Keith Warren Bissell (12 February 1912 in Meaford, Ontario – 9 May 1992 in Newmarket, Ontario) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. He was particularly known for his choral music, which often implemented elements of Canadian folk music. A passionate educator, he was a pupil of Carl Orff and was influential in popularizing the

Orff Schulwerk The Orff Schulwerk, or simply the Orff Approach, is a developmental approach used in music education. It combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to a child's world of play. It was developed by the German compose ...

methodology within North America. From 1957 to 1958 he was President of the

Ontario Music Educators' Association Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Cana ...

. He was conductor and Artistic Director of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 1970–1971. He also was vice-president of the Canadian Music Council for several years and president of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

from 1975-1977.Keith Bissell
at Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, by Margaret Drynan, accessed August 30, 2019 Bissell began his career as a public school teacher in Toronto from 1934-1948. During this time he began his professional music studies at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

where he earned a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

in 1942. He was particularly influenced by his professor in

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

, Leo Smith. In 1948 Bissell was appointed the assistant supervisor of the music program for the Edmonton school district. After just one year he was made supervisor of the program, serving in that capacity for seven years. In 1952 he founded the Edmonton Junior Symphony Orchestra. He also worked as the

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

/choirmaster for Christ Church in Edmonton. Bissell left Edmonton in 1955 to become supervisor of the music program for the Scarborough school district, a position he held into the 1970s. In 1956 he founded the Scarborough Teachers' Chorus, which he conducted up through 1970. In 1960 he went on a sabbatical to study music education methods with

Gunild Keetman The German educator Gunild Keetman (5 June 1904, Elberfeld – 14 December 1990, Breitbrunn) was the primary originator of the approach to teaching music known as Orff Schulwerk. Keetman was responsible for most of the actual teaching that was done ...

and Carl Orff in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. After these studies he implemented the

methodology within the Scarborough school system, using his own compositions and Canadian folk music to help translate the German methodology into an English language context. His success in this area led to his invitation to lecture on the Orff Schulwerk method at many universities and music conservatories throughout North America. From 1960 to 1973, he led the Scarborough Orff Ensemble. Bissell was a lifelong exponent of Canadian music. In 1963 he and

John Adaskin John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

organized the first Canadian composers symposium in music education in Toronto. In 1976 a trust fund was established in his name that annually commissions a choral work to be written for school use by a Canadian composer. He was an associate of the Canadian Music Center and was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bissell, Keith 1912 births 1992 deaths Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Canadian music educators People from Grey County University of Toronto alumni 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians