The 10th Bring Your Thing of 2017, at the Edith Rankin Memorial United Church, gave visitors the chance to experience and interact with music. This event brought together interesting musical objects, traditional dancing by Elder Bernard Nelson and a spontaneous jam session, answering the question “What’s Your Rhythm?”
Murney Tower National Historic Site brought a nineteenth century infantry bugle. This object paired very nicely with a hunting horn shared by Barb Neatby, whose father bought the horn while they were living in Germany. Barb can actually play the hunting horn which came with a book of hunting calls, now she favours to play the French horn. Both horns remind of us that music was used not just for enjoyment, but to communicate. Horns and other instruments were used by the military in battle to signal different movements or that a battle is beginning or ending. The bugle used daily and is most commonly known for announcing an event or the days schedule.
The Frontenac County Schools Museum shared a collection of music readers, which were given to school children. These books were from many different time periods and shows the importance put on music education. One of the manuals was even used to outline how rhythm is useful for athletic education.
Bring Your Thing had the pleasure of hosting Music Mates who shared many unique instruments and how you can experiment with music. My personal favourite was the racquets, which had drum canvass instead of strings. With a small foam ball, two or more people could hit the ball back and forth and make a kick drum noise. From fruit and vegetable shaped noise makers, to musical ping pong, there was something for everyone.
Everyone was treated to Canadian Folk songs by Kingston musician Jon McClurg and a spontaneous Jam session. Jon was accompanied by Tom Kerr, who brought in his 1929 Dobro guitar and was gracious enough to play it.
We were excited to welcome Elder Bernard Nelson to perform for the crowd a traditional dance in his full regalia. Bernard also shared with us his inspiring tale of being a residential school survivor and how he found his true calling at Sun Dance. It was an amazing experience to ask Bernard and his wife questions about the dances and the regalia, listening to their amazing stories about how the different items of Bernard’s regalia were collected.
October, 2017’s Bring Your Thing was an absolute blast, not only did we get to see some objects from our musical past, but we also were able to learn about a different culture.
Bring Your Thing’s next edition was on November 18th at the INVISTA Centre, themed “How Do You Play?”. Check up on facebook and the BYT website www.bringyourthingkingston.ca for more information.
