When I first heard about Mount Royal Conservatory’s Morningside Music Bridge (MMB) program from friend and participant Yan Li a few years back, I thought, “Wow, that sounds too good to be true.” That was back in my unseasoned days of both musicianship and citizenship so I decided to sit back and listen to her stories of late night rehearsals, group rafting, and all the other amazing things she had done in the program without going out and finding out what about it made hundreds of aspiring musicians from Canada, Poland, and China apply each year. The program runs from the 2nd of July to the end of the month and is now in it’s 19th year. It is open to piano, strings, and clarinet players from the three countries mentioned above. This is what the Mount Royal website has to say about Morningside Music Bridge:
“Each year, 60 young musicians from around the world gather in Calgary, one hour from Canada’s stunning Rocky Mountains, to learn from top international instructors, perform in memorable public venues, participate in prestigious concerto and chamber music competitions, and bond with one another through the exquisite language of music.“
However, as my curiosity about the program grew, and since this year’s students are the first ones to use the new conservatory (now dubbed the Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts), I decided to ask a few current students of the program what their thoughts are about it to get a firsthand account of the internationally-renowned program.
Just this past Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the brightest young musicians I’ve ever spoken to. Marta Mazurek, 17, hones from Poland. Coming from a family of musicians, her musicianship came so naturally to her that at age 4, she picked up her mother’s violin bow and prompted her parents to begin her musical education. Matthew Christakos is a 15 year-old Canadian cellist who began his craft following the footsteps of his older brothers, who saw tremendous benefits in their lives due to music. Travelling from China to Canada for his 4th consecutive year in the program, JunLin Wu began piano at his parent’s suggestion and has since then seen music transform his life.
I decided to start off our conversation with a huge question of which the answers would pervade the entire interview. All three students said that the biggest ways in which MMB has changed their musical and personal lives is the fact that they get to communicate with like-minded people from all around the world; they are able to share knowledge about music and life in general. When I asked JunLin and Marta, who are both returning to the program, about their thoughts on being able to utilize the new Taylor Centre, they spoke of how spacious it is and how excited they are to see the new Bella Concert Hall and what a privilege it is to be one of the first people performing on one of the “most-important concert halls in Canada”. Marta was at a loss for words to describe how amazing it was to be one of the first persons to be able to use the new space and that it was incredibly honourable and motivating; Bill van der Sloot, violin teacher, would tell her and her peers that “their butts are the first butts that have sat on those chairs so that (they) have to try harder.”
Coming from such different parts of the world, the musicial education is ought to differ and one of the defining things about Morningside Music Bridge is the ability is has to expose international students to new ways of approaching music. In Poland, Marta says, teachers usually dictate what should be done about the stylistics of the music whereas during MMB, she has been allowed to be more creative with her interpretations which in turn has lead to personal musical revelations that would occasionally leave her in tears. As well, JunLin and Matthew both marveled at how many private lessons each musician receives (4-5 times a week!) and how motivating it is compared to having lessons at regular intervals of once per week. Matthew also brought up the fact that they are able to work with many internationally-renowned artists that give the students many different perspectives on a single piece thus inspiring the student and giving students tools that they can use to create their own ideas with.
If you’re a musician, there’s a 99% chance you struggle with tension. I know I certainly do. As we were conversing about the universal problem, Marta brought up something that made me realize how comprehensive of a musical education is available at MMB. Earlier in the program, she recalled, a specialist came in and gave the students a lecture on how the human body acts under tension and taught the students exercises to relive it. Not only do students get a chance to learn with a hands-on approach in their many classes, they are also exposed to alternative forms of presenting important information that will help them improve their playing.
As we talked on, I started to realize just how dedicated and hard-working these students are. When Marta, Matthew, and JunLin spoke of the reasons they play music, all the eloquence and passion they were able to convey boiled down to a few simple facts: they love music, it gives them the ability to express themselves and is something that has fully embroiled itself into their individual identities. Even in times of hardship and disappointment, it is those simple facts that keeps them going and ultimately shapes their lives. When he felt like quitting, JunLin said, he would often ask himself “what would I be without music?” This is a questions that I have often asked myself when I felt stuck musically and dwelling on it has kept me going every time. We all got a good laugh when Matthew brought up how discouraging it can be to see musicians younger than you perform better. However, he’s learnt to think about it differently and uses it as a motivator to practice more and to work harder.
For young and dedicated musicians to be trying to balance music, extra-curriculars, school, and family time, it can be hard to catch a break (I’ve heard all about it from Yan and have experienced it myself). Musicians have to learn to manage their time properly at an early age in order to succeed and that is exactly the advice Matthew gives; “it’s definitely not easy, but if you organize your time right it’s not impossible.”
When asked about what surprised them the most coming here, JunLin states that, even though he’s been part of the program since he was 13, every time he returns he is shocked by how much more he learns. Despite the fact that the program itself has remained relatively unchanged, the amount of knowledge that can be gleaned is cumulative. All three (and myself, in fact) simultaneously agreed that everyone in the program, regardless of language barriers, have extremely positive outlooks and have been super friendly. Matthew, being a first-year enrollee of MMB, was shocked most by how high-level everyone in the program is regarding music, another source of inspiration and motivation for himself and many others.
Yan is 100% allowed to say that she told me so. I had never had doubts about the quality of the program, but to be able to see it up close and to speak to Marta, Matthew, and JunLin about their own experience so far, I have not only found that Morningside Music Bridge is truly as good as it sounds, but I have also realized just how amazing the youth behind the program are. As well, administrators and teachers were also kind as I toured the Taylor Centre, saying hello and cracking jokes about the horrible weather that day. It really is fair to say that I went home inspired by the program that day.
Special thanks to program administrator Maimie De Silva for giving me the opportunity to interview these musicians and of course to Marta, Matthew, and JunLin for being so thoughtful and for allowing me to pull them out of their break time in which they could’ve played ping pong in the recreation centre. To find out more about this program, visit http://www.mtroyal.ca/ProgramsCourses/FacultiesSchoolsCentres/TheConservatory/Programs/MorningsideMusicBridge/index.htm. To see the young musicians I interviewed and many others perform live, see the list of upcoming performances and free recitals here.