Sure, em a Singer!: The Empowering Effect of Vocal Portfolios at the Secondary School Level

SARAH MORRISON, Director of Vocal and Choral Music and Curriculum Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Appleby College, holds an Honours Bachelor of Music in Voice from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto, and is an associate of the Conservatory Canada (Performance). She studied choral conducting at the Westminster Conducting Institute in Princeton; operatic studies at the Academie Internationale de Nice, France and the Canford School of Music, England. The recipient of numerous awards, Sarah enjoys a career as a music educator, choral conductor, adjudicator and performer. She has enjoyed leadership roles with the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid as Choral Coordinator, the Toronto International Choral Festival as Education Outreach Program Assistant and the Ontario Place Performing Arts Festival as guest choral adjudicator. She has also appeared as an ensemble member of the Royal Opera Canada Company. This past summer, Sarah presented a choral workshop at the 26th International Society for Music Education Conference in Tenerife, Spain. In November, she attended the international conference “World Music Education Between the 20th and 21st Centuries” held in Moscow, Russia under the patronage of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation where she presented a paper on creative choral techniques. At Appleby, Sarah directs the 80 mixed-voice Chapel Choir as well as the auditioned Cantus Chamber Choir. She is the vocal coach of the VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto and continues to sing professionally with the Canadian Chamber Choir.