Debbie Pushor PhD

Richard is a talented music educator who has worked in core communities in Saskatoon for a large part of his teaching career. He has made amazing social contributions through founding such programs as the Heart of the City Piano Program and through developing his Native American Flute curriculum, the focus of his master’s research. Richard is an educator who is awake and responsive to the personal, social and cultural contexts of his students, their parents and their families. Upon completion of his master’s thesis, Richard began teaching children and parents together how to make and play a Native American flute. Learning alongside Richard during his master’s journey was a wonderful experience.

About Richard Dube
Richard Dubé teaches K-8 music in inner city Saskatoon, SK, Canada. He has studied the Orff approach at the University of Saskatchewan and subsequently received his Masters Certification in Orff Shulwerk from the University of Alberta. Richard has completed his Level III in World Music Drumming with Dr. Will Schmid, his Level I in Drum Circle Facilitation with Arthur Hull, and HealthRhythms training with Dr. Barry Bittman and Music Therapist, Christine Stevens. Richard received his Masters in Curriculum Studies having researched the emotional and spiritual impact learning how to make and play a plastic version of the Native American Flute had on students at an urban Aboriginal high school. In 1995, Richard founded the volunteer based Heart of the City Piano Program that continues to provide piano lessons for over 500 at-risk children in cities across Canada. Richard founded the Circle of Peace in 2000 providing World Music Drumming for at-risk youth. Richard performs with the African drum ensemble Enije led by Ghanian Master Drummer Joseph Ashong. He also leads drum circles and team building sessions through World Music Drumming. In 2006, Richard was awarded the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal recognizing individuals who have made a significant volunteer contribution to their province and is a symbol of the pride and vision of Saskatchewan and its people. Most recently, Richard received the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Association’s Excellence in Aboriginal Initiatives Award for 2007 for his work benefiting First Nations people. Richard is an ardent Music Advocate and works hard to promote quality music education for all Saskatchewan students. He believes that music helps us to connect to our emotions and the spirit within in a way that helps us to ground ourselves spiritually and emotionally, leading to a more balanced and fulfilling life. Richard’s most recent work involves engaging parents and their children together through a full day of making Northern Spirit Flutes at White Buffalo Youth Lodge in Saskatoon.

Richard Dube’s Research or Northern Spirts Flutes or Heart of the City

Richard Dube’s Abstract
This narrative inquiry explores how the “Songs of the Spirit” Native American Flute curriculum, a culturally-responsive curriculum which involves learning to make and play a PVC version of the Native American Flute while learning the cultures and histories of this First Nations instrument, impacted spiritual and emotional aspects of the learning and lives of Aboriginal students, their families, their parents, and their school community. My research took place at an urban Aboriginal high school in Saskatchewan from January to March, 2006. I conducted recorded conversations with three students, two parents, two teachers, two administrators, two Elders, a former principal, a former school caretaker, an artistic director, and the young woman who inspired the Heart of the City Piano Program, a volunteer driven community piano program, in the fall of 1995. Aboriginal individuals, who have too often been silenced in education and in society (Giroux, 1997; Freire, 1989; Fine, 1987; Greene, 1995 & 1998; Grumet, 1999), were provided with a voice in this research.

Because of the voices of my research participants, I chose to use the Medicine Wheel and Tipi Teachings (Lee, 2006; Kind, Irwin, Grauer, & de Cosson, 2005) as a lens (Greene, 1995) rather than situating my research in a traditional Eurocentric body of literature. Along this journey, I reflected inwards and outwards, backwards and forwards on how my past storied experiences (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) shaped my teaching practices and way of being in the world today. To better understand the hurt I observed and which was described by research participants as present in the lived lives and circumstances of many Aboriginal people, I moved backward in time as I reviewed the literature on the Residential School experience and gained a deeper sense of the impact of colonialism on generations of Aboriginal people. This inquiry foregrounded how hearing and playing the Northern Spirit Flute impacted the emotional and spiritual aspects of students’ being, and contributed to a process of healing. When participants heard the music, “it [sounded] so eloquent and so spiritual. It [was] almost like the flute [was] weeping,” (Onawa Gaho, Recorded conversation, March 17, 2006, p. 5) bringing about “a calmness to the anger that some [Aboriginal students] have” (Sakima Qaletaqa, Recorded conversation, March 15, 2006, pp. 25-26).

The research findings indicate that the “Songs of the Spirit” curriculum, in honoring the holistic nature of traditional First Nations cultures and teachings, invites Aboriginal students functioning in “vigilance mode” to attend to their emotional and spiritual needs. They speak to a need for rethinking curricula in culturally-responsive ways, for attending to the importance of the arts in education, and for reforming teacher education. Sound files of the Northern Spirit Flute and selected research conversations have been embedded within the electronic version of this thesis to allow the reader to walk alongside me and share in my research journey.

Continue with Richard Dube’s Thesis

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