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Attention Teachers! PD Opportunities with Susan Brumfield – Workshops and Open Rehearsals for CCNS!

Some great opportunities for professional coming up soon!

Learn from the incredible Susan Brumfield, Professor of Music at Texas Tech University (and Guest Conductor for Children’s Chorus of Nova Scotia 2025)!

Read More about Susan below!

Opportunity #1 – CCNS Weekend – Professional Development for Leaders:  

April 11 & 12 – FREE – OPEN rehearsals for observation with the Children’s Chorus of Nova Scotia. First United Church Hall, Prince St, Truro.   Friday:  10 – 12, 1:00 – 5:00.    Saturday:  9:30 – 12:00

April 13 – CCNS Final Concert!  3:00pm – First United, Prince St. Truro – 125 singers from across the province! 

Tickets available: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/2025-childrens-chorus-of-nova-scotia-final-concert 

PD Opportunity #2 – Workshops with Susan!

Join Susan for a 2 hour workshop for Music Educators, Conductors, Singing Leaders and Music Students. 
TWO for ONE interactive, soul and tool-kit filling workshops!  Come after school to absorb fun, transferrable activities that work in the elementary & junior high classroom, choir and band! 

#1 – Sing It In Your Head: From Listening to Inner Hearing
#2 – Improvisation in the Kodály Approach

Workshop Dates/Locations:

April 10, 2025- New Glasgow – 4:30pm – 6:30pm – North Nova Education Centre, 343 Park St

April 14, 2025 – Annapolis Valley – 4:30-6:30pm – Kings County Academy, 35 Gary Pearl Dr

April 15, 2025 – HRM – Upper Tantallon – 4:30 – 6:30pm – Location TBA

Please select your location during registration below.

Registration Fees:

NSCF Individual Members/Leaders of Group Members:  FREE
NSCF Non-members:  $20 per person 

Payment can be made via etransfer to nscfadmin@nscf.ca. Please use the security answer SUSAN.

***Individual memberships are available for $35 per year. Student Group Membership is $55 per year. Available here: www.nscf.ca website – Visit the membership page for more details.  

Register for Susan Brumfield Workshop

About Susan:

Dr. Susan Brumfield is Professor of Music Education at Texas Tech University, and holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma. She is in high demand throughout the United States and Europe as a clinician, consultant, author, composer, arranger and choral conductor. An internationally recognized expert in the Kodály approach, Dr. Brumfield is the author of First, We Sing! Kodály-Inspired Teaching in the Music Classroom (Hal Leonard), a set of Kodály-based of curriculum and resource materials for K-5 music.

Dr. Brumfield is Founder and Artistic Director of The West Texas Children’s Chorus – with four choirs consisting of singers from Kindergarten through college, serving children throughout the South Plains area, and serves as a teaching lab for TTU Music Education students. The choirs have performed at the Texas Music Educators’ Conference, national conferences of the Organization of American Kodály Educators and the American Orff Schulwerk Association, and has been featured in concerts at Carnegie Hall and other prestigious venues in NYC. www.wtccsings.com.

Dr. Brumfield was honored in both 2012 and 2014 with the Texas Tech University College of Visual and Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Research, and as a two-time finalist for the President’s Book Award. In 2015, Dr. Brumfield was the recipient of the Louisiana Tech University Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award.

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CCNS Final Concert April 13! Tickets Now On Sale!

Join us on Sunday, April 13 at 3pm,First United Church in Truro, to hear 125 children from around Nova Scotia, raising their voices together in song!  

For the first time since 2019, this program brings children from community and school choirs across the province together in their love of singing.  A fun, challenging and inspiring opportunity, CCNS singers work with a team of conductors and music educators who are respected both in Nova Scotia and Internationally. 

This year’s guest conductor for the final weekend of the program is Dr. Susan Brumfield, celebrated conductor, educator and pedagogue who will be visiting us from Texas Tech University.  Also a part of the artistic team is Halifax collaborative pianist Pam Burton. 

