Workshops at Kaleidoscope provided great opportunities for PRPS students

Multiple schools within Prairie Rose Public Schools (PRPS) attended the 2024 Kaleidoscope event at the Esplanade on Thursday May 30. The morning was dedicated to workshops, with the younger students attending two shorter ones in various areas of the Esplanade and high school students participating in one of two longer workshops at the Medicine Hat Public Library.

“Kaleidoscope of the Arts is an amazing showcase of all the work students and staff do throughout the year to develop various aspects of the arts,” Superintendent of PRPS Reagan Weeks. “I have the opportunity to look at visual arts and the beautiful pieces our students have created, along with seeing some of their talents on stages. Students also have the opportunity to continue their learning in a variety of workshops and I’m grateful to the organizing team for providing this opportunity to our school division. It’s a phenomenal place to be and see the excitement of kids about the fine arts.”

Jordyn is in Grade 3 at Parkside took part in the Boomwhacker workshop and said following the beat was the best part. Last year, she performed in the choir and feels the best thing about Kaleidoscope is watching other students perform and how much fun she has during the event.

Tiffany Molin is one of the organizers of Kaleidoscope and also facilitated the Boomwhacker workshop. “They are just so fun. This is my third year doing this for our Kaleidoscope celebration since we changed the format into a workshop and a concert. The kids come from lots of different places and we’ve been able to spread the activities we do here to smaller schools that don’t have a dedicated music teacher. It’s making music enjoyable for everyone.”

In the gallery was a drum workshop facilitated by Vice-Principal of Senator Gershaw John Paul Brocklesby, “it was great, I haven’t drummed with 40 kids in quite a while, and they did awesome. We managed to do a layered rhythm for their first time drumming, which is usually not possible. Most of them looked like they were having fun.” He was working with students from Grades 1 to 3. Ralston student Rexley is in Grade 2 and took part in the drumming and he enjoyed using the traditional drums and playing along to the beat.

Ron Mason, who teaches music at both Margaret Wooding and I.F. Cox schools in Redcliff, held two ukulele workshops. “The intention is to introduce new students to the ukulele and how simple and fun it can be. We start out by learning some simple songs and give them some encouragement to keep going because learning any instrument takes perseverance.”

Students taking part in the workshops learned two songs on the ukulele, the first was Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, a two-chord song the students find fun to play. The second song is The Lion Sleeps Tonight, a three-chord song that is more advanced, but Mason believes pushing the students will help them decide if they would like to pursue playing the instrument. “Excellent,” was Mason’s comment on how the first session went. “Kids picked up Eleanor Rigby so fast, the kids are motivated and want to learn and it’s fun.”

The alcohol ink workshop with Kameko Ballantyne was popular and filled up quickly. “It was a great way for them to express themselves creatively in the workshop and we have mediums we haven’t worked with before, like alcohol ink. They got to practice on a tile and then they created two individual pieces themselves. They can make mistakes on the tile, which is a good thing when we are learning because mistakes mean we are trying. We did two abstract pieces, which is best for alcohol ink because it is fun to play around with and if you don’t have any expectations on what it will look like, sometimes that is a better way to learn.”

Greg Herman co-facilitated the Singer/Songwriter workshop that took place in the theatre of the Medicine Hat Public Library. “The kids are in groups now to try and come up with one verse to the rhyme scheme we pulled out of a hat and then they will share it with the group for better or worse. It’s just whatever they come up with under the gun. I’ve written a few things and thought this would be fun to do, I’ve never done anything like this so it’s a learning experience for me to. We might have to try and do this more down the road, if anyone wants to come back.”

Justine Wilks was in the main theatre at the Esplanade leading students through a music and games workshop. “It was lots of fun, the kids were really great, and we enjoyed making music together. It was to show them choral warmups and learn some new classroom songs and make some music together.”

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer