Create

LtoR: (top row) Waverley DiNova and Megan Zammit, Kyle Munns and Quinlyn Bright; (middle row) Frances Harvey and Thomas McLean; Lily Lai; Loretta Hu (bottom row) Sophia Bonham-Carter, Zoe Fingas (right), Alysia Wilson (note: some photos taken in prior school years)

Arts Awards

THE YEAR IN THE ARTS featured many highlights, including virtual productions of the fall and winter plays, the first-ever online debating competition for independent schools, and culminating in the Arts Week presentation in May, which celebrated music, theatre, dance, film and visual arts at the School. At this spring’s virtual Co-Curricular Awards presentation, eight students were recognized with Commendation awards, while 16 students earned Excellence awards for their arts involvements during 2020-2021. As well, Grade 12 graduates were acknowledged for their contributions specifically to the music program, Johnson Ringers and Chapel Choir. Distinction, which represents a superior level of dedication and achievement in the arts, went to: Sophia Bonham-Carter, Zoe Fingas, Frances Harvey, Loretta Hu, Lily Lai, Thomas McLean, Kyle Munns, Alysia Wilson and Megan Zammit. And two standalone awards were presented: the Stevenson Award for Acting went to Grade 12 student Quinlyn Bright, who performed in both plays this year; and the Warner Dance Trophy was presented to Grade 12 student Waverley DiNova, captain of the Dance Troupe.

Winter Play

A TALENTED CAST AND

CREW gave everyone a dose of much-needed laughter as TCS presented the virtual production of Bad Auditions… On Camera, which was released via video on February 4. The play, written by Ian McWethy and Carrie McCrossen, was created specifically to be produced online, making it a perfect vehicle to bring together cast and members working on-campus and online, and audiences at home around the world. Directed by Bill Walker, Grade 12 student Isabella Ciano served as co-director, and Victor Svenningson ’74 provided technical direction. Bad Auditions… On Camera is the story of a harried casting director (Kyle Munns) searching for a last-minute replacement actor to play a lawyer in a hit television crime drama. He’s got one day to fill the role, lest he get fired and have to move back to Arizona to live with his mother. He’s helped by his enthusiastic but easily-distracted assistant, Roger (Evelyn Maguire). The string of wannabe actors includes: Gina Marie (Sarah Bailey), a Staten Island mom who spends most of the audition trying to stop her child from burning down the house; stage actor Kellin (Quinlyn Bright), who puts the “ham” in Hamlet; barely audible Tandy (Ava Becker); overconfident and TV-obsessed Jeff (Bria Chalovich); social media maven Carmen (Valentina Conrad), trying to stay “on brand”; Greg (Ross Miller), who just can’t stay in the frame; Wendy (Sophia Bonham-Carter), the commercial actor who doesn’t want to “sell out” by doing dramatic TV; insecure and apologetic Phyllis (Camryn Chalovich); strangely over-dressed Rory (Carly Lin); Roger’s own technologicallychallenged dad, Tom (Zoe Fingas); and the talented but exhausted Uma (Grace Johnson). Spoiler alert: Roger has been live-streaming the auditions and leaves it up to the audience to decide who should get the role. So tell us, who is the best choice to play the part? Mr. Bill Walker, director

TCS SHOWCASED the talents of its Senior School visual and performing artists through a week-long online extravaganza in early May. The virtual Arts Week presentation featured our co-curricular theatre, dance and music groups, works by our visual arts students, and even included the return of the TCS Film Festival! Each day of the week, different artistic offerings were launched, allowing audiences to enjoy new works and revisit some performances from earlier in the school year, including the fall and winter plays. As well, audiences could view the String Ensemble’s performance from the annual Carol Service, and were treated to two additional pieces by the trio. Three short films created by students were entered into this year’s festival: The Bickle House Possession: Part I (by Grade 10 student Hudson Brown); The Taste of Love (by Grade 12 student Carly Lin); and Dreams of Graduation (by Grade 12 student Phillip Whan Tong). Special congratulations to Phillip, who led the charge to bring back the film festival this year. The TCS Dance Troupe used a combination of footage from on campus and videos taken by students at home to create several energizing dance numbers as an ensemble, under the direction of Ms. Stephanie Booth. The troupe encountered many obstacles and challenges while filming during this final spring term, yet kept their energy high, thinking outside of the box, to deliver a fun and enthusiastic series of performances. Special thanks go to Mrs. Maria Velasquez-Labrecque, administrator of the dance troupe, and Grade 12 student Carly Lin who helped with editing. And the Vocal Ensemble, also known as “Coffee House Vocals,” was brought together virtually for a beautiful rendition of

the Beatles’ Let it Be, under the direction of Anna Mastin. Daily additions to the virtual art gallery portion of Arts Week reinforced the high quality and wide range of media employed by our students, from traditional charcoal and watercolour works, to digital images using photography, Photoshop, Audacity, QR codes and more. For example, a piece Coffee House Vocals, clockwise from top left: Anna Dobrinski, Lily Wright, Alexis Stewart, Madison Miller, Jessica Bridges by Grade 11 student Aiya Hyslop-Healy merged photography with glitch art, in which the artist creates digital “errors” to manipulate the source material. Thank you to our talented students, and to our co-curricular arts leaders, for putting together a wonderful showcase of artistic works that offered something for everyone. Ms. Jessie Ironside, director of co-curricular arts String Ensemble, LtoR: Wesley Chan, Grace Lu, Agnes Grabcova Dreams of Graduation, directed by Phillip Whan Tong

