african artist in residence

7/29/2019 African Artist in Residence

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WWW.GARTHPRINCE.COM WWW.TOLOLWAMOLLEL.COM

Artist in ResidenceAWARD-WINNING:

African Singer

&African Author

GARTH PRINCE & TOLOLWA MOLLEL

2013-2014 Season

In partnership with Edmonton-based Award-Winning African

childrens author, Tololwa Mollel.

A Cultural Experience

STUDENTS LEARN:

Basic African Culture, including Language.

Example: Jambo means Hello in Swahili,

Africas most widely spoken language.

Students perform: AfricanMusic and Story.

Original music by Garth Prince (plus Africanfolk songs). Stories based on the African

childrens books by Tollolwa Mollel.

Students meet three Edmonton-Based Artists.

From Namibia, Africa: Garth Prince.

FromTanzania, Africa: Tollolwa Mollel.

From Lethbridge, Canada: Karen Porkka.

Brought to you by an approved Edmonton

Public School Board vendor: NBCC Edmonton.

An African Story Performance

Zimbabwean Proverb If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing.


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African Artist in Residence 2013-2014 SEASON

Three artists a writer and two

musicians, one an accompanist

will work to prepare students

to perform an adapted African

folktale with African and

African-inspired music, sound

effects, rhythm, dance and

dramatic movements, as well

as arts and crafts, including

simple student made props.

The choice to perform a story is

prompted by the fact that

folktales transfer well across

cultures and age groups; they

have universal appeal.

Selecting and performing an

African tale is a means by whichthe artists two of whom are

African-born-and-raised -- will

work to acquaint and familiarize

the students with somethingfrom the African world.

Though students may know

something about African

societies and cultures they

would have a chance to see it up

close, to inhabit it by

experiencing it artistically andempathetically through African

story and African music.

The three artists working on

the project will be:

Garth Prince, born and raised

in Namibia in Southern Africa,

will work as world and Africanmusic specialist and coach,

music workshop guide,

performance music conductor,

and singer during performance.

Prince will work to guide the

students to bring to life the

selected African tale throughsong, music, African calls and

sound effects, as a

complementary and enhancingpart of the story and also as art

forms with a showcase value of

their own. He will also adapt

his approach to the evolving

nature of the project and the

musical, movement and comfort

level of students.

Tololwa Mollel, born and

raised in Tanzania in EastAfrica, will work as scriptwriter

and adapter, storyteller, and

narrator during performance.

Depending on your school

budget and size: Mollel can

come in for the entire week to

work with students on story,

story telling, story experience

and analysis, story workshops,

and more.

This is part of a morecomprehensive experience

focused on language arts.

Alternatively, our basic optionbrings Tololwa in as concert

narrator only, for which he

would only join us for the last

two days of the residency.

Karen Porkka, keyboardist,

percussionist, performer, and

much else, will work as an

accompanist and musical and

sound effects resource person.

Porrka will provide, in the last

two days of the residency,

accompaniment through a

selection from her varied range

An AfricanStory Performance

The music taught by Garth during theresidency, compliments an African

childrens story by Tollolwa Mollel.Students spend the week preparing to

perform the story at the end of the week.

Mollel does the narration for theperformance and accompanist Karen

Porkka brings the story to life with musicand sound effects.

Arts & Crafts example:

Lion masks made byKindergartens to Grade 2


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of instruments, implements and

means: the looper, melodica, thekeyboard, musical and sound

effects, vocal improvisation,

singing, etc.

These Three Artists:Started working together in the

summer of 2012, when they met

during a production directed by

U of A drama professor Jan

Selman. The production was

based on scripts for story

performance by Mollel, and was

part of the U of A drama

department maiden festival ofnew works called StageLab.

They went on to do similar workfor Edmontons Africa Centre.

Garth and Mollel worked with

students during the summer

program and soon after

collaborated for their first Artist-

in-Residence program together.

Bear in mind that Mollel has

done many of his own

residencies, and Garth has donecountless school performances

and workshops. Karen is also a

seasoned vocal and instrumentteacher in her personal capacity.

The decision to collaborate and

develop a Story Performance

was prompted by the fact that

the three artists felt that

TOGETHER, they had so much

more to offer students.

-----------------------------------------------

Students Entry into the

World of African MusicHow much can be achieved in

each group will depend on the

capabilities of the students.

Groups will of necessity proceedat different paces.

Prince has in his many

experiences with schools and

non-African students of all ages

and groups (that typically sing

classical or jazz music)

identified the right approach tointroduce African music.

