UUTENA TORONTOSSA?
Mitä kaupungin perinteinen suomalaiskenttä voi tarjota tulokkaalle?

A brand called Finland

Finland is part of the brand for pianist Heidi Saario and singer Cindy Koistinen. For them, Finnishness is a power chord in a world of cacophony.

In Canada practically anyone can teach how to play the piano. Unlike in Finland, we don’t have a music school system that would guarantee the qualification of the teachers.

So says Heidi Saario who is sitting in the comfort of her own living room as she takes a quick glance at a Yamaha grand piano that is located at a bay window. Saario, a member of Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association, has been giving lessons to the kids of her neighbourhood since 2005.

According to Saario, music teachers in Canada are a colourful bunch. Some have studied their own instrument and pedagogy for years.

Some have learned to play the basics in dozens of instruments. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a triangle? You bet!

In Finland, teaching of different instruments is the responsibility of so called music schools that began to envision a national music education system in the late 1950s. In the beginning of 1969 Finnish music schools (and the higher level conservatories) managed to unite their efforts and succeeded in passing a law that guaranteed them annual subsidies from the government.

This process stabilized the funding of the music schools and standardized a wide range of different education systems. At the same time it created commonly shared criteria for the music teachers in Finland. Because of that, young Finns studying at the music schools and conservatories could rely that their teachers are up to their task.

The Canadian music education system - or more accurately the lack of it - can be a quite a shock to a music teacher coming from Finland.
Saario, who began to play piano at the age of four, is used to the absence of centralized music education system. She moved to Toronto in 2002 and started studying with Leslie Kinton at Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

– I’m used to this system so it doesn’t really bother me, says Saario, who finished her Master’s Degree in Toronto.

All music struggles to exist

Next to Saario sits opera singer Cindy Koistinen who just recently moved from Vancouver to Toronto. Originally from Edmonton, Koistinen studied music at the University of British Columbia. After completing her Master’s Degree she has performed in several opera productions across the Canada.

However, moving to Toronto has meant changes in her life. Now Koistinen concentrates on giving singing lessons and networking in the music scene in Toronto.

– Compared to Edmonton or Vancouver, culture has much bigger role in Toronto, Koistinen says.

Being a musician is not a cakewalk in Toronto either, though. Classical music and opera have to struggle for their existence. The support from the government of Canada is modest. More so, it is divided in a way that does not always please Koistinen.

Canada Council for the Art, for one, gives its grants mostly to the established artists.

– What’s the point in that? Koistinen asks.

Earning a living from art music is hindered also by the sheer size of Toronto. There are plenty of concerts for every single night.

– Only a handful of them are usually sold out, Saario says and sighs.

Yet neither Saario nor Koistinen is pessimistic about the future. Many things are actually better now.

– Toronto Symphony Orchestra, for example, draws much bigger audiences now than five years ago, Saario says.

Perhaps part of its renaissance can be attributed to the relaxed repertoire, which has included easily approachable concert series like Light Classics or Casual Concerts. Both Saario and Koistinen find it only healthy that symphony orchestras and operas try to make their shows easier for the public to approach.

– For some reason classical music and opera have this aura of seriousness, Koistinen says.

– Attending an opera or a classical concert shouldn’t be so hard.

Debut concert is approaching

Saario and Koistinen perform together for the first time on November 30 at the Granite Club in Toronto. Their debut concert will take place at the Independence Gala of 90-year-old Finland that is organized by the Canadian Friends of Finland Education Foundation and the Canada-Finland Chamber of Commerce.

The collaboration of the two began when Koistinen was searching the Internet for a partner, who would be interested in Finnish art music.

– There aren't too many people that are interested in that. The market for Finnish art music is limited, Koistinen reminds.

Koistinen and Saario are very much into Finnish art music. Saario has even recorded an album of piano compositions by Jean Sibelius that is due to be released later on this year.

Saario and Koistinen find Finnish art music to be somewhat melancholic.

– We really had hard time trying to find Finnish upbeat songs. Most of the lyrics deal with sorrow, death or lost love, Saario laughs.

Koistinen reminds that more uplifting lyrics and melodies can be found from Finnish folk songs. Some studies on Finnish music have suggested that the melancholic mood of Finnish art music might have been a result of the Finnish nationalism. Minor chords offered an easy way for Finnish composers to distance their music from the uplifting Swedish melodies.

In a way, Finnishness is part of the brand for Saario and Koistinen.

Finnishness is an angle that their audience can use to approach the world of art music.

– Because I am a Finn, people often expect me to play the works from Finnish composers, Saario says.

Koistinen tells that by singing Finnish art music she has discovered new sides of her cultural heritage.

– I think I’ve learned a lot about sisu, Koistinen laughs.

Aleksi Moisio