Andrea Kuzmich is an award singer, a teacher, an ethnomusicologist (PhD candidate at York University), and mother of 2 boys (5 and 10 years). Her eclectic musical activities defy her conventional classical beginnings. Besides grade 8 piano RCM, choral singing, and performances in four different Canadian Opera Company productions and as a cellist with the McMaster Symphony by the age of 16, Andrea has: sung in a Congolese Gospel Choir; studied Balkan folk music, South Indian singing and drumming, and West African drumming; performed in Big Bands, small jazz combos, as well as contemporary new music ensembles; and specializes in the haunting and ancient harmonies of Caucasus Georgia.
Her PhD in ethnomusicology bridges all this diversity into a cohesive cross-cultural understanding of how musical practice is essential for spiritual, social, and personal well being. Andrea extends this understanding practically in MusiCamp where campers get a chance to explore the wonders and ecstatic moments of music through fun and interactive activities that overcome inhibition and intuitively develop a host of cognitive and social skills associated with music making.
OUR SOUNDWALKS WILL WORK SORT OF LIKE A MUSICAL TREASURE HUNT!
And campers will use their found ‘sound’ treasures to construct their own soundscapes, following their own inspirations and creative instincts.
One of the things we’ll be looking at every week are soundwalks and soundscape compositions. But what are these? Before I tell you more about these things, have a listen to the following soundscape composition called “City Symphony” from the movie August Rush – a film about a young orphaned prodigy who uses his musical gifts to find his biological parents.
Soundwalks
Soundwalks are exactly what they sound like: walks that explore sound. You can explore the sounds everywhere – whether it’s deep in the forest of the Toronto Ravine system or in the commercial semi-industrial space behind Dufferin Mall. But what’s really interesting about sound walks is how much more you are able to see when you take the time to listen. Often soundwalks can even uncover hidden stories about a place or a neighbourhood…
Soundscapes
“A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions,” says internationally renown Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. “When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous.”
There are soundscapes that occur organically from our natural or urban environments – that’s what the composer R. Murray Schafer is talking about above. And then there are composed soundscapes.
This piece of art is actually the musical score written by world-renown Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. The instrumentation involves an orchestra, 7 singers, and electronic sounds.
Soundscape Compositions
Soundscape compositions are compositions that rely less on what we usually expect from music, like a regularly repeated melody and/or rhythm. Instead, it explores sounds and silence, and is more directly inspired by a specific idea and/or emotion. Often this results in a musical piece that boarders on theatre or performance art. You can even see from the picture (which is an actual score by the composer R. Murray Schafer) how the score of a soundscape composition defies conventions and looks more like a piece of art than the typical musical notation.
at MusiCamp
As mentioned, at MusiCamp, our soundwalks will work like a musical treasure hunt and campers will be:
instructed to search for specific types of sounds
encouraged to connect the dots between what they hear and what they see to makeup a story about the place or neighbourhood they acoustically explore.
Back at the studio, campers will:
create a soundscape composition imitating the sounds they heard – perhaps to tell the story of the place or neighbourhood they just explored
and if campers wish to, they will also be given the opportunity to create their own score for their creation
MusiCamp is a summer day camp experience that explores music making in a positive environment, filled with activities that build your child’s musical skills in an intuitive and fun way. The activities are designed to supplement traditional formal musical training but also be accessible to the less experienced music enthusiasts. Weekly themes like The Blues, Singer-Songwriter or West African Drumming provide musical direction to the week, which is further supplemented with craft making (instruments and masks) and stories that broaden the child’s cultural and historical understandings of music and society. It all culminates in a end of week performance to which parents and friends are welcomed to attend.
No instrument needed. No formal musical training. All that’s need is a love for music, the willingness to explore the voice in all its beauty and rawness, and the readiness to be a part of an exciting and affirmative team!
MusiCamp 
