RESEARCH

NW Coast Kwakwaka’wakw Music

Editorial assistant for Dr. Ida Halpern

Prepared liner notes

Transcribed select music examples

Conducted literature search on specific topics

Consulted with Bill Holm and Kwakwaka’wakw authorities (William Wasden Jr, Tony Hunt)

Observed Tsequa and Tlasila ceremonies at a Potlatch in Alert Bay

English morris dance

Participant observer with the Vancouver Morris Men
The VMM are one of only two teams from outside England to be accepted into the membership of the English Ring Association of Morris Dancers.

Engaged in field trips as a member of the VMM during their tours in England

Observed the process of aural transmission in the context of traditional folk dance

Recorded the dynamics of musician-dancer interaction in my role as a musician

Conducted ethnographic interviews with male and female members of the Vancouver and English communities of morris dancers

Tested theories of reception and re-enactment in my role as public liaison

Triangulated performance strategies with the VMM and the Romanian Calusari Dancers of Regina during a unique joint venture in Vancouver, re-enacting Whitsuntide customs common to both traditions

Mapped the common practice of spontaneous group singing in pub sessions

Initiated discussions / actively participated on an international listserv

English traditional instrumental folk music

Researched and engaged in the process of spontaneous, amateur music-making sessions

Studied aural transmission among musicians who only play music by ear

Observed various scenarios relevant to reception theories in folk music performance

English and continental mummers music-dramas

Conducted interviews with authorities such as Ron Shuttleworth of England

Tested theories of performativity by re-enacting context-sensitive performances

Initiated discussions / actively participated on an international listserv

Examined multiple texts as derivatives and hybrids

Timbral Brigades of the Salvation Army

Conducted interviews with authority figures in Toronto, California, and Australia

Observed timbral performances at the North Toronto Salvation Army Community Church

Interviewed performers in Toronto, Vancouver, and Saskatoon

Contrasted gender roles in performance and religious contexts

May Day celebrations in New Westminster

Observed and recorded annual performances in New Westminster

Conducted interviews with May Day participants

Researched historical May Day accounts in New Westminster museums

Focused on Ms. Cave-Brown-Cave, a pioneer of New Westminster and its May Day

Corresponded with May Day activists and researchers in England

Recorded transformations of the annual custom across generations

Militia music in Vancouver

Participant observer in the British Columbia Regiment Band as musician, then conductor

Researched archival sources in civic archives

Examined historical material in the Beatty Street Armory regimental museum

Examined etic and emic perspectives as a musician and officer in Remembrance Day and Church Day Parades

Triangulated conditions of reception and performativity with other militia musicians in the Seaforth Highlanders and the 5th Field Regiment, RCA (Victoria)

Noted tension between amateur performers and military expectations

British Brass Band Culture

Interviewed English brass band composers and transplanted English brass band players newly moved to Vancouver

Observed the interplay of amateur performance standards and concert expectations

Recorded the varying levels of appreciation for the genre of performance ensemble in relation to cultural heritage and previous experience

Powwow Music

Analyzed music using recorded music samples from Western Canadian Drum Circles

Discovered and notated complex polyrhythmic features

Developed a unique system of prescriptive notation and critiqued historical descriptive notation

Lee-hom Wang, Jay Chou and East Asia Soft Pop

Compiled ethnographic material from East Asian university music students’ musical tastes

Triangulated “shidaigu” and “zhongguo feng” with Chou and Wang

Conducted literature search for Western Middle-of-the-Road popular music stylistic traits

Contrasted East Asian Popular Music reception in Canada among non-East Asians

Current Projects

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