Former music teacher's collection to play on
An early Christmas gift of more than 80 musical instruments will be donated to a Saskatchewan non-profit from the estate of a beloved local music teacher.
Everett Larson taught music throughout Saskatchewan for more than 60 years.
He was best known for his fiddle playing, but was also well-versed in instruments like the accordion, guitar, and clarinet.
When he died in 2019 at the age of 93, he left an impressive musical legacy behind, which included dozens of musical instruments gathered throughout his lifetime.
One of Larson's daughters, Susan Miazga, reached out to Eliza Doyle, who recently started a non-profit organization called the Community Arts Mentorship Program (CAMP), dedicated to bringing the arts to far-flung communities throughout Saskatchewan. She offered the collection of instruments to the organization.
“I think all we're hoping for here is that she's going to be able to make use of them,” Miazga said.
“They're not brand new instruments ... but they're still usable. There's still life left in them.”
For Doyle, it was a pleasant surprise that will let her do much more with her new organization.
“It really catapults the non-profit into action,” she said.
“It legitimizes what we're doing, to know that Susan and her family have the confidence in me to pass on these instruments, pass on this leg
acy to other people.”
Doyle's music career has led her to play as a solo artist and in various groups, producing albums and touring across Europe and North America.
Early in 2019, she began working in the small community of Stanley Mission teaching music, thanks to a grant from the Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange Society.
“Pretty much every community in Saskatchewan has pockets of musicians. Whether they're active or not, they're there. They have a rich musical history,” she said. “CAMP ... tries to draw that out of the community.”
Doyle never met Larson, but Miazga said he'd probably see a lot of himself in the fellow travelling music teacher.
When Larson was starting out as a music teacher on the “teaching circuit,” he would travel through Indian Head, Balcarres, Yorkton, Canora and Kamsack, sometimes teaching up to 400 students in a single week.
For his work over the years, Larson received numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the John Arcand Fiddle Fest and a Saskatoon Preschool Foundation Educator of Distinction Award.
To give these instruments to someone who continues sharing music across the province seemed like the right decision, Miazga said.
“It honours our dad and all he accomplished. He thought it was the best thing, when a person learned how to play an instrument.”