Kanack Attack

This past February I went to Rochester, NY to
visit my former violin teacher, Alice Kanack. She heads her own music school
there, the Kanack School of Music, which is now about ten years strong. The
reason for my visit was not only to see her and catch up on about twelve years
of time gone by, but also to observe some of her Creative Ability Development
(CAD) classes.

CAD is a method she started when I was just a
wee lass in her studio in the mid-late eighties, focusing on the development of
creativity in young musicians (young meaning beginning at around four years
old). She taught this through a series of group improvisation games and
activities that we would repeat weekly along side our regular individual
lessons.

The idea behind the method of CAD is that a
child will develop their sense and understanding of the musical language more
quickly and deeply when they are given a chance to explore music through the
regular practice of improvisation. In Rochester, I had the honor of sitting
with her while she explained all of the exercises she used to do with me when I
was a kid, and what was the purpose of each.

It was extremely fulfilling to revisit this part
of my musical upbringing. I began to understand and appreciate what she had
given me as an 8-12 year old even more now as an adult musician and educator.
She gave me a love for music and a tool for discovering my own voice.

I’ve started using some of the CAD techniques
with the CMW Music Lab students and so far, they’re catching on well with all
of the exercises and there are some really beautiful things happening in class
every week. We’ll try to bring Alice here next season to do a CAD weekend where
all the students in CMW can benefit from a little musical freedom.

-Jessie Montgomery, PSQ