Presenter Biographies
Marlene Hinz
Marlene Hinz has recently retired from a career teaching music, dance and drama to elementary children for over thirty years. After training at the University of Saskatchewan, where she received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education with a Major in Piano and Minor in Voice and Flute, she continued her studies at the University of Alberta in Orff Schulwerk and served on the National Board for eight years. She also taught part-time as a sessional instructor at the University of Regina. Marlene has received a number of awards for her teaching from the Saskatchewan Orff Chapter, Saskatchewan Music Educators Association and Regina Public Schools. In November 2019, she was a featured international presenter at the American Orff Schulwerk Associations National conference as well as the Saskatchewan Music Conference. She is currently doing contract work for the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s Education program as well as occasional Sessional work as a Faculty Advisor at the University of Regina.
Drumming has always been a passion of hers and she has continued to take workshops and courses throughout her career. In 2003, she founded the world drumming group UMOJA: One Heart - One Beat at Jack MacKenzie School. Over 172 students have participated in the program. In 2018, she founded the Youth Drumming Collective. A drumming group for young people based out of Boomtown Drums.
Marlene also has extensive background in performance. Currently she is playing in an acoustic cover band that performs regularly in Regina. She has also participated in several choirs including the Prairie Chamber Choir, University Chamber Singers, Philharmonic Chorus, Greystone Singers from the U of S. Currently she plays and sings on a weekly basis in Joyful Noise which is a Praise and Worship group based out of her church. She also accompanies Cantate, a community youth choir based in Regina.
Drumming has always been a passion of hers and she has continued to take workshops and courses throughout her career. In 2003, she founded the world drumming group UMOJA: One Heart - One Beat at Jack MacKenzie School. Over 172 students have participated in the program. In 2018, she founded the Youth Drumming Collective. A drumming group for young people based out of Boomtown Drums.
Marlene also has extensive background in performance. Currently she is playing in an acoustic cover band that performs regularly in Regina. She has also participated in several choirs including the Prairie Chamber Choir, University Chamber Singers, Philharmonic Chorus, Greystone Singers from the U of S. Currently she plays and sings on a weekly basis in Joyful Noise which is a Praise and Worship group based out of her church. She also accompanies Cantate, a community youth choir based in Regina.
Jessica McMann
Jessica McMann is an Alberta -based Cree (Cowessess, SK), multi-disciplinary artist. She interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, and language throughout her dance and music creation/performance practice. A classically trained flutist, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her work fuses together traditional language and dance with her own contemporary experiences as an Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit person.
Partaking in an artist-in-residence program at the Banff Centre (2019) resulted in the Indigenous-Classical album Incandescent Tales which was released in June of 2021. This album was recorded in collaboration with pianist Beverly McKiver and violinist Karen Shepherd, and produced by Laura Vinson, all Indigenous women. She is currently working on her second album slated to be released mid-2023.
Her musical, composition, and soundscape work focuses on land-based creation and ideas of connection, disconnection, and home."Too Good; That MAY Be", an immersive soundscape performance was shown at the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg as part of "The 60's Scoop; A Place Between" in 2017. Her compositions include Muskwa's Mountain Home (2021), Inni (2018) and soundscapes including beguiling (the)the land (2020).
Jessica has played and performed venues and festivals across Canada, as well as toured in Sweden, Netherlands, and Belgium. She has created soundtracks for the ITWE Collective, performed with the Ambrose University Chamber Orchestra and the Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra in Alberta, and was a guest musician for Arcade Fire at the JUNOs. She has performed regularly with Laura Vinson and the Free Spirit as a dancer and musician.
Jessica currently resides in Cochrane, Alberta, where she works for the City of Calgary as Curator of Indigenous Art. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company and is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards (2017).
Partaking in an artist-in-residence program at the Banff Centre (2019) resulted in the Indigenous-Classical album Incandescent Tales which was released in June of 2021. This album was recorded in collaboration with pianist Beverly McKiver and violinist Karen Shepherd, and produced by Laura Vinson, all Indigenous women. She is currently working on her second album slated to be released mid-2023.
Her musical, composition, and soundscape work focuses on land-based creation and ideas of connection, disconnection, and home."Too Good; That MAY Be", an immersive soundscape performance was shown at the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg as part of "The 60's Scoop; A Place Between" in 2017. Her compositions include Muskwa's Mountain Home (2021), Inni (2018) and soundscapes including beguiling (the)the land (2020).
Jessica has played and performed venues and festivals across Canada, as well as toured in Sweden, Netherlands, and Belgium. She has created soundtracks for the ITWE Collective, performed with the Ambrose University Chamber Orchestra and the Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra in Alberta, and was a guest musician for Arcade Fire at the JUNOs. She has performed regularly with Laura Vinson and the Free Spirit as a dancer and musician.
Jessica currently resides in Cochrane, Alberta, where she works for the City of Calgary as Curator of Indigenous Art. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company and is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards (2017).
Charissa Duncanson
Charissa Duncanson (kuh- rih-suh dung-kin-sen) has taught general music for grades ranging from K-8th in the Metro Detroit Area since 2014. As a sought out clinician for music education, she has presented locally and internationally. Charissa has served on multiple boards for music education associations including MMEA Michigan local affiliate of Nafme, Detroit Orff Schulwerk Association, and the American Orff Schulwerk Association. Charissa and her husband are enjoying being new parents to their sweet baby that arrived at the end of summer 2021.
About Workshops
Calgary Orff Chapter hosts three workshops annually, in September, January, and March. These held in-person at Altadore School, and run from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm. For details on how to register for these upcoming workshops, please see the Workshop Registration page.
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