He will use this approach in

introducing students, through a

quick succession of early

workshops in the residency, to

the world of African music.

Garth Princes process will

consist of the steps below:

1) Demonstrating, Prince will

explain to students, as he

typically does to non-African

students and groups new or

relatively new to African music,

that they should considersingingand dancingas one, inseparable;not two entities.Dancing, he will demonstrate,

is singing with your body.

This lesson would benefitstudents in their music

endeavors not only during the

residency, but also perhaps

afterwards. They would learn to

be much more aware of their

whole bodies when they sing.

2) Ahead of the residency,Prince will send the music for

the project to the music teacher

as a recording, and in applicable

cases as sheet music. By the time

Prince arrives, the students

would thus have had ample time

to learn the melodies and lyrics

of the songs. Therefore, the

second step for Prince will be to

listen to the students and

teachers interpretation of thematerial. He will then help with

pronunciation of the lyrics,

some of which are in an African

language. After this, Prince will

introduce movement that goes

with each song.

3) In his final step in the musicprocess, Prince will attempt to

redefine the paradigm of

expressing oneself through

music. After the students havegot to know him well, he will

demonstrate the level of joy that

Africans display usually in, say,

a celebration song. He hopesthat students can learn from,

and emulate, this uplifting

example of joy in music. The

principle of joy in music could

lead to all kinds of exciting

possibilities in the workshops

and the story performance. Itwill be at this final point when

Prince will find it easy to

introduce what he calls

sprit-filled eyes and

African calls.

These are examples of little but

significant things which would,

in the workshop with students

and later in the story

performance, elevate almost theshow to a different, electrifying

level, all due to the energy

students can radiate in their

singing and dance movements.

For a detailed description of

Tololwa Mollels process, see

Our Basic and ComprehensivePackages. (Mollels in-depth

process is only relevant in our

comprehensive package, where

he spends the whole week as

Artist-in-Residence working on

story telling and Garth works

with alternate student groups on

music performance).

Continued


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Garth Prinsonsky (Stage name:

Garth Prince) is a Namibian

musician who has lived in

Edmonton since fall 2008. He

has been singing with Africanbands and choirs for about

twelve years, and with them

he has visited three continents.He has been nominated for four

music awards in his country of

origin, and has won a Namibian

film award for a music video

shot in Namibia in 2008. Since

being in Edmonton, Garth has

been teaching African music to

Edmonton musicians, choirsand schools. One of his songs

has been recognized by

SongwriterUniverse in Los

Angeles, as one of the best songsreleased in the month of May

2011. The same song was

selected as a finalist in the John

Lennon International

Songwriting Competition. Garth

has recently been nominated foran award in the Edmonton

Music Awards and the City of

Edmonton has given him the

2012 award for:

Cultural Diversity in the Arts.

Tololwa Mollel is a childrens

author, dramatist andstoryteller, who has written

sixteen books and several plays

as well as stories that he created

or adapted for performance.

His books, which include

award-winning titles such as:Rhinos for Lunch and

Elephants for Supper, Big

Boy and My Rows and Piles

of Coins have been publishedin Canada, the U.S., Australia,

England and Tanzania where he

was born. His books have been

translated into various South

African languages and into

Korean.

Mollel has presented,

performed and conductedwriting, story-telling and

dramatic workshops and writer-

in-residence programs inschools, libraries and

communities across Canada,

and the U.S., as well as in

England, Australia and

Tanzania.

Of his presentations and his

work with schools and libraries,

Mollel says, I aim to provide a

feast of words written andspoken for the eye, the ear andthe mind; as well as for the

creative imagination, and for

performance.

Karen Porkka, the accompanist,

is primarily a jazz vocalist and

saxophonist but is influenced by

many styles of music, fusing them

together. She is also a composer

and teacher in her own private

studio and is also a part-time

instructor at Grant MacEwan.Outreach.

For more information about eacindividual artist, or to book him

her individually, please visit:

WWW.GARTHPRINCE.COM

WWW.TOLOLWAMOLLEL.C

WWW.KARENPORKKA.COM

Bill Mitchell is one of Edmonton

most popular drummers and

percussion instructors. He is

available as an addition to any of

our programs and can offer

drumming workshops, concertsand consulting.


