About the Authors

Alan Gotlib

Alan Gotlib is an elementary school teacher. Educated at the University of Toronto, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree along with a Bachelor of Education degree and a Masters degree in Education in the area of curriculum with an emphasis on teaching the gifted.

He has been teaching at the elementary level for 26 years. Of those years, 20 of them have been spent at Claude Watson School for the Arts in Toronto, where he has taught academic subjects and drama to students from Grades 4 through 7. It was the dearth of musicals to which young children could relate that drove him to create (with the help of friends) five plays to be performed by children for children. Teaching at such a school enabled him to tour his plays to other schools. These plays were constantly revised during the rehearsal period by the wonderful input of the children involved. At the same time, it gave them "ownership" of the play and improved the way in which the messages of the plays were communicated to their student audiences.

Mr. Gotlib believes passionately in the importance and the strong impact of children performing for children.

These original musical plays have dealt with issues such as bullying and racism. They were extremely well-received by hundreds of students from Kindergarten through to Grade Six. Along with these plays, he created study guides for use by teachers both before and after their students viewed the plays.

Having been a victim of bullying as a child, he saw the issue of bullying as an important one for schools to address. As a result, he has written the book and lyrics for "B" is for Bully, his latest play, and has developed a comprehensive guide for teachers about bullying. This resource has been used by teachers across Canada and is beginning to be used more and more by teachers in the United States. This anti-bullying package has recently been translated into French and will soon be available to teachers in French schools and teachers of French Immersion.

More recently, Mr. Gotlib has developed a play with music about prejudice. In Harmony deals with issues of prejudice in a creative way that engages audiences from Kindergarten through to Grade 6. As with “B” is for Bully, he was able to tour the play with his students, creating a timely piece that is easily accessible to elementary school-aged children.

Mr. Gotlib has given workshops in both Canada and the United States for organizations such as the Ontario School Counsellors' Association and the Michigan Education Association to help teachers approach the issue of bullying with their students through the arts. He has seen the power of the arts to help students gain a deeper understanding of important issues in their lives. He looks forward to creating more plays for children to perform for their peers.

Alice Brass

Alice Brass, B.Comm., ARCT, started her music teaching career as a volunteer parent at a public school in Scarborough. Interested in the Orff approach to music, she started teaching the Orff program at Claude Watson School for the Arts in 1982, as well as teaching private piano lessons. In her teaching she encouraged music composition through improvisation and found young children to be adept at this exercise. She has written two practical and popular books on the Orff method of teaching music to children: Orff Day by Day and Orff Explorations.

Ms. Brass wrote the music for "B" is for Bully for children's voices with the realization that they may be moving while they are singing, as in playground chanting music.

Laura Silberberg

Laura Silberberg is currently studying music at the University of Toronto as a composition major. She previously attended Claude Watson School for the Arts and Earl Haig Secondary School as a music major. She also attended the Young Artists Performance Academy of Glenn Gould Professional School at the Royal Conservatory of Music as piano/composition major.

Laura has performed her compositions in numerous venues around Toronto, as well as London, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Boston MA, San Diego CA, San Antonio TX and Tokyo, Japan. She is a six-time winner of the Amadeus Carol and Hanukkah Song Writing Competition. Laura appeared live on CBC Radio on the Here and Now show for three years in which choirs performed her compositions. She also sang a pop balled she composed, improvised on piano and was interviewed by Avril Benoit each year.

Her compositions have been performed by the Gryphon Trio in Ottawa, at the Glenn Gould Studio Theatre sponsored by Soundstreams, and at Walter Hall in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. In September 2003, Maclean’s Magazine honoured Laura as one of 50 up and coming young Canadians.