You bring:
We bring:
Curiosity
Imagination
Expertise
Experiential Learning
Please join us to learn more: we are keen to develop a greater sense of understanding of our discipline and – even more importantly – to encourage others (maybe you!) to take up the work of teaching Speech Arts to meet the needs of current and future students. There is an overflow of interested students just waiting to be taught!
Frances is a native Calgarian who trained in Speech Arts and Drama at Mount Royal Conservatory for fifteen years, graduating with the highest mark attainable on her Associate Pedagogy and receiving both an Associate & Licentiate diploma. She is also a graduate from the prestigious Canadian National Voice Intensive at the University of British Columbia, where she trained with VASTA distinguished member David Smukler and internationally renowned movement specialist Judith Koltai. Frances taught for MRU Conservatory on-and-off from 1997 to 2016, before opening a private studio in 2018. In 2023, RCM acknowledged Frances for 26 years of teaching. Frances currently teaches private lessons, adjudicates at local drama & poetry events, is a voice coach for the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary, and is an instructor at the Company of Rogues Actors’ Studio where she teaches Voice for the Actor, Dialects, and Essentials of Acting. Frances is proud to be a performing arts teacher, and loves to mentor others who have a passion for teaching.
Donna hails from the Lethbridge area, and began her Speech Arts teaching career over 30 years ago, first with the Conservatory at LCC, then the Conservatory at MRU, finally launching her fully private studio 10 years ago, working with high potential and high performance students of all ages and stages, locally and globally. She is also faculty in the Bissett School of Business at MRU, teaching Public Speaking, Storytelling, Professional Speaking, and Delivery TECHniques (podcasts, teleprompters, etc.). In her ‘free’ time, she hangs out with her 2 sons and ever-patient husband, speaks professionally (4 continents down, 3 to go!), does voiceover work, consults and facilitates with theatre companies and professionals of all shapes and sizes, writes curricula and handbooks for various speech-related applications, and has a reading stack taller than she is…which is full of every subject known to humankind. But her heart has always been – and always will be – in words…spoken, written, read, and heard.
Teacher Potluck
with Guest Presentation
FREE for ARMTA Calgary Members
"Teaching in June with September in Mind"
The month of June can be busy with pulling together the details from previous months. September can seem like a long ways away.
In this presentation, find out how to use Report Cards, Exam Results, and other reporting mechanisms as the building blocks for wrapping things up and getting ready for September.
When
Saturday June 1, 2024
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Presenter
Merlin Thompson
Where
St. David's United Church
3303 Capitol Hill Crescent NW
Merlin is one of Canada’s leading authorities on music studio teaching. Merlin has worked with hundreds of children, their parents, and teachers in workshops, institutes, conferences, established programs and mentorships online and in-person across Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Finland. He is author of More than Music Lessons: A Studio Teacher’s Guide to Parents, Practicing, Projects, and Character. He is founder and creator of Teach Music 21C: a professional development program for music teachers that empowers music students as lifelong music makers.
Teaching with Your Whole Self
FREE for ARMTA Calgary Members
This is a workshop for music teachers looking to improve their skills of body/mind awareness in a way that translates to teaching. By tuning into yourself, you enhance your ability to listen and communicate with poise, presence, and ease with your students.
Using a framework of Alexander Technique principles and experiential activities, we’ll explore concepts of balance, awareness, and taking a gap.
Space is limited to 25 applicants, so register now!
Please wear comfortable clothing for light movement in stocking feet
and bring a yoga mat if possible.
Presenter
Laura Hynes
When
Sunday, January 7, 2024
2:00 - 3:30 pm
Where
The Room YYC (COL Studio)
5918 5 St SE Bay 3
Calgary, AB T2H 1L4
Introduction to Keyboard Harmony
FREE for ARMTA Calgary Members
In this 75 min talk, Nita and Joyce will introduce basic keyboard harmony concepts that correspond to the requirements for Level 9 practical exams. Joyce and Nita have created workbooks that guide students step by step through concepts such as melody creation, reading lead sheets, creating accompaniments, harmonizing Bach style chorales, harmonic analysis, counterpoint, and analysis of binary and ternary compositions.
Handouts will be available so participants can follow along easily as Joyce and Nita explain how to increase musicianship skills that tie together what students learn in technique (scales, chords, arpeggios), what is learned in theory rudiments up to Level 8 and what students are learning in their repertoire pieces.
Stay tuned for a fast and practical way to teach the circle of fifths
KBH workbooks will be available at special workshop prices!
Nita teaches piano, theory, history, keyboard harmony, and analysis from her home studio in Chilliwack, BC. As part of the “Instruments Alive” ensemble, Nita lectured to school age and university students. As collaborative pianist, Nita performs with community choirs, orchestras, and musical theatre groups. Duos and duets with the “Piano Extravaganza Duo” saw many performances in Vancouver and throughout the lower mainland. Nita has frequently served as accompanist for the annual Performing Arts BC competitions and coaches students preparing for festivals, competitions, and university admittance. Nita has lectured to music teachers and presented a talk at the 2018 RCM Summer Summit in Vancouver. The Chilliwack Arts Council awarded Nita the “Heart of the Arts” award in 2003 for “outstanding service to the musical life of our community.”
Joyce teaches piano, theory, history, analysis, written and keyboard harmony from her studio in Abbotsford, BC. She enjoys the challenge of relating to each student as an individual. Her love
of theory in all its forms motivates her in passing on its riches to those who study with her. Joyce is active in music in her studio, her church and her community as well as being registrar for
BCRMTA. She was co-chair for the BCRMTA provincial conference in 2012 – BC Vibes and for the upcoming conference in 2024 – ABC Back to Basics. Her vocal compositions have won in the CFMTA Call for Compositions (2018) and been a finalist in a carol writing competition (2014). In addition to scoring and editing the Keyboard Harmony workbooks, Joyce has developed self study
workbooks for history courses.
Brain Hacks for Learning Music
Come together with your fellow teachers to share ideas about learning music, and enjoy some delicious refreshments!
This workshop will take place at the beautiful cSpace Mardaloop RGOTreehouse. Parking is free on location or on the street.
The presentation will be approximately 45 minutes followed by a question period and mingling with refreshments.
