Lomond Sound Music & Dance Presentation 2024

The Soundbone Traditional Arts Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mandate to preserve and promote the folk arts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Lomond Sound’s Traditional Music and Dance presentations consists of 4 artists visiting schools in two areas of the province, spending a day in each school.  For these presentations we employ many of the province’s most experienced artists and instructors, collectively known as Lomond Sound.

History

Our school presentations developed out of the Vinland Music Camp – a traditional music, storytelling and dance workshop organized by Soundbone since 2009.  Lomond Sound’s school presentations are fully sponsored by Arts NL and the Newfoundland & Labrador Dept of Education through the School Touring Program, so there is no charge to the schools.

Presentation

Lomond Sound’s school presentation consists of day-long performances and workshops, beginning with a hour-long concert for all grades (see sample schedule below). During this period they demonstrate their instruments as well as perform a number of songs, dance steps and tunes, discussing their history and how they relate to our cultural history. The opening concert finishes with a question and answer discussion, followed by a closing set of tunes.

During the next two periods students are divided into four separate groups and take part in concurrent workshops in playing an instrument, singing, songwriting or traditional dance. The groups are rotated after the first workshop so that different groups of students can take part in the workshops.  Depending on the musical experience of the students, the instructors usually start with basic technique, then move on to teaching a simple song, tune, or dance which students can perform along with members of Lomond Sound.

During the first period after lunch students return to their previous workshop classrooms – splitting the class period into two 30-minute sections corresponding to the morning sessions – and rehearse the material covered in their workshops.

Lomond Sound’s presentation concludes with a hour-long performance for the entire school. This concert involves students, teachers and instructors. The final concert is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their newly acquired skills to their classmates. It’s always an exciting and rewarding time for everyone!

Younger students (K-2) often have difficulty holding instruments such as the fiddle and guitar so in smaller elementary schools we accommodate these students by having separate workshops just for them. At larger (all-grade) schools the workshops are usually confined to grades 4-8, though all the students are welcome to attend the opening and closing concerts. We usually limit our classes size to a maximum of 25 students for instrument workshops though songwriting can involve a slightly larger number of participants, depending on the size of the classroom. 

Although the format described above is the one used for most of our school tours, we can adapt our program to meet the needs of individual schools. For example, if there is a student folk music group at a school Lomond Sound can spend some time with them. If a full day of workshops isn’t possible at a school we can sometimes offer a shorter program.

At the end of each school visit the instructors will leave copies of sheet music, song lyrics and dances that were taught during the day. We also provide an online Folk Arts Resource Guide so teachers and students can follow up their interest in traditional music and dance.

Sample Daily Schedule 

(times are approximate and will be adapted to each school’s timetable)

8:00AM –8:50 AM – Lomond Sound set up their equipment in the gym

8:50 AM – 9:50 AM – Period 1 – Opening Concert

9:50 AM – 10:05 AM – Recess

10:05 AM – 11:05 AM – Period 2 Workshops I  (4 concurrent workshops)

11:05 AM – 12:05 PM  – Period 3 Workshops II  (4 concurrent workshops)

12:05 AM – 12:55 PM – Lunch

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Period 4 – Rehearsals (two half-hour  sessions)

2:00 – 3:00 PM – Period 5 – Closing concert