A Children and Parents’ Choir in a Francophone Minority Setting: Singing and Belonging

Authors

  • Josée Benoit University of Ottawa,

Abstract

This presentation highlights the sociocultural impact of a children and parents choir in a French language elementary school in Eastern Ontario. Members of the francophone community in Ontario are regularly exposed to the majority Anglophone culture through the media and various social activities and they have less opportunity to relate to the French culture. The French language school then becomes an essential institution for the preservation of its language and culture. Also, the role of the community is fundamental in promoting the French culture and ensuring its ethnolinguistic vitality. As such, cultural activities play an important role in the identity development and sense of belonging of French speaking Ontarians. More specifically, studies have put forward the impact of the arts on children’s personal growth as well as on the development of their sense of belonging to the francophone community (Chagnon-Lampron & Haentjens, 2004). In this perspective, the children and parents choir brings together members of the francophone community in which children and parents alike can develop their musical abilities while gaining an awareness of the music of their culture and other cultures. As children are invited to participate in this activity with their parents, they are given the opportunity to experience choral singing, which they might not do in other circumstances. The children and parents choir in the francophone minority setting not only benefits a time for family and social gathering, it also incites the development of a sense of self through singing and musical activities.

Author Biography

Josée Benoit, University of Ottawa,

JOSÉE BENOÎT is currently undertaking doctoral studies at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. She holds a BMus, a BEd and a MEd from the University of Ottawa. Her Masters thesis focused on adolescents’ motivation to enroll in a specialized music program in a French language secondary school in Eastern Ontario. Her research interests primarily focus on adolescents and music education, more specifically in a French-minority setting in Canada. She has given talks at a variety of conferences, such as the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, the annual conference of the Ontario Music Education Association, the Journées francophones de la recherche en éducation musicale, and the Conférence internationale sur la recherche en éducation en milieu minoritaire de langue française. Having taken piano lessons since the age of seven and having sung with her church choir as well as with the University of Ottawa choir, music has always been an important part of her life. Josée has taught piano privately and has also taught music at the secondary level. She currently conducts a children and parents choir in a French language elementary school in Ottawa.

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Published

2013-10-29