February was not only Black History Month, but also Black Futures Month; a time to reflect on the past while imagining, planning, and actively shaping what comes next. At Sistema Toronto, this year’s celebration was about creation, collaboration, and empowering young people to see themselves as leaders in Black musical excellence. By connecting students with contemporary mentors and enduring cultural traditions, our program emphasizes that Black history is a living legacy; a continuous thread that honours those who came before by equipping the next generation to carry the torch forward. As part of their learning around Black music and musicians, students at Sistema Toronto – Scarborough have begun participating in a multi-part composition project alongside award-winning composer Aaron Manswell. Funded by SOCAN Foundation, the Toronto Arts Council, and Desjardins, the project will extend beyond February to span the whole term, and will culminate in a community performance alongside the professional musicians of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.
A critical element of our mission at Sistema Toronto is a commitment to offering culturally responsive programming that gives students the chance to connect deeply with music that is familiar to them and reflects their cultural backgrounds and community identities. At Sistema Toronto – Scarborough, where a large percentage of our students identify as Black, Black History Month is especially relevant as a time to celebrate Black culture, musical excellence, and role models. For the 93% of our students at this centre who identify as people of colour, BHM is part of our broader work for all students to see themselves represented in our program, and an opportunity for all students to learn about and understand the cultures and experiences of their peers.
In January, students at our Scarborough location worked with Manswell in a two-part composition workshop designed to centre student voices and creativity. Students worked with Manswell to brainstorm a list of themes that were important to them, including Peace, Bullying, Parents, Safety, Denial, and Pressure. From this list, they voted to select their final theme of Trying before writing lyrics and devising a melody that would become the “hook” of the final piece. The hook, a central part of a composition, is a short musical phrase that catches the listener’s ear, and is often the part of the song that becomes an “ear worm” or gets “stuck in your head” after listening.
With the students’ melody and lyrics in hand, Manswell will now work to develop their composition into a 5-6 minute piece for choral performance. As they work throughout the rest of the term to rehearse for a professional performance of their original piece, the students’ central role in this initiative will help them take ownership of the work and give them a sense of artistic achievement.
Students performing Race Car, a composition by Manswell that emerged after a workshop in 2024
The composition project will resume for students in April and May when they will return to the project and hear the piece that Manswell has developed from their work together. The project will then proceed as a collaboration between Sistema Toronto and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale (NDC); a renowned Canadian choral ensemble specializing in Afrocentric music. The NDC’s mission and vision makes them a powerful partner in supporting student voices and expression: under the leadership of Artistic Director Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, the NDC aims to dismantle stereotypes, foster connection and understanding between communities, and empower all human beings with a focus on those of African descent. Their performances offer not only exceptional music, but also always include an educational component that gives audiences the cultural and historical context to understand the complex roots of its music. For our students, this kind of deep engagement offers an opportunity to see how music works as a vehicle for social change and community building, and reminds them that their voices, experiences, and perspectives are valuable additions to the Canadian musical landscape.
Collaborating with the 21 professional musicians of the NDC, students will rehearse their original composition before premiering it at the NDC’s season-closing concert. In a room filled with friends and family, these young musicians will hear their creative voices amplified on a professional stage, celebrated by their community, and supported by seasoned mentors.
This opportunity holds profound significance for Black and racialized students, who are too often underrepresented in the Western classical canon. At Sistema Toronto, we believe that representation sparks inspiration and fosters the development of self-esteem. By connecting students with mentors and genres that resonate with their lived experiences, we honour our commitment to inclusivity and ensure every student sees themselves not just as a listener, but as a key participant in community building and cultural creation.
Join us at the Nathaniel Dett Chorale's season closing concert and see our students perform their piece!
🗓 Friday, May 29th, 7:30-10pm
📍Grace Church on the Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd, Toronto, ON M4V 1X4
🎟 To purchase tickets, click here
Aaron Manswell is a Toronto-based composer, music producer, conductor, and Doctor of Musical Arts whose work has been premiered and recorded across North America. Working with prestigious ensembles such as the Grand Philharmonic Choir, the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, the San Francisco Symphony, and Choral Arts Initiative, Manswell’s work is celebrated for its emotional weight and nuanced blending of genres. He is the Winner of the 2022 Grand Philharmonic Choir Composition Competition, the runner up for 2023 ACDA Brock Prize for Student Composers, and was named in the Oakwood University “40 Under 40 of 2025” Alumni List. His work with Sistema Toronto has included his composition of a commissioned piece titled Race Car that is now part of our benchmark repertoire for students across the program.
We spoke with Manswell about the project, his process, and the importance of giving young people creative agency and control.
Read the interview:
What is your process for turning student work into the final piece?
I draw much of my music compositional inspiration from the modern popular song structure, so it was intentional for me to show the students the characteristics of a “hook” and how it is created. Many contemporary songwriters will agree that once you’re able to find and attach a killer melody with memorable words it provides a map for the rest of the song, and that’s just what we did together in our writing workshop. Generally, I’ll use these melodic lines and simple harmonic accompaniment to build a number of variations to these ideas and decide which of them fit as an Intro, Verse, Bridge, etc. Once the raw song (melody in one voice with block piano chording) is complete, I’ll then begin to arrange the melody for 4-part SATB harmony and make the piano accompaniment more colourful. I always leave the instrumental arrangement for last because I prefer to build it from elements in the piano accompaniment.
How do you hope the students feel when they hear the finished piece and recognize their contribution within it?
I hope they feel like parents who just gave birth to a newborn. I’m not a parent yet, but I can imagine when a new baby arrives, you want to protect and provide it with the best upbringing simply because you had a hand in making it. The same goes for their musical creation – I hope they’ll want to pay more attention to details in the rehearsals and performances of it, which are the upbringing and development of their own music.
How do you approach honouring the students’ original ideas while transforming the melody into a full composition?
The student’s original ideas were constructed in an organically oral manner. They improvised melodic lines on top of chord progressions they created by selecting random letter names as roots and placing triads on top of them. In this setting, the beauty is in these imperfectly executed, recorded improvisations and I want to transcribe these melodies as is. I’ll still arrange this original material in a way that seems cohesive to a memorable main theme. Constructing counterthemes, variations, and experimenting with the harmonic accompaniment can all aid in transforming the melody into a full composition.
Black History Month often highlights legacy and continuity. How do you see projects like this contributing to the next chapter of Black musical history?
As a black composer, I’m honoured to collaborate with black children to compose music that feels natural to us, using composition techniques that honour the oral traditions of our heritage. Projects like this validate these cultural music creation avenues and have the power to inspire the next generation of black composers.
Are there Black composers, musicians, or traditions that influence how you approach collaborative work like this one?
I began the workshop by showing the students a video of the Underdogs (American R&B/Pop music production team) in a studio songwriting session sitting in a circle freestyling words and melodies above a looped progression of four chords. This oral tradition of bouncing melodic ideas around in a group setting resulted in an organic product that shaped the foundation for my compositional approach. I also grew up heavily on the music of gospel composers like Kirk Franklin, Richard Smallwood, and Donald Lawrence who incorporated collaborative oral composition techniques to craft works for choir ensembles.
Why is it important, especially during Black History Month, to create spaces where young people can see themselves as composers and creators—not just performers?
Black History Month is about equity and empowerment and those themes are echoed when spaces are created to provide young people with tools to tell their own stories. These spaces affirm their creative ideas as the source for musical performance and highlight their opportunity to manufacture art that has the power to affect positive change.
