Olga Zaitseva-Herz playing a hurdy-gurdy. Image credit: Gina Loewen
Enjoying the friendly assistance of SSI director Dr. Mary Ingraham, almost thirty grade 5 students from St. Vladimir school in Edmonton were exposed to a presentation of Ukrainian folk songs, dances and traditions. During the lesson they had a chance to see such music instruments like Hurdy-Gurdy and Tsymbaly from the collections of the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives at the Kule Folklore Centre, sing Ukrainian folk songs with piano accompaniment, and learn some specifics of traditional vocal techniques. The children were presented with some Ukrainian dance evergreens, and at the end of the lesson they had an opportunity to perform a newly learned dance dressed in traditional costumes.
November 2018 update: Olga did a second presentation for USchool in November 2018. Together with Donna Dawson they presented to a group of children different kinds of traditional and popular music from different countries, including Ukraine, and performed pieces on Ukulele and electric violin.