Rati Dube

Star Raskind Sam Bliemel

Layomi Oladiran

Alysia Wilson

Junior School Music

WHAT DO YOU DO when a pandemic turns a music program upside down? Well, you adapt, but you never lose sight of what your core beliefs are as a music educator. That was my mantra going into the 2020-2021 school year. Our Junior School music program is a performance based program. Students start their musical journey on Orff instruments and then begin learning to play a concert band instrument in the last term of Grade 5. Learning to play a musical instrument teaches our students so many lessons beyond the mechanics of their instruments. My many years in this profession have told me it is well worth the effort it takes. And so we began our COVID solution of “flipping the music classroom.” This year at TCS, Junior School music students learned essential skills in class to complete performance tasks at home on their chosen instruments. Thirty Grade 5 and 6 students began playing a musical instrument for the very first time, from home. Another 20 students in Grades 7 and 8 also started their journey of playing a concert band instrument this year, from home. The rest of our students continued to build their instrumental skills where they left off prior to the start of the pandemic. This task was a major learning curve for everyone, including myself. There was no doubt we needed some pretty spectacular tools to help us out. In September, students were introduced to MusicFirst, a learning management system, akin to Google Classroom, that would house eight powerful music software tools. Ear training, music theory, listening, analysis, sight reading, notation, sequencing, composing and recording all became resources at our fingertips. The resilience and new learning of our Junior School students this year has been incredible. Sitting at their desks in their homeform classrooms, students built skills together step by step that applied to their instruments at home. For example, students practiced their sight reading skills using an amazing program called Sight Reading Factory which produces endless new music to perform at the touch of a button. Students created body percussions to practice performing this music together in the classroom. We never knew a simple desk setup could be so musical! Accompanied by a favourite song on YouTube, body percussion and sight reading also reminded our students of their love of performing together as a group. We had fun exploring and learning new ways of integrating technology into our music classroom. Perhaps our most powerful software resource this year has been PracticeFirst. This intuitive program has revolutionized our students’ performance practice in the Junior School. By simply pressing record when they practised, our students received instantaneous feedback on their progress. The learning from these insights is immediate and has affected the quality of their performances. The results have been amazing. Their note and rhythmic precision has increased dramatically. Our Junior School students have become much more

LtoR: (top) Ms. Crawford, Sam Nadurata, Kennedy Adams, Landon Demrovsky; (bottom) Connor Demrovsky, Michael Hassard, Hannah Obomighie, Molly Steeves hold band rehearsal online reflective musicians. They understand the power of reflection to decide the next steps in their learning. Online this term, we enjoyed band rehearsals in a new format, taking pride in our efforts together. In class, we joined together in breakout rooms and enjoyed hearing students take the lead in small groups on their instruments. Our student’s adaptability, new learning and problem solving in the face of new challenges have been extraordinary this year. From our beginners, getting that first warm resonant sound on the flute, to our experienced players, expanding their technique well beyond grade level, this year has been a wonderful success. I am so proud of each and every one of the students at the Junior School who took on this challenge of flipping our program upside down. We did it! We persevered, we improved and everyone learned that music is a powerful force worth pursuing, always. Ms. Emma Crawford, Junior School music teacher Grade 6 student Jordyn Keystone

Singing favourite hymns in the winter weather

Chapel Music

SEVERAL STUDENTS were game to keep singing and ringing this year, and while the ringers were able to enjoy distanced rehearsals in chapel (and a few performances for colleagues in the same grade), a handful of singers bravely met outdoors for most of the year. Fall and spring were lovely – winter provided some very cold Tuesdays for this hardy crew. In May, as the school year drew to a close, four intrepid Grade 10 ringers continued to meet: Bria Chalovich, Kyra Fingas, Allen Tang and Isabella Wu (with help from Fr. Don, and Robin Xu augmenting the group for a Grade 10 chapel performance). Two Grade 11 students sang outdoors: Summer Xia and Anna Yang. But the focus turned, in a way, to the grad choristers who were approaching their final Speech Day. While there had been some hope earlier in the term for cohorted, in-person activity for the grads, by May this possibility had faded. Handbells to the rescue! Ten grad choristers were able to hold a few distanced rehearsals inside the Memorial Chapel – before this also became impossible. What to do now? One member had moved off-campus – Carly Lin – and sadly could not join us. Five boarding student ringers – Sahil Amin, Echo Li, Grace Lu, Natasha Pinto and Kaylie Tsang – were able to be recorded by Fr. Don, mid-May, for Speech Day. The four day student members – Sophia Bonham-Carter, Zoe Fingas, Evelyn Maguire and Braden Shaw – were not able to join us, however, or meet as a group themselves. Another hurdle! Thanks to the kind suggestion of Dr. Debbie Fingas, Zoe’s mom, a plan was hatched. The day student ringers could be recorded: outdoors, individually, following all protocols – at the Fingas home. The Fingases have made many videos for their church and the local La Jeunesse choir, and Dr. Fingas had everything ready for a quick set of recording sessions one week before Speech Day. She expertly added these four cameos to Fr. Don’s original video and, say no more, a beautiful rendition of My Heart Will Go On from Titanic was part of the Leaving Class Chapel Service on Speech Day. We were sorry to miss having Carly with us – but seeing the final edit, and then watching it in a nearly empty chapel on Speech Day, were both emotional moments for me. I cannot fully express my gratitude to both Fr. Don and Dr. Fingas for making this very special video a reality – thank you. Mr. Randy Mills, organist, choir and bells

Grad ringers’ Speech Day performance