Singer to perform, host workshop

After performing in Jasper’s Canada Day celebrations last year, singer/songwriter Sheena Grobb said she’s looking forward to returning to town.

“Jasper was a highlight, a beautiful way to start off the tour,” she said. “The community is so welcoming and unique, it must be the beautiful nature, the atmosphere, the mountains, it’s something in the air for sure.”

This year, the Winnipeg native will not only play an evening show, but will also host a children’s songwriting workshop. Her interest in teaching stems from her studies in education as well as her own childhood experience.

When she was just 10 years old, Grobb wrote her first song after her grandmother passed away.

“It was very unexpected, very sad, and I needed an outlet,” she said. “I needed to get across what I was feeling.”

Now, 14 years later, she stops in at schools at every chance to teach children how to speak out through song.

“Kids are always looking for ways to express themselves,” she said. “Maybe they just need a more specfic way to release that energy.”

Typically, Grobb said she helps children choose a tune and a rhythm they like, and see where they take it from there. “It’s really interesting what kids come up with,” she said.

Though Grobb formally studied to be a chemistry teacher, her education was more of a back-up plan than a career goal.

“I recognized there was value in finishing something,” she said. “But at the same time I wasn’t willing to put my music on hold.”

As for her evening show, it will be an intimate set at the Jasper Artists Guild Gallery at the old firehall, which appeals to Grobb.

“I like interacting with the crowd and telling them a little bit about myself,” she said. “Many of my songs make a lot more sense when people hear where they come from.”

Grobb has said her favourite song to perform changes based on her emotional state.

“I feel very alive right now, very free, I know I’m meant to be on the road,” she said. “With the new environments and new people I’m meeting, I’m just feeling really inspired to tap into some new energies.

“There are always bumps along the road, but there’s also always a story there to be told.”

Grobb’s evening set at the firehall is on June 27 at 8 p.m. and is presented by the Jasper Heritage Folk Festival Society.

Her songwriting workshops will be the same day in the Jasper Community Outreach Camp Caledonia headquarters, behind the Aquatic Centre, from 9 a.m.–12 p.m. for children aged six to eight and from 1:30–4:30 p.m. for aged nine to twelve.