Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338
News Release
December 19, 2003
U of G, TVO partner to further musical education
Some music students at the University of Guelph will be supplementing their studies in the new year by watching television.
Starting in the winter semester, the TVOntario series Whole Notes will be recommended viewing for about 150 students registered in “Introduction to Music.” The series airs Fridays at 2 p.m. beginning Jan. 16. In future semesters, the program will be required viewing for students enrolled in the distance education section of the course.
“Whole Notes provides opportunities for students to see and hear excellent Canadian performers and to enrich their understanding of classical music,” said Mary Cyr, a professor in the School of Fine Art and Music. “We’re pleased to be able to add this educational resource to our in-class and distance learning resources.”
Cyr has been working with Jeff Dunk, TVO’s program liaison for university television, and U of G’s Office of Open Learning for more than a year on the project. The course will be taught this winter by Shannon Carter, a sessional instructor in music at U of G. Cyr will add new materials built around the series to the distance education section of the course for the fall 2004 semester. “The series is a good fit for the distance course,” she said.
“In addition to seeing well-known Canadian orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists perform classical music, students will hear comments about the composers that put the music into its historical context. “They will also explore some of the controversies and issues that arise within the field of classical music,” Cyr said. Whole Notes is a 12-part series and features works by Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Ravel.
Cyr intends to add new material to the distance program that complements the TVO series and stimulates discussion and learning. “For example, Beethoven's deafness and its effect on his compositional career is discussed in one of the TVO programs,” she said. “I will add excerpts from recent research on Beethoven that reinterprets the established view of his deafness and brings to light new information about his use of early hearing aids.”
The U of G partnership is one of 21 courses at 18 colleges and universities across Ontario to which TVO is contributing. In the fall semester, students in history professor Jesse Palsetia’s course “Twentieth Century Global History”” watched episodes of the TVO 10-part series First World War, which looks at how the war changed the course of history. In addition, U of G’s Office of Open Learning and TVO teamed up last year to present the series Death: A Personal Understanding, based on a course developed by U of G psychologist Brenda Kenyon.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 53338 or Rachelle Cooper, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982.