We will also welcome special guest performers the Cantabile Children’s Choir, and the New Glasgow Youth Choir. 

Join us to celebrate these singers and this program!  Sunday, April 13, 3pm at First United Church in Truro.  Tickets: $20 | $5 students 

Purchase Tickets Here!

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New work Miss Pro Terra goes to Carnegie Hall! (with Cantabile Truro singers in tow!)

You need to add a widget, row, or prebuilt layout before you’ll see anything here. 🙂

Yesterday, composer Paul Aitken’s piece, Missa Pro Terra, A Mass for the Earth had its Carnegie Hall debut! Cantabile Choirs (Truro) premiered it back in March with Paul conducting (Paul now lives in Parrsboro!) and some Cantabile singers made the trek to New York this past week to share on the big stage! Congratulations to all involved!

“Missa Pro Terra is not just a musical composition; it’s a powerful statement about our planet and the urgent need to address environmental issues. Aitken’s work serves as a call to action, drawing attention to the environmental challenges we face and the importance of protecting the earth for future generations. As we share these snippets leading up to the Carnegie Hall performance, we invite you to reflect on both the beauty of the music and teh message it carries about the environment’s future.”

Missa Pro Terra, A Mass for the Earth, is available for purchase at JW Pepper.

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HRM Grant Deadlines – March 31

Community Grants provide annual cash grants to registered non-profit organizations and charities located throughout the Halifax region. There are two types of grants: a project grant of up to $5,000 OR a capital grant of up to $25,000.

Community Grants – Due March 31

The Grants to Professional Arts Organizations Program supports the operating and artistic capacity of Halifax-based professional arts organizations to develop and present artistic work as well as strengthen their capacity. We have two streams of funding, Operating Assistance, and Project Assistance. 

Arts Grants (Organizations and Projects) – Due March 31

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In Memory of Riet Vink

By now, many of you will have heard of the passing of the incredible and incomparable Riet Vink – musician and educator extraordinaire. I first met Riet at YCC 25 years ago. I, a young accompanist in university, new to the NSCF, and she a retired teacher with more spunk than I’d ever witnessed – working as a chaperone, and donning the most incredible outfit for dress up dinner!  I think I heard her laugh first.  I immediately wanted to be her when I grew up.  Her impact in this province was profound, and her loss will be deeply felt by all those who knew her, loved her, learned from her, shared in music making with her – or ever heard her tell one of her incredible stories. The NSCF would like to extend our sincere condolences to all of you. 

Please see below some wonderful tributes to Riet from Tim Cross, our former ED who worked with Riet many times over the years, and Malcolm Bradley, choral conductor, Kodaly specialist music educator, and former head of Halifax All City program. 

The Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at Calvin Presbyterian Church, located at 3311 Ashburn Avenue, Halifax, NS at 1:00pm. Early visitation with the family will begin at 12:00pm. For streaming options, please refer to Calvin Presbyterian Church on Facebook, closer to the date.

Charitable donations can be made to Calvin Presbyterian Church Mission and Outreach Fund, NS Kodály Society, NS Choral Federation or the charity of your choice.

Obituary

MEMORIES OF RIET: TIM CROSS

I first met Riet in 1982 when she was on the NSCF Nominations Committee.  I immediately recognized her passion for music and music education and her zest for life.  Over the years Riet continued to be an active member of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, serving on the board, and on committees and in recognition of her work and dedication to both NSCF and the choral art she was welcomed as an Honorary Life Member.  One of my favourite memories of Riet is of her arriving at Junior Choir Camp in Berwick to volunteer as a camp counsellor.  On her way to camp she had been excited by all the wildflowers along the highway and had stopped to pick enormous bouquets of brown-eyed Susan, daisies, chicory, and wild grasses to put in large buckets at her cabin door to welcome her campers!

For many years I’d see Riet at almost every choral concert and music event I attended.  She always made sure to interact with young singers and went out of her way to encourage and congratulate them on their performances. She touched the lives of countless musicians and educators and is fondly remembered for her wonderful stories.