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BLACK:Narration by Tololwa M MollelBLUE: Actions/musical expressions by the students as part of the show

RED: Transitions by students

GREEN: Instructions for accompanist, Karen PorkkaPURPLE: Instructions for lights operator (teacher volunteer)

At home after school, Maulidi refused to do chores. Dont tell me what todo, he snapped when Tatu tried to make him help fetch water from astream. He tore him self away and threw rocks at her. Tatu, dodging therocks, caught up with him. As she wrestled him to the ground, neighborsrushed over to separate them. They also bandaged Tatus bitten arm. Whefather returned home that night, Tatu showed him her arm. She complaine

bitterly about Maulidi, who was fast asleep. Father sighed wearily. Ill dewith him in the morning.

Grade 3&4 perform Happy Africa Day, a song about making peace.(Written by Garth Prince. This song mentions all the African countries ialphabetical order. Students perform, each with an African flag in hand)(Performed with track and optional saxophone).

Over the next few days, Father dealt sternly with Maulidi. It didnt help.Maulidis fights with Tatu grew worse. I dont know what else to do abouhim, Father grumbled to Tatu one night. But Tatu knew just what to do.Students start making soft whisper sounds in the background whilenarration continues.

The next day she went to the forest to look for MaMzuka, an invisible ghowoman in the forest who granted wishes. To make MaMzuka appear,

Mother had once told Tatu, one has to be a good singer. MaMzuka lovesgood song. Tatu sang. All lights (including spotlights): OFFGrade 3&4 perform Subira, the song located at the back of the book.

(Students perform with battery-operated candles in the dark). With track

Spotlights: ON Subira Subira is in Swahili, a language from East Africa

that you may have heard about. It means Patience patience.

Excerpt from Subira Subira

A Story Performance

Stories for Performanceby Tololwa Mollel

Tatu learns that with patience

and courage, you can

accomplish anything. You caneven tame a lion or better yet,

tame a naughty little brother!

A magical songbird takes the

girl Mariamu on the journey of

her life.

THE TWINS AND

THE MONSTER

Mollel created this story of

how twin brother and sister

outwit a monster, for a

production for children by the

Edmonton Symphony

Orchestra. Since its debut the

story has been performed by

symphonies across Canada and

the United States.

Sheet Music:

Many of our songs areavailable as sheet

music. (Music teachersprefer to use these).

For all other teachers:recordings sang byGarth can be played tostudents. Along withprinted lyric sheets, thiscreates an easy way tolearn the music!

Below is the last page of the Subira book.We have an updated arrangement of the song,

specifically for our Story Performance.


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Below is the fundamental

difference between our Basic

and Comprehensive Package:

1. In the Basic Package, Prince

and Mollel present a pre-scriptedStory Performance to the

students and teachers. Garth is

the Artist in Residence, and his

main focus is music and

performance. Mollel joins as

narrator for the last two days of

the residence only.

2. The Comprehensive format

allows students to work with

both Mollel and Prince for the

whole week to come up with

their own ideas and thoughts for

performance and story telling.

This format grants more

ownership to the students.

This option is intended to

further enrich your Creative

Arts and Literacy Programs.

The Comprehensive Process:

The residency will kick start

with a story circle and music

circle processes to ease students

into the story, and the music

that will punctuate, accompany,

frame, envelope it inperformance.

In a quick succession of

storytelling workshops in which

all grades in the school in turnwill take part, Mollel will ease

students into the story.

In a parallel format and

concurrently, Prince will hold

workshops on the music and

song content. The objective, to

be realized in totality with the

story performance at the end of

the week, will be to enable

students to create a story house

they can inhabit, as a way forthem to experience this thing we

call story, which is part of our

DNA as human beings, and so

fundamental in life and in

learning. Students will

experience story actively and

memorably, and inhabit a story

house they will have created,

through story performance with

music.

Story Circle Steps:

1. Students learn/get acquainted

with the story through listening.

Mollel shares an oral version of

one of his stories. This oral

version is different from that inthe script on which artists and

students base a story

performance.

2. Students learn the story

through sharing. In a large

circle, each student tells a bit of

the story. Then he/she passes it

on to the next student in the

circle, to share the next bit of the

story. On and on it goes, round

and round if need, until studentsreach the end of the story.


through review and discussion.

Mollel and students list parts

that they think were missed out

as the story went round.


through breaking it down,

dissection and analysis. Mollel

gives each student not more

than 10 very small bits of paper.

After demonstrating what

students have to do, he gets

them to each break the story

into not more than 10 parts,which they are to consider as

chapters in a chapter book. He

gets them to name the 10 parts,

as if they were chapter titles,

limiting the chapter titles to not

more than three words.

