Where Waters Meet

Where Waters Meet

Artists: UBC Music PhD student Sherryl Sewepagaham, composer; Canadian Chamber Choir

Release date: September 2024

Description (from Canadian Chamber Choir website):

Where Waters Meet is an Indigenous/settler partnership built on friendship, deep respect and admiration, and the desire to communicate through our shared sung medium. It is a culmination of several joint projects in different regions of Canada over the course of many years. We are thankful to many for contributing their talents and engaging with the CCC on numerous levels in the creative phases: composer Carmen Braden, poet Yolanda Bonnell, incubation collaborator Sarain Fox, tour partners Wesley Hardisty (violinist) and Aaron Prosper (singer/drummer), and non-Indigenous collaborator Hussein Janmohamed, who has inspired us all in the CCC to consider what our music can be like if we honour and respectfully incorporate cultural traditions into our creative process. Hussein has modelled this in envisioning the expansion of his composition Sun on Water to include Sherryl Sewepagaham’s spoken word, drumming, and sung improvisations. We also thank the many Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community members who have guided us along the way in our reciprocal creative collaborations. The music on this album has evolved organically as we have listened, asked questions, and responded honestly and in relationship with each other.

Where Waters Meet: Sherryl Sewepagaham + Canadian Chamber Choir was released worldwide on September 6, 2024. Solo pieces written and performed by Sewepagaham are nestled around each movement of Where Waters Meet, mirroring the way in which Braden’s contemporary choral suite has been performed live during the CCC’s past tours.

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The Influence of Dissonance on Listeners’ Perceived Emotions in Rhythmically Complex Musical Excerpts

Author: Poudrier, Ève, Bell, Bryan, Lee, Jason Yin Hei, and Sapp, Craig Stuart

Publication details: Auditory Perception and Cognition, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 291-318

Weblink: doi.org/10.1080/25742442.2024.2396980

Abstract: This study investigates the influence of dissonance on listeners’ ratings of five emotional dimensions (mood, energy, movement, dissonance, and tension) using excerpts from twentieth-century keyboard music that feature complex rhythmic structures. Dissonance was operationalized as randomized pitches from four scale types: pentatonic major, diatonic major, whole-tone, and chromatic. Register presentation of two contrasting rhythmic groups within each excerpt was counterbalanced, while rhythmic structure was held constant, resulting in 64 distinct stimuli (8 excerpts × 4 scales × 2 register conditions), from which rhythm and pitch measures were extracted. There was a main effect of scale type, but not register. Pentatonic excerpts were rated as more positive and less dissonant than diatonic, whole-tone, and chromatic excerpts. Whole-tone and chromatic were also perceived as more negative and dissonant than diatonic, as well as more tense and less entraining than both pentatonic and diatonic. There was no effect of scale on energy. Sonority dissonance was a reliable predictor of perceived dissonance and tension, as well as mood and movement. Furthermore, several rhythmic features were predictive of participants’ perceived emotions, providing support for the use of pitch-randomized naturalistic stimuli to assess the influence of musical structure on perceived emotions.

Making Logos Musical: Joseph Koo’s Compositions for Jingles

Author: Hedy Law

Publication details: Non-peer-reviewed essay commissioned by Tai Guan for an exhibition in July 2024, Hong Kong. Published in Bloomberg Connects, July 2024

Weblink: www.taikwun.hk/assets/filemanager/userfiles/2._Programme_-_Heritage/2024/Soundtrack_of_Our_Lives/Bloomberg_Connects/articles/Making_Logos_Musical_(Dr_Hedy_Law).pdf

 

Analysis of the Music and Lyrics of the Cantonese Musical, The Woman Who Wears Kenzo

Author: Hedy Law

Publication details: Script of the Cantonese Musical, The Woman Who Wears Kenzo, 260–275. Hong Kong: Bbluesky and Taipei: e-RedAnt, 2024

Weblink: /www.ggrassy.com/product/

 

Jaya

Ensemble: Raagaverse

Featured UBC Alumni: Shruti Ramani (vocals, composer)

Recording/mix engineer: Sheldon Zaharko/Zed Productions

Recording details:

JUNO nominated Indo Jazz fusion band, Raagaverse, celebrates the journey and personal triumphs of Shruti Ramani, a young, queer, Indian immigrant in Canada. Raagaverse highlights Shruti’s cultural background, her forays into and admiration of multiple musical genres, and her ever-growing relationship with music and the music community.

Raagaverse’s music exposes you to vibrant tapestries of the Agra Gharana, a tradition in ancient North Indian Classical (Hindustani) music, and Black-American Jazz traditions. Through her dedicated training and practice, Shruti was accepted into the Agra Gharana’s musical lineage by her guru Dr. Ritu Johri, an esteemed and knowledgeable keeper of the musical tradition. Shruti gratefully acknowledges the huge influence of Black-American music on her work after she immigrated to Canada to study Jazz.

