Michael Meroniuk wants to keep music programs alive in public school and empowering students to create for themselves.
The Salmon Arm Secondary (SAS) graduate and music teacher at Nootka Elementary School in Vancouver has developed a program to do just that. With The New Sound, his mission is to make sure kids have access to a music education, 鈥減roviding educators with tools and strategies needed to inspire, engage and empower their students.鈥�
鈥淭he New Sound focuses on making music education accessible to all students, emphasizing the ease of learning recording technology for both new and experienced music educators,鈥� reads a description of the program. 鈥淲e aim to empower educators with tools for guiding students in music production, including recording, beat-making and using Digital Audio Workstations. The program offers a hands-on learning experience that simplifies complex concepts for easy understanding and engagement, fostering creativity and confidence in students as they create original music.鈥�
Meroniuk said he鈥檚 working with school districts with the goal of introducing The New Sound in B.C. classrooms.
鈥淲hat I鈥檓 really hoping to do is help build the narrative for keeping music in schools,鈥� said Meroniuk. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the number one important thing for me. Being a music educator, someone who had that when I was younger, I feel very grateful. So I鈥檓 trying to give that back.鈥�
A trained session guitarist and mandolinist, Meroniuk credits his former SAS music teacher Brian Pratt-Johnson as the person who inspired him and his career, and that desire to give back.
鈥淗e was just so accepting and welcoming and he made it a point to give us the space and the trust to be able to just sit and create in school,鈥� said Meroniuk. 鈥淭he room was always open鈥� he always gave up his lunch time. He created an environment where we could create and provided us guidance when we needed it. Obviously he is an amazing musician too so he鈥檚 very inspiring in that he can really practice what he preaches.
鈥淛ust in general he鈥檚 very giving, very talented, also very kind and funny. He made school fun, made it worth going to. I think that means a lot when you鈥檙e a kid鈥� I鈥檓 very much about trying to create the same environment.鈥�
Meroniuk explained The New Sound came about from incorporating technology in his classroom.
鈥淭his led me into this cycle of designing more work for my own class and as I was doing that I started realizing there鈥檚 actually a huge shortage of music teachers around the province and actually the country鈥�,鈥� said Meroniuk. 鈥淚 thought maybe there鈥檚 a way I could make it so other teachers could facilitate a similar class, even if they don鈥檛 have a music background. Two years ago I started building this music tech program that could be facilitated in any school by any type of person with basic computer literacy. My whole goal with this was to allow music to still be taught in schools without a music specialist.鈥�
Meroniuk said computer and media literacy are educational facets of The New Sound. As an example, he noted how through social media people are being continuously exposed to a lot of high-quality content that may appear to be 鈥渞aw鈥� or filmed organically.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 usually not the case 鈥� a lot of the time there is post production that goes into those and then they鈥檙e released,鈥� said Meroniuk. 鈥淪o by learning how audio works and the processes by which it can be edited or manipulated to get a desired effect, they realize鈥� there is a lot of work that goes into it. Often that allows them to not feel like, oh my God, I鈥檓 not amazing right away. There鈥檚 so much technology in editing.鈥�
Meroniuk said The New Sound isn鈥檛 intended to replace existing school music programs, but complement them where they exist and provide an option for where they do not. He suggested the program would work best for Grades 6 to 12.
For more information, visit thenewsound.org.
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