UPEI hosts ‘Vocal Mosaic of AIRS’ community event, August 12
UPEI's Dr. Steel Recital Hall will be the venue for the ‘Vocal Mosaic of AIRS', a community event from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm on August 12 featuring workshops, demonstrations, guest speakers, and an evening concert.
Chaired by Dr. Annabel Cohen, a leading researcher in the field of auditory perception and music cognition with the UPEI Department of Psychology, the day-long event is designed to share with the community the exciting research that AIRS - Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing - is conducting and to discuss and celebrate the act and art of singing. The idea of a ‘vocal mosaic' symbolizes the variety of topics interconnected with song.
'Singing connects people,' says Cohen, herself an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT). 'We are so fortunate that UPEI is at the hub of a large research enterprise aiming to examine singing in all its dimensions. The AIRS workshop provides the opportunity to share our growing knowledge with the community.'
Keynote speaker is AIRS collaborator, Psyche Loui, PhD, a cognitive scientist and instructor in the Department of Neurology at Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She will present a talk on her research regarding brain mechanisms underlying vocal pitch production, as well as the role of melodic intonation therapy in rehabilitation of stroke victims.
Event topics centre on three main themes: the development of singing, teaching singing and using singing to teach, and singing and well being. Presentations include musical theatre for seniors, sound yoga, Celtic singing, and many others. Hands-on workshops will include ‘Four Basic Steps to Singing' by Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey, UPEI Associate Professor of Music, and a tour of the AIRS research facilities.
The concert portion begins at 7:00 pm and will showcase the ‘vocal mosaic' of AIRS. A variety of performers of different singing styles will be featured, including Island vocalists Teresa Doyle, Colette Cheverie, and Meaghan Blanchard; Halifax native and classical performer Jennifer Farrell; AIRS post-doctoral fellow at UPEI, Anick Lamarche; and young Riley Sorensen.
For information about registration and details of the workshop, please email airs@upei.ca or visit www.airsplace.ca.
The workshop is held in association with the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology and Cognition in Education (CMTC-E), under the auspices of the UPEI Faculty of Arts, and is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
About AIRS (Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing)
AIRS is an international collaboration of more than 70 scholars integrating new multidisciplinary knowledge about singing from the perspectives of psychology, music, linguistics, sociology, anthropology, and education, assisted by computer science and audio engineering. AIRS addresses the following three main themes from the perspective of individual, cultural, and universal influences: Singing and Well-being, Education, and Development of Singing. The team's novel use of a digital library aims to revolutionize research in singing by enabling the depositing and sharing of audiovisual information via the internet. The research provides resources and best practices for teaching singing across cultures and generations, and a means for enhancing quality of life through improved intercultural and intergenerational understanding.
