Pearle Christian

Pearle Christian (born 20 March 1955), affectionately known as "Aunty Pearle", is a Dominican music educator, composer, choral music director, and cultural worker, who has been called "one of Dominica's greatest daughters". Much of her work has been devoted to exploring the use of Caribbean folk culture as a source for creative expression. She was the third child in a family of four girls. At the age of seven, she began learning to play the piano, tutored at the Christian Musical Class by her uncle L. M. Christian, and later studying with Rosemary Cools-Lartigue.

Career After graduating from the Jamaica School of Music in Kingston, Christian was invited to join the staff there, working as a teacher and Junior Choir director (1980–81), before returning to Dominica.

Particularly involved with choral music over the years, she was the founding member and manager of the National Chorale for two decades, singing with the Dominica Folk Singers, as well as with her church choir, the St Alphonsus Folk Choir, since her teens. She is also a flute teacher, director of the Junior Choir at Kairi School of Music, Roseau, and the director of the acclaimed Sixth Form Sisserou Singers, which was established in 1994 as a collaborative project between the Division of Culture and the then Sixth Form College.

Christian has composed and staged several children's musicals, and has trained scores of students at the Kairi School of Music, where for 17 years she was a principal tutor.

In 2001, she earned a master's degree in Music Education (General Music) from the University of Texas in San Marcos, Texas.

Selected works Children's musicals 1988: Ananse and Fire 1989: Song of the Sisserou (written in collaboration with Louis Bertrand) 1990: Ananse and the Pusher (written in collaboration with Louis Bertrand) 1991: Ananse and the Mirrors (written in collaboration with Louis Bertrand) 1992: Maruka (written in collaboration with Louis Bertrand) 1994: Mama Ella (written in collaboration with Louis Bertrand)

Children's mini-musicals 2008: Befriending Ma Ziggily 2010: Ma Flora, Golden Keeper of the Savannah 2012: Mangolia the Mango Tree

Publications Caribbean Adventure, co-authored with Michael Burnett (a collection of Caribbean folk songs arranged for classroom ensemble), 1982. Reggae Schooldays (a collection of original reggae songs for classroom ensemble), EMI Music Publishing, 1982. . Sound Pack Vol. 4 — Four Caribbean Pop Songs arranged for Classroom Instruments, 1984.

Awards 1987: Certificate of Commendation (for work in music education), Music Lovers Government Band, Dominica 2008: Recognition for Outstanding Work in Arts and Culture, Dominica Academy of Arts and Science 2008: Meritorious Service Award (in field of culture), Government of Dominica, Roseau, Dominica 2010: LIME Creole Lifetime Achievement Award for service in the field of Cultural Development, LIME (Dominica Ltd) 2016: Golden Drum Award, for Excellence in Music Education and Promotion of Choral Music 2017: ADNExUS Legends Award from the Association of Dominicans in the Northeast USA