On Friday, March 8, Manor School welcomed Canadian musician Suzie Vinnick.
Vinnick grew up in Saskatoon and has been playing the guitar since she was nine-years-old. She now lives in Toronto, though Saskatchewan will always be in her heart, and she was very happy to return to the province. Vinnick is now focused on the blues, but has previously received acknowledgement for her folk-roots albums.
She is extremely talented and has made a name for herself in the Canadian musical community through her singing and song writing.
She not only enjoys performing, but likes to teach and has sang in commercials.
She had originally come to the area in order to perform during the Deep Winter Blues Revival at the Happy Nun, which was held on March 9.
At Manor she performed twice, once for the younger children and once for the older youth in the school.
Vinnick introduced herself and asked if anyone had heard the Tim Horton's jingle, which had been included in the Tim Horton's commercials, "Always fresh. Always Tim Horton's." Almost every single hand shot up and Vinnick explained they had all heard her sing before as this was her voice, though she hadn't written the jingle she was asked to sing it.
The artist then began to explain certain bits about music and perform for the crowd. As Vinnick sang the youth began to clap along to her songs, though not always in time with the beat, she attempted to explain how to keep time with music to the younger group.
She was able to engage the students in her music by getting them to sing along or participate in call and response songs.
Vinnick went over what a blues song typically sounds like through the use of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog." She described the first two lines of the song as being the same with the third line rhyming with the first, while the rhythm is usually known as a 12 bars blues. The song therefore utilizes 12 bars and simply repeats throughout the song.
She played a variety of songs both ones she wrote and ones she has learnt, which were performed by other artists.
During her time with the classes she answered as many questions as she could and introduced her beloved parlour guitar, which she named Mable to the class.
Many youth explained they were taking music lessons and some admitted they have attempted to write songs. To this Vinnick was very encouraging and told the youth to keep music in their lives.
"Music brings us together," Vinnick explained.
The youth were very happy to have had the opportunity to listen and learn from the Canadian musician whose roots will forever be in touch with the province of Saskatchewan.