MEMORIES OF RIET: MALCOLM BRADLEY

In the winter of 1979, I was privileged to attend an elementary school music workshop in Moncton with the famous Kodaly inspired teacher, Riet Vink, as the day long presenter. It was hard to imagine that we would meet again in the fall of 1980 and become great friends for 45 years.

Riet was an alto in the Halifax Chamber Choir and that is where we met in1980. At that point, the John W. MacLeod school choir was the envy on many music teachers in the area. That choir was conducted by Riet. They participated in the performance of the St. Matthew Passion with the Chamber Choir and were selected to perform the world debut of a five-movement song cycle for treble voices by Alex Tilley, including In Flanders Field. Soon after, that setting of this famous poem was being performed by treble choirs across the country. With her passion for the Kodaly approach, Riet’s classroom singing was also a model to look up to. I felt that I had reached the pinnacle of my elementary music career when the Caldwell Road grade six classes achieved a higher mark in the music festival than the LeMarchant-St. Thomas classes, where Riet was then teaching.

It was always a joy to hear Riet discuss the wonderful concerts with the Atlantic Symphony and the Atlantic Symphony Choir. It meant so much to her to be able to sing the larger choral works with the orchestra and she remained a lifelong friend of Klaro Mizerit and his family. The Dalhousie Chorale became an important part of Riet’s choral life and again, that joy of singing the larger choral works that she loved so much. In the later years, Riet’s alto voice was found in the Dalhousie Collegium Cantorum. Riet also joined the Dartmouth Choral Society for a season and when founder Kaye Pottie went on sabbatical, Riet conducted the Chebucto Community Singers for one year. It was always a pleasure for Riet to help on special occasions with the choir at Calvin Presbyterian Church.

So many long telephone conversations about repertoire and rehearsal approaches and things that either of us might do differently. So many long telephone and in person conversations about what went right and what went wrong with performances or rehearsals. These conversations with this dear friend so immersed in the choral art meant so much. As another colleague recently mentioned, even if a performance didn’t reach Riet’s exacting level, Riet would always find something positive and encouraging to say. In recent years, I have to chuckle at my reminding Riet not to make a face when
tuning wasn’t quite up to standard, or a particular voice part went off on a tangent. That frown could express a thousand words. In the last year and a half, it was always a joy to sit with Riet at Calvin Church and even with advancing age and breathing issues, that wonderful clear voice would ring out on the hymns. Music and choral singing can add so much to our lives and help build friendships and community that can last for so many years. Thank you, Riet, for that wonderful model and being so much a part of my
journey.

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PODIUM 2026 – Call for Choirs and Singing Groups Open!

Apply now for your chance to perform at PODIUM 2026 in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia!

The PODIUM 2026 national choral conference and festival is presented by Choral Canada and the British Columbia Choral Federation (BCCF), May 14-17, 2026 in Victoria, British Columbia. The Podium Artistic Committee encourages applications from singing groups/choirs of all kinds, and they welcome repertoire from the vast array of group singing experiences. They are seeking proposed 20-minute concert programs that expand our minds, open our hearts, and highlight different composers and music creators from across the country and beyond. There is no application fee. Groups applying must be members of either Choral Canada or the BC Choral Federation.

DUE DATE: Application form and all materials are due April 23, 2025.

Questions about your application? Please contact PODIUM 2026 Co-Chair Elizabeth MacIsaac at elizmac@telus.net. 

If you require any accommodations or support to fill out your application or if applying online is a barrier, please contact info@choralcanada.org for alternative arrangements (for example: written/oral applications).

FIND MORE INFORMATION HERE!

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ArtsVote is Here! We Need YOUR Help! Advocate for your choral community!

Join ArtsVote!
The upcoming federal election is vital and we need to ensure that arts are front and center. The Coalition for the Arts in Canada has been working behind the scenes for a few months now, meeting with politicians and party leadership to push for Arts and Culture to be explicitly outlined as part of the their party platforms. 

