Music Research
Research, Scholarly and Artistic Work in the School for the Arts - Music encompasses a broad area of faculty activity, intersecting with student opportunities, community engagement and personal academic investigation and artistic growth.
A strong spirit of collaboration is reflected in joint performance projects in the community, such as between the Greystone singers and the Saskatoon Symphony; between the Music Theatre Ensemble, Saskatoon Opera and Tafelmusik; the foundation of the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra and the Elixir Chamber Ensemble. Interdisciplinary projects include the Arvo Pärt project, and a cross-disciplinary class in Organology.
The Fine Arts Research Lecture Series in Music features international guest scholars and performers as well as lectures and lecture/recitals by U of S Music faculty.
Here are some glimpses into the research areas and accomplishments of our full-time faculty, who are also our Graduate faculty. Refer to the faculty page for detailed profiles of our faculty members!
Finding your authentic voice through teaching artistry!
Teaching artist and soprano, Dr. Betty Allison is the new professor of voice at the University of Saskatchewan. A graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, Betty has been performing a versatile classical repertoire for almost 20 years. In addition to her teaching and performing, her research focuses on the connection between a singer’s voice and their overall wellness and resilience. Specifically, the non-musical stressors and coping strategies that elite singers use to maintain their voices and careers. She is excited to continue her performing, teaching, and research as part of the USask faculty!
Areas of Research Focus: Voice, vocal pedagogy and vocology; opera; performers’ health and wellbeing; rehearsal and performance practices.
Invited saxophone performances and lectures at North American Saxophone Alliance National and Regional Conventions; World Saxophone Congresses, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Texas Music Educators Conference, CBDNA , and WASBE; CDs: SaxSpectrum and SaxSpectrum 2: New Music for Soprano and Alto Saxophone.
Dr. Amanda Lalonde is a musicologist whose interests include late eighteenth- to early twentieth-century Western art music, music reception, aesthetics, literature about music, and women composers and pianists. She also researches early New York hip hop.
She can supervise MA Musicology students who are interested in pursuing a topic related to Western art music or musical culture from the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. In addition to supporting student research, she also aims to provide professional development and research assistant opportunities.
Dr. Lalonde's research has been funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and she has published articles and chapters in Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Music Review, Clara Schumann Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2021), The Songs of Fanny Hensel (Oxford University Press, 2021) 19th-Century Music, Music and Letters, Popular Music, and the Journal of Music History Pedagogy.
Performed solo trumpet with New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia on Allan Gilliland’s Western Canadian Music Award-winning composition Kalla; Art Pepper + 11 CBC recording; W.C.M.A. nomination for Complete rebirth of Cool CD; Artistic Director of Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra (click here for a video sample); performs in Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Listen to an interview with Prof. Dean McNeill here. Listen to a new trumpet piece by Dean McNeill and friends.
Performances in St. Petersburg (Russia) and Serbia; CD/CBC recording: Kathleen Solose plays Chopin; Saskatchewan Arts Board Grants as pianist and Artistic Director of the Elixir Chamber Ensemble.