Mohawk College students take part in Indigenous music sharing event

Mohawk College music students took part in a music-sharing event in Oshweken on Tuesday. Indigenous musicians and Mohawk music students told stories through music today at the Greti Theatre.

Rick McLean, a professor of Indigenous Studies at the college has been guiding the students through this experience. He says, “We can read all about reconciliation all we want, but until you’re in the room, and you meet people, you know their names, you know their stories and you create together, that’s where the real change happens.”

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The music-sharing event is mandatory for students to learn about localized meanings and values. Applied music professor Bob Shields says, “…we’re trying to get the word out that this needs to happen not just in music rooms, but in rooms in every department throughout the college.”

The students have been learning about Indigenous music and cultural influences throughout the year but on Tuesday they had a front-row experience. The Indigenous performers included the award-winning Nicole Joy-Fraser as well as the Six Nations Women Singers, led by Sadie Buck.

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Buck says music is a strong way of connecting people, “music really is a language, I mean it sounds really hokey, but it really is a language that is universal. We can do sharing and we can do this kind of work with Mohawk College students, where we can share and teach them something, work with them developing it, and they can have that experience and they have that experience in their own development of music.”

After the performances, the students were able to take part in a talking circle with the performers. This is the second year this event has been held and the organizers say they plan to bring it back every year.