We have asked at a minimum for that to include a commitment to a 1% allocation of the federal budget (not GDP) to Arts and culture through increases to both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

ArtsVote is non partisan, but it must be LOUD! 

We have 850,000 cultural workers across Canada and we need all parties to recognize that we need to be at the table.  We want to hear from all of you, plus all the people who have kids in dance classes, who attend the theatre, who sing in a group, who love listening to music at a festival, or reading a Canadian novel.  

The Coalition for the Arts in Canada is working hard on behalf of our membership and sector at large to be ready for the earliest possible election call. This includes three streams of advocacy at the same time: 

Political – to engage with all the parties on your behalf and with the guidance of PAA Advisory and ensure we are reminding them of the sector’s vital importance needs;
Sectoral – to give organisations, cultural workers and artists specific tools – both advocacy kits and social media strategies – to make certain that voters are informed and actively engaged in the voting process;
Public – to be part of the larger public conversation and reach the general public to to remind them of the role arts play in their communities.

WHAT DO WE NEED FROM YOU? 

Your knowledge, passion, experience (and your networks)! Once the campaign launches, we need you to share the assets ArtsVote generates as widely as possible! We need everyone’s capacity to give us a hand so that we can run the most effective ArtsVote campaign possible. 

If you are a member of the Coalition, sign up HERE to be part of the ArtsVote working group and contribute your skills to the campaign; If you aren’t a member, use THIS SIGN-UP FORM  to join a ArtsVote Volunteer Corps.
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Upcoming Webinar: Brave Choral Spaces – Fostering Transparency, Accountability and Trust

Presented by Justin Jalea. (bio below)
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 1:30 – 2:45pm
FREE for NSCF Members. $25.00 for Non-Members. (Thank you to Choir Alberta for hosting!)
Register Here

This webinar explores how choral communities can cultivate spaces where singers, conductors, and administrators are heard, valued, supported, and empowered. We will examine the principles of transparency, accountability, and trust as cornerstones of an inclusive and equitable environment. Drawing from interdisciplinary insights, we will explore strategies for fostering open communication, ethical leadership, and shared responsibility.

By addressing power dynamics and systemic barriers and inequities, we will discuss ways to create policies and practices that uphold dignity and respect. From rehearsal practices to institutional decision-making, we will explore how proactive engagement and clear expectations build stronger, more resilient choral communities.

This session will offer conductors, singers, educators, and arts leaders, tangible tools to foster a culture where every voice has the courage to contribute and the confidence to thrive.

REGISTER HERE

About Justin:
Canadian human rights activist, conductor, and JUNO-nominated tenor, Justin Jalea is an internationally sought-after consultant for projects that seek positive social change through the arts. In his dual role of musician/activist, Justin has collaborated with organizations such as Americans for the Arts, the National Guild for Community Arts Education, Musicians for Human Rights, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and the United Nations.

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Justin is a seasoned choral artist having sung with professional choirs throughout Canada and the United States, including the Canadian Chamber Choir, Pro Coro Canada, Luminous Voices, and the Choir of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York.​​ He has founded numerous vocal ensembles that foster compassion and action for diverse social causes, including the New York City-based ensemble Inspire: A Choir for Unity, whose community-building work is featured in his recently published chapter on choral music and human rights in the Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights.
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​Justin holds dual JD/BCL degrees from McGill University’s Faculty of Law. Additionally, he holds a master’s degree from the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, and an MA and BA (Hons.) from the Universities of Alberta and Toronto, respectively, both in philosophy.

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Let’s Love on our NSYC and NYCC Singers – Toss a Tunee is back!

It’s Time for our Annual Fundraiser, “Toss A Tunee”!! It’s an opportunity for all our singers in all our choirs to come together to support youth.The funds raised by our community are split equally between the Nova Scotia Youth Choir program and sponsoring the singers who will represent Nova Scotia in the National Youth Choir of Canada. A little bit, from a lot, goes a long way! Pass the hat in your rehearsals (or collect electronic donations) to show your love in the month of February!