Past Event

Patricia Shehan Campbell, Carleton University Fulbright Research Professor

Despite their remarkable talents, impressive training, and considerable wealth of experience, musicians face complex and challenging professional landscapes in Canada and the United States.  The world is changed, and the current economy seems not to be so supportive to musicians coming out of university studies in traditional music major programs.  Landing work as a musician can be challenging, particularly if “musical myopia” makes for a constricted vision of the potential of musicians to colour and creatively contribute to the world. Where musicians may picture themselves as working in concert halls and clubs, a vast array of other worthy professional options are out there in communities and schools, in museums and galleries, in hospitals and homes.  A re-envisioning of audiences, recipients, and consumers of music, and an examination of alternative professional pathways, is warranted for all musicians who seek meaningful work. Of benefit to the field may be an examination of efforts of public-facing musicians at work in the world, their pathways to musical fulfillment, and their influences on the social realities of our time.

Patricia Shehan Campbell is Fulbright Research Professor, Carleton University, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, where she taught courses at the interface of education and ethnomusicology for over 30 years. Her work is in World Music Pedagogy and children’s musical cultures, with multiple publications that include Global Music Cultures, Teaching Music Globally, Songs in Their Heads, the Oxford Handbook on Children’s Musical Cultures, Music, Education and Diversity, Oxford’s 28-volume Global Music Series, and the Routledge World Music Pedagogy Series.  Campbell is recipient of the 2012 Taiji Award and the 2017 Koizumi Prize for work on the preservation of traditional music through educational practice, and was named an Honorary Member of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 2021. She is educational consultant to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the Alan Lomax recordings, and the Global Jukebox.