Keith Warren Bissell (12 February 1912 in

Meaford, Ontario Meaford is a municipality in Grey County, Ontario, Canada located on Nottawasaga Bay, a sub-basin of Georgian Bay and Owen Sound Bay. The municipality's seal and motto reflect its heritage as a place of apple orchards, but in the 21st century ...

– 9 May 1992 in

Newmarket, Ontario Newmarket (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 87,942) is a town and regional seat of the Regional Municipality of York in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is part of Greater Toronto Area, Greater Toron ...

) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 def ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

, 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 origina ...

. He was particularly known for his

choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

, which often implemented elements of Canadian folk music. A passionate educator, he was a pupil of

Carl Orff Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

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 Germany, Germa ...

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

Ontario Music Educators' Association Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He was conductor and artistic director of the

National Youth Orchestra of Canada The National Youth Orchestra of Canada (NYO Canada, or NYOC, ) is a Canadian youth orchestra headquartered in Toronto. The orchestra has given concert tours in every major Canadian city as well as trips to other countries, including the United Sta ...

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 to 1977.Keith Bissell
at

Encyclopedia of Music in Canada ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

, by Margaret Drynan, accessed 30 August 2019 Bissell began his career as a public school teacher in Toronto from 1934 to 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 university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

where he earned a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

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 ...

, 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 is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. 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 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 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 ...

and was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bissell, Keith 1912 births 1992 deaths Canadian male composers Canadian 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