Paul Richard Pedersen (born August 28, 1935) is a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

arts administrator The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. An associate of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

and a member of the

Canadian League of Composers The Canadian League of Composers is an organization formed in 1951 of Canadian composers primarily interested in raising awareness and acceptance of Canadian music. Its activities are overseen and directed by an executive, and by a National Council ...

, he is particularly known for his works of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

; a number of which utilize various forms of multi-media. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Member of the

Canadian Electroacoustic Community Founded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) is Canada's national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form i ...

. Early on in his career, he wrote non-electronic compositions which exhibited a free atonal style.

Life

Born in

Camrose, Alberta Camrose ( ) is a city in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Camrose County. Located along Highway 13 it had its beginnings as a railroad hub. History The area around Camrose was first settled by Europeans around 1900. At that time t ...

, Pedersen entered the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1953 where he earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in music in 1957. At the school he was mentored in

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

Murray Adaskin Murray Adaskin, (March 28, 1906 – May 6, 2002) was a Toronto-born Canadian violinist, composer, conductor and teacher. After playing violin with a band, he studied composition and became the director of the Music department of the University of ...

. He matriculated to the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(UT) where he studied composition with

John Weinzweig John Jacob Weinzweig, (March 11, 1913 – August 24, 2006) was a Canadian composer of classical music. Weinzweig was born in Toronto. He went to Harbord Collegiate Institute, and studied music at the university. In 1937, he left for the United St ...

; receiving a Master of Music in 1961. He later returned to the UT to pursue doctoral studies in

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

which focused on research in acoustic and musical psychology. Part of his research was published in the Winter 1965 edition of the

Journal of Music Theory The ''Journal of Music Theory'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established by David Kraehenbuehl (Yale University) in 1957. According to its website, " e ''Journal of Music Theory'' fosters c ...

in an article entitled ''The mel scale''. He earned a PhD from the UT in 1970 after completing his doctoral dissertation, ''The perception of musical pitch structure''. In 1961 Pedersen joined the music staff at

Parkdale Collegiate Institute Founded in 1888, Parkdale Collegiate Institute is a public high school located on Jameson Avenue in Parkdale, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the heart of what is considered ' Little Tibet', which is the home of the largest concentratio ...

in Toronto. He left there in 1962 when he was appointed music director of

Augustana University College Augustana University College was a Lutheran college in Camrose, Alberta, Canada, from 1910 until it merged in 2004 with the University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public re ...

, a post he held through 1964. In 1966 he was appointed to the Faculty of Music at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

(MU) where he remained for the next 24 years. He served as the chairman of McGill's theory department from 1970–1974 and was head of the McGill University Electronic Music Studios from 1971-1974. He served as Associate-Dean of the Faculty of Music from 1974–1976 and then as Dean from 1976-1986. He was also director and executive producer of McGill University Records from 1976-1990. In 1990 Pedersen left McGill to become the Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. In 2016, Concordia University in Montreal created 'The Paul Award in Electroacoustics' to celebrate Paul Pedersen's contribution to the development of electroacoustics in Canada.

References

External links

* Th
Paul Pedersen Collection
a
Marvin Duchow Music Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Paul 1935 births Living people Canadian arts administrators Canadian composers Canadian male composers Canadian music educators McGill University faculty People from Camrose, Alberta University of Saskatchewan alumni University of Toronto alumni University of Toronto faculty