First in a month-long series on Tri-Cities arts educators…
Their goal is to nurture and inspire the whole child: Not just through music — their top focus — but through art and social interaction, too.
And Coquitlam residents Reg Quiring and his wife, Rosemary O’Connor, say they’ve been able to achieve this through their platforms.
The couple, who are parents to three children, practice what they preach throughout the year with their private violin and piano students.
In the summer, they head out to St. Helen’s Anglican Church in Vancouver for a week-long music camp to instruct young string musicians. There, they emphasize chamber music to hone new skills — rhythm and intonation, for example — and learn how to listen and co-operate.
These lessons they get at the Quiring Chamber Music Camp are tools they will use for the rest of their lives, said O’Connor, the camp director.
The camp, which has run for the past 19 years including two in Port Coquitlam, draws students from around Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. The day-long classes are tailored to each musician based on their age, level and personality and are led by a faculty of eight plus composition and art teachers.
By the end, they show their talents — and perform with new friends — at a concert. “The parents are so happy and the kids are feeling so good about themselves,” O’Connor said. “There’s a lot of pride to see what they can do in a week.”
It’s not the only forum for their arts education.
For the past five years, Quiring has led the Coquitlam Youth Orchestra on Fridays in the rehearsal hall at the Evergreen Cultural Centre. When he launched it, fellow musicians and parents told Quiring the time was ripe given the recent changing demographics in the Tri-Cities.
They were right.
In two years, his orchestra enrolment grew so much he needed to split it into three groups to meet demand. This past season, there were nearly 150 young musicians in the junior, intermediate and senior orchestras who ended their year with a charity concert benefitting the Red Cross’ appeal for famine relief in Africa.
Quiring admits the administrative work during the week takes its toll; however, come Friday, the conductor says he’s in his element: talking to players, tuning their instruments and performing challenging (but also fun!) classics.
Quiring said while some players may be dragged to the practices in the beginning, they quickly find like-minded people around them. During their breaks, very few reach for their mobile devices; instead, they want to have face-to-face conversations about music and personal connections, he said.
The bonding comes naturally during the year as Quiring takes them to special events, festivals and camps in the Lower Mainland. This year, 15 of them also attended their week-long summer camp in Vancouver. “Every year, we try to make things a bit better,” Quiring said. “It’s almost like a craftsmanship pride.”
Their students like to see the couple at their best, too.
During the year, Quiring and O’Connor each have solo and group shows, often with some of North America’s best-known musicians. On New Year’s Eve, they recruit a couple for a special recital at the Evergreen — now a decade-long tradition. “Our students want to see us under the gun like we put them,” Quiring laughed.
“The learning that we get from our colleagues trickles down to our students,” O’Connor added. “That’s a big plus for them.”
Still, there is a hope that — one day — the educators will be able to centralize their operations from an academy in Coquitlam. They look at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the Langley Community Music School as models.
“It would be a big undertaking but it’s something that we’re seriously considering,” Quiring said. “I think the Tri-Cities is ready.”
