A Strata Vocal Ensemble performance (above): The vocal ensemble course that Laurel took as a Lakehead University student led to a lifelong love of choral music. "There's a powerful and indescribable feeling that comes from people singing the same thing at the same moment—a synergy. The communication between the conductor and an ensemble can be very subtle," Laurel adds. "You can lift your eyebrow, and the ensemble will know what to do."

As a teenager, music educator and conductor Dr. Laurel Forshaw (HBMus'98) spent many of her lunch and after-school hours hanging out in the music room of her Thunder Bay high school. Since Laurel was a member of the school band and an accomplished flutist and pianist, this wasn't surprising—but there was another reason she spent so much time cloistered in the music room.

"It was an escape from the bullying and politics of high school," Laurel says. "The music room was a safe space."

Music became even more deeply enmeshed with Laurel's identity when she began teaching piano at the age of 14. "That's how I discovered that I loved connecting with students—it made me want to become a high school band teacher and recreate that wonderful safe space for other kids," she explains.

This realization led Laurel to enrol in Lakehead University's music program, which was transformational for her. "The broad focus of the program introduced me to areas I wouldn't otherwise have experienced," she says. In particular, the conducting and vocal ensemble courses taught by Allan Bevan were life-changing. "Allan was very demanding as a conductor, but in a quiet determined manner, and as soon as I stepped in front of an ensemble, I thought, 'Oh, this is what I want to do.'

There's an old-school approach to conducting that exalts the conductor as an all-knowing, detached, and domineering figure," Laurel continues, "but I conceptualize the role of conductor as one that is highly collaborative. I want to respond to and work with the sounds created by musicians rather than reacting to 'correct' their sounds."

“I’ll always advocate for music to be part of the curriculum for elementary and high school students,” Laurel says, “because music allows you to express yourself and hold meaning in unique ways.” In 1998, when Laurel graduated from Lakehead, the lure of conducting and the lack of teaching jobs prompted her to pursue a music career outside the school system.

Her first conducting position was with a local church choir while she was still a Lakehead student. Conducting positions with other groups followed, including Thunder Bay's Dulcisono Women's Choir and, most recently, the Strata Vocal Ensemble in Hamilton, Ontario. Laurel also worked with young people when she served as the artistic director and conductor of Thunder Bay's Rafiki Youth Choir (which she founded) and the Thunder Bay Children's Chorus - Camerata Singers in addition to the private music lessons she offered.

As the years passed, a growing desire to strengthen her knowledge of music education within choral spaces and her skills as a choral conductor spurred Laurel to return to school. In 2011, she completed a Master of Arts in Music Education (Choral Conducting) at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and, in 2021, she earned a PhD in Music Education from the University of Toronto. "I was getting tired of teaching private music lessons," she says, "and grad school opens your mind in ways that you can't anticipate." Her graduate studies became a springboard to advance her interest in bringing Indigenous ways of learning and knowing into university music programs and music education more broadly.

"Until a short time ago, Indigenous music and musical practices have been excluded from choral singing practices and music education in Canada," Laurel says. "I felt compelled to be part of breaking down this exclusionary framework, starting with the ongoing work of decolonizing myself, recognizing my responsibilities and obligations as a white settler, and engaging with Indigenous musicians and the principles of respect, responsibility, relationship, and reciprocity."

Laurel has now returned to Lakehead's Department of Music to teach conducting as well as the Intro to Music Education and Reconciliation course.

"This course uses the TRC's Calls to Action as a framework for addressing reconciliation through music and music education, weaving Indigenous ways of learning and being with music education practices. It is so rewarding to witness students considering ways in which their own pedagogical practices can serve as sites of reconciliation."

Want to expand your musical horizons?

Check Out a Few of Laurel's Favourite Pieces:

"North" by Ryan O'Neal, arranged by G. Chung
Performed by the Vancouver Youth Choir (Carrie Tennant, conductor)

"Okâwîmâw Askiy" by Sherryl Sewepegaham
Performed by Luminous Voices (Timothy Shantz, conductor)

"Ambe" by Andrew Balfour, based on an original song by Cory Campbell
Performed by the Chronos Vocal Ensemble (Jordan Van Biert, conductor)

"Õhtul" by Pärt Uusberg
Performed the Vancouver Youth Choir (Carrie Tennant, conductor)

"Both Sides Now" Joni Mitchell, arranged by M. Wright
Performed by the Barnsley Youth Choir (Matt Wright, conductor)

"Only in Sleep" by Ēriks Ešenvalds
Performed by the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge

"Indodana" arranged by M. Barrett & R. Schmitt
Performed by Tuks Camerata (University of Pretoria) (Michael Barrett, conductor)