C4 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, September 26, 2001 Time management key for busy music director (Continued from page C2) and gives you goose-bumps when it's really good. "And I love the friendships that you make," he adds. "A lot of these guys on the risers are like surrogate fathers or grandfathers to me; but they're my friends at the same time. We have '"Your C om rnuniti/ Sho/jping C en tre " Join us for our Annual ik Craft & Bake Sale Thursday, September th Friday, September th H I iK M P Q.E.W. 27 28 similar interests." Travis is in his second year of vocal perfor mance at the University of Toronto, majoring in classical music, a genre that piqued his interest when he heard tenor Ben Heppner sing a few years ago. "I love listening to classical music. It's very relaxing. And with the singers, it's very inspirational because it's a true voice; it's not mixed with a sound sys tem. It's what true singing is about," he explains, adding that he is also try ing to perfect his piano playing so he can accompany himself when he's singing. "I think it's a very important skill. And I admire many friends who can do that." When he sings classical music, he says he is currently a tenor but that could change as he ages and his voice matures. "Some days I'm a tenor; some days I'm a baritone, it seems," he says with a laugh. "I 'm an aspiring tenor, I guess." He's also an aspiring choral con ductor, although he is realizing that dream to some extent as director of The Entertainers. "Experience is the key to everything...The more experience I get with these guys, the better they' ll become, because I' Rgrow more. So they can grow more." How does he find the time to direct the cho rus, sing and attend competitions with two bar bershop quartets, attend university and do home work, and perfect his piano and classical voice skills? `Tim e management is the key," he quips, not ing that he seems to thrive on stress. "Luckily I'm doing what I love at university. So it's not always work. Sometimes you find it's a pleasure. I'm always busy though. But I love getting involved and working hard." His continued commitment to The Entertain ers is part of that work ethic, along with his expressed desire to have amateur singers sound their best. In his direction of the chorus, he says, he aims to attain the sounds and qualities that he wants to hear in any choral group and to establish an emotional connection between the song and the singers that will be transferred to the audi ence. "I guess my goal as a director is to create a riveting perform ance," he says. "I always thought my music teachers were crazy when they said, `These composers and directors will just lis ten to the music in their heads and they can see it and hear how it's supposed to be.' And the last couple of years, I've been doing that...Experi ence is the key to every thing... The more experi ence I get with these guys, the better they'll become, because I'll grow more. So they can grow more." Earning a master's degree in choral conduct ing is an option for this young man's future, he says, adding that a career in singing or teaching music are also on the list of career possibilities. And if music teacher is in his future, he says he would like to become the first vocal teacher for barbershop singers. "There are no teachers out there who can teach singers to sing barbershop better. They can teach jazz or classical or pop, but not barbershop. It's an aspect that no one has touched, and maybe I can do something with that," he says. "I don't know where life is going to lead me. Right now I'm just going to have fun and save some of those heavier decisions for later." Fairy lore steeped in Newfoundland tradition (Continued from page C1) rr~ Cross Ave. 125 Cross Ave. (across from the GO Station) I Speers Rtf. Program s Start O ctober 9th The Centre's pre-apprenticeship programs provide short-term, comprehensive training that allows you to start a new career in less than a year. Industrial Electrician Industrial Mechanic Precision Machining and Tooling 9 0 5 -3 3 3 -3 4 9 9 /8 7 8 -1 2 4 0 www.thecentre.on.ca Limited Seats Available j Q The C entre Skills Development & Training U young Canadian readers that brought magic into their own, familiar surroundings." And, she adds, Newfoundland was the per fect place, given that the Irish heritage of many of its residents lends itself to fairy lore and legends that came over with the Irish set tlers. In fact, Baird learned that, when her moth er was a young girl, rural Newfoundlanders still believed in those legends, warning chil dren to avoid being captured by the fairies by not wearing green or by putting bread in their pockets or wearing their coats inside out. "These marvelous old traditions still sur vived," she says, adding that she then knew that she was going to weave her story from Newfoundland's rich tapestry of Irish fairylore and coastal beauty. "In the Celtic tradi tion, fairyland isn't a faraway place that you can get to. It's all around you. It co-exists with our world. You can turn a comer and suddenly there you are, in fairyland." Many coincidences were also woven into The Wolves o f Woden. For instance, Odin, who is the chief god in Norse mythology god of war, wisdom and poetry, was associat ed with the Anglo-Saxon god Wodan. In the book, Jean is told by a Druid in fairyland that the Northmen "revere and serve" Odin. "But to us he is Woden, the Gal lows Lord, bringer of war and death. He leads "Fantasy does offer an escape, but it confronts a lot of issues as weft. I think fantasy is like a dream... it' s all very strange, surreal, disjointed and fantastical, but a lot ofour anxieties show up in our dreams, and we confront them in our dreams. " the Wild Hunt through the sky, seeking whom he can destroy..." The Norsemen/Vikings (Northmen) were known to have landed in Newfoundland. Adolf, which means "noble wolf," is not only an allusion to the Second World War but a character known as Jarl Ulf in the novel's fairy world. And, says Baird, German submarines were referred to as wolf packs. "This part of the story just wrote itself," she says. "So the two parallel worlds also have parallel imagery. It all began to tie together in a very interesting way." Her research also included the food rationing in Newfoundland during the war as well as the clothing and cars of the day and the songs. She says, when she wrote the book, she wanted Canadian youth to be able to understand what it was like to live in a world in which people their ages lived with fear every day. Now, in light of the U.S. disaster, she's not so sure that's an issue. "Fantasy does offer an escape, but it con fronts a lot of issues as well," she explains. "I think a fantasy is like a dream ...it's all very strange, surreal, disjointed and fantastical, but a lot of our anxieties show up in our dreams, and we confront them in our dreams." The Wolves o f Woden is available at Book ers Bookstore and Pick of the Crop Toys and Books for $19.99. Baird is currently doing research for her fifth book, which will be the first in a series about a modem teenage witch. "I'm going to have to be very careful that it doesn't turn into Sabrina the Teenage Witch. But I found when I went back to the original folklore and witchcraft lore, these are lots of things that people haven't used," she says. `T here are also some very uncanny par allels with traditional shamanism.. .totem ani m als...the trance...the dream vision...that you find in every culture all over the world. So I want to tie in all these different cultures and try to make a universal theme." And, she adds, since books set in Canada are not widely accepted in the U.S. and Britain, the new series will probably take place in a more generic location, "based loosely on Oakville." A message from The War Amps "Safety is no accident, so PLAYSAFE!" For more information, call: CDinPkJCEfiTPiE 25* knmasnySALE! Lexmark Z42 Colour Inkjet Printer · · · · 2 4 0 0 x 1 2 0 0 dpi resolution Up to 1 0 pages per minute Parallel and USB ports For PC and Mac · Read and write CD-R or C D flW media · 4 MB buffer · E-IDE/ATAPI interface Prices in effect until Sept., 30, 2001 or while quantities last! 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