Students from St. Michael Community School in Saskatoon recently released their very own Metis fiddle album.
The school introduced the Metis fiddle program to their arts curriculum in 2016 thanks to a donation of fiddles from award-winning artist Natalie MacMaster.
Since that time, students from Grades 5 to 8 have been working with Karrnnel Sawitsky, creating Metis fiddle music in their classrooms. Sawitsky is a Juno Award-winning fiddle player originally from Saskatoon.
“We’re not trying to make 60 professional fiddle players,” he said, in a media release on the album launch. “The goal is to get them excited about learning and to give them something they can be proud of.”
Sawitsky has been travelling from Toronto to help fiddle teacher Cristin Dorgan Lee work with the students and even help them compose their own songs.
“The change in students because of this culturally-responsive program is absolutely amazing,” said Lee. “They don’t want to miss school on fiddle days, and that level of involvement leads to better attendance, participation and engagement in all subject areas.”
Sawitsky, Lee and the students recently spent a day in a studio recording several of their songs. The CD was officially launched last Friday.
According to Saskatoon Public Schools, this project was made possible thanks to funding from the Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture and the Government of Saskatchewan.
(PHOTO: A Fiddle. Photo courtesy of the John Arcand Fiddle Fest, Facebook.)