Our Basic and Comprehensive Residence Packages

Involvement of studentsin Story Performance

Students will be involved

musically, in groups, in

developing the story

performance. Each student

in the school will get to sing

at least two African songsand know them well.

They will take part in

creating musical and sound

effects and sounds, as well

as dramatic effects

throughout the story

performance. Some students

will get a chance to sing

solo here and there in the

story performance, and/or

to sing with Prince. Somestudents will take part in

sharing, in spots, the

narration with Mollel,

and/or to perform lines of

dialogue of this or that

character, either solo, or in

choral form with other

students, or in a multiple

playing of a role by several

students. Many possibilities

exist to make the students

role in the storyperformance meaningful to

all. Rehearsals, and perhaps

even the workshops, will be

geared toward identifying

the many different ways

students can be involved

seamlessly in the story

performance, without

sacrificing the smooth flow

of the story.


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E-mail: [email protected] and request a quote according to your schools specific needs.

African Artist in Residence 2013 2014 SEASON

What each student will take away from the residency

They will each learn at least two African songs.

They will make at least one arts and crafts object, which they can

retain by which to remember the residency experience, and the artistsin it.

A signed bookmark from Mollel, and a chance to win his newest title,

From Lands of the Night.

A signed bookmark from Prince, and a chance to win his debut self-

titled CD.

They will know, from the inside, a new African story that they may be

moved to share with their parents and others.

They will experience what it feels like to work with professionals inthe arts, or simply professionals. They will get a sense of

professionalism in the arts that one could aspire to, a sense which they

may internalize to transfer to any other professional area where their

lives in and out of school may lead them.

They will be positively engaged through the wonderful and inspiring

integration of story, music, performance and arts and crafts.

Story is to humans what breathing is to all living beings. An encounterwith story, inhabiting a story will be inspiring to their creative

imaginations.

LIST OF SERVICES

SERVICES DESCRIPTION

SCHOOL CONCERTS Garth Prince has an interactive show: perfect for assemblies.Students get to interact by playing shakers and learning a basic Africansong or dance as part of the show.

School concerts last 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on your schedule,and can accomadate your whole school at once!

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE * FULL DAY

* TWO DAY* ONE WEEK* TWO WEEKSCustomized options for your school size and budget.

WORKSHOPS Gain an authentic African perspective. If you are already working onAfrican music, Garth can help your students enrich their performance

AND/ORBill Mitchell can help with all your percussion and drumming needs.


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If your school is interested in our program, Mollel and/or Prince are happy to meet with you. If you are doing an

application for a residency grant, we can offer useful insight to help you frame a viable and compelling funding

request. For any questions or comments, feel free to contact any of the artists below.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN AFRICA

Since losing a childhood friend to AIDS, Garth has linked his music with the

fight against AIDS in Africa. He wrote the song God Bless Africa with

Edmonton Public band teacher, Joel Forth. The song is on his debut album

which was released on 1 December (World AIDS Day) 2012.

For every CD sold in Canada, Garth donates a CD to a student in Africa.

The donated CDs contain not only the song, but also the music video of God

Bless Africa. In the fall of 2012, Garths project took off when NAITs DigitalMedia and Information Technology program offered to shoot the music video

for free. CD sales at your residency concert enable us all to make a difference.

A special thank you to HIV Edmonton for advice and consulting on the project.

Our partner, the National Black Coalition of Canada Edmonton

Chapter, is an approved vendor with the Edmonton Public Schoo

Board. NBCC Edmonton is the proud organizer of the annual

Black History Month Celebrations in Edmonton.

Their local activities range from offering workshops in skilldevelopment, networking and community building, to art andhistorical exhibitions, book fairs and working with schools and

agencies to develop and maintain culturally sensitive programs.WWW.NBCCEDMONTON.CA

AFTER THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Students are welcome to join Garth Prince and Tololwa Mollel

for a SUMMER Story Performance program at Edmontons

Africa Centre: 13160 127 Street Tel: 780-455-5423

Planning is underway to make African Story and Music an ever

weekend activity at the center. This is a great place for students

to interact with African students right here in Edmonton.

WWW.AFRICACENTRE.CA

Final Note

Contact information of the ArtistsGarth Prince Tololwa Mollel Karen Porkka

[email protected]://www.garthprince.com/

[email protected](780) 432-7477 (h)(780) 990-6877 (c)

www.tololwamollel.com

[email protected]://www.karenporkka.com

african artist in residence

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