Sessional Teaching Opportunities 2025W

Teaching Opportunities Winter 2025 

2025 Winter Term 1: September 1 – December 31, 2025
2025 Winter Term 2: January 1 – April 30, 2026 

The School of Music is pleased to advertise teaching opportunities for the upcoming academic session, 2025W. Courses include: 

• MUSC 100: Principles of Musical Form (Term 1)
• MUSC 108: Introduction to Contemporary Art Music (Term 1)
• MUSC 119: Introduction to Music Technology (Term 2)
• MUSC 120: History of Music I (Term 1)
• MUSC 121: History of Music II (Term 2)
• MUSC 141/241: Class Piano I & II (Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 150B/350B/550B: Symphonic Winds Ensemble
(Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 150C/350C/550C: Concert Winds Ensemble
(Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 157A/457A/557A: Early Music Ensemble
(Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 160E/360E/560E: Guitar Chamber Ensemble
(Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 162E/362E/562E: Percussion Chamber Ensemble (Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 164A/464A/564A: Jazz Ensemble (Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 165A/466A/565A: Chinese Instrumental Ensemble (Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 165B/466B/565B: Balinese Gamelan Ensemble
(Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 309: Instrumentation (Term 1)
• MUSC 310: Orchestration (Term 2)
• MUSC 311: Fundamentals of Conducting (Term 1)
• MUSC 312: Instrumental Conducting (Term 2)
• MUSC 319A: Electroacoustic Music (Term 1)
• MUSC 320: Computer Music (Term 2)
• MUSC 333/433: Accompanying on the Harpsichord I & II (Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 419A: Interactive Performance Systems (Term 1 & 2)
• MUSC 512D: Advanced Choral Conducting (Term 1 & 2) 

Interested applicants should apply directly through our online portal below.

Applications should include: 

• statement of interest indicating teaching competencies
• curriculum vita (detailing post-secondary teaching experience)
• evidence of teaching effectiveness (e.g. sample teaching evaluations)
• names and contact emails of three referees
• where applicable, the URL to a website that demonstrates your work. 

Positions are subject to final budgetary approval and contingent upon student enrolments. Sessional Lecturer appointments are governed by UBC’s Collective Agreement, Part 7 “Conditions of Appointment for Sessional Lecturers.” Within the School of Music, the minimum salary will be $10,425 per 3-credit course, or, in the case of Sessional Lecturers whose principal duties comprise private music lessons, studio classes or equivalent, pay shall be calculated as set out in the Collective Agreement, Part 2, Appendix F. Preference will be given to applicants with a Doctorate or Masters degree in Music, with previous teaching experience at the college or university level. 

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. 

Deadline for applications: Monday, June 30, 2025 

UBC School of Music Director, T. Patrick Carrabré discusses his composition Snewíyalh tl’a Staḵw (Teachings of the Water).

 

 

Nova Pon: Symphonies of Mother and Child

 

Featured UBC Alumni and Faculty Performers: Nova Pon, composer (MMus15′, DMA23′); Brenda Fedoruk, flute; Valery Whitney, horn; Jeremy Berkman, trombone.

Label: Redshift Records

Recording details:

 

A Prayer for Peace

Alexander Weimann – A Prayer for Peace

Featured UBC Faculty Artist: Alexander Weimann, organ

Redshift Records
Recorded at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver

Producer: Denise Ball
Recording/mix engineer: Brian Chan
Mastering: Will Howie

Recording details:

Organ – A Prayer for Peace
Gregorian Chants serve as the foundation for the piece, played on the wonderful organ at Holy Rosary Cathedral in downtown Vancouver. What’s captured here really happened “ex tempore”, in one complete take.

My improvisation re-imagines the so-called Organ Mass in which parts of the religious service alternate between singing the chant and playing/improvising on the organ. The sequence loosely reflects the Christian liturgy. For Plain Chant, I included parts of the “Missa Cunctipotens Genitor Deus” (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei), and added two free, unbound and fancier movements, one after the Gloria and one after the Sanctus. The first is a meditation on change or the conversion of thinking, perceiving and living (µετάνοια); the second was inspired by the “elevation toccata”, music that depicts the mystery of death and transfiguration.

The last line in the “Agnus Dei” serves as the cornerstone of the whole improvisation. Its words are “Give us peace”. For the conclusion of this musical prayer, I picked the Lutheran hymn “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan” (What God ordains is always good). ~ AW

This position is closed for applications.

Thank you for your interest in the UBC School of Music. We are no longer accepting applications for this position.