In our first installment of Interviews with Carleton Alumni: Life After Graduation, Kaitlan Brazeau interviewed Lora Bidner. Lora graduated from the Carleton Bachelor of Music program in 2014, and is an active Canadian musician and composer. Check out her amazing story below!
What made you choose the Carleton Music program?
I was there part-time at Carleton first, then I spoke with Dr. Wright, and he suggested I audition since the program needed composers and there was a new Singer-songwriter’s program. It seemed like they had some great courses and professors and it was a good option to get an education and hone my skills while not having to break the bank and go abroad for an education.
I auditioned and was accepted as a pianist into the music program, and then two years later I switched over to the singer-songwriters program, and I finished my degree learning from Giselle Minns who was and still is an amazing mentor, I loved learning form her.
What was your experience like in the program?
I had a really good experience. Because it’s a smaller program there’s a nice student body of really close friends that you can start to make. When I did my Masters at another school, because it was much bigger, it was kind of hard to feel at home. I thought, wow, there’s something really special about being in a smaller program. You really get to know your professors, you have a lot more time with them, and you get to know the people in your program. Carleton has some amazing professors and private teachers like Jesse Stewart, Dr. McGowan, Mark Fergusson, Dr. Wright, Giselle Minns, Prof. Higney… there are more that I’m forgetting right now, they’re all great really! I found the faculty is filled with people who really care about their jobs and have a wealth of knowledge to share with you.
What is your most memorable experience?
In my final year all the songwriters got to compete to perform at the NAC 4thstage. We performed a song live in front of a jury, one of the jurors was Kelly Lee Evans which was great. I was lucky enough to get picked to perform at the 4thstage; it was a really good experience to get to prepare for. That kind of real world performance experience in your education is so important.
What have you been doing since graduation?
I’ve been focusing on writing music for film, TV and video games. After my Bachelors I did a Masters in Music Technology at the University of Toronto, and then I did a composer residency at the Canadian Film Centre. Over the past 5 years I’ve scored for a little over 70 shorts, features, video games, TV series and commercials. I’m constantly trying to connect with new filmmakers and collaborate with as many production companies as possible. Some of my music recent projects are scoring for the BBC/Family Channel series “Malory Towers”, scoring the features films “Don’t Click” and “On the Fringe of Wild” and writing songs for the kids TV shows “My Perfect Landing” and “Miss Persona”
Be sure to visit Laura’s website to see and hear more: https://www.lorabidner.com/