“I have heard it said many times that songwriting is too evasive and abstruse a craft to teach, which leaves the fledgling songwriter directionless and terrified. The truth is that songwriting is only shrouded in such mystery because there are so few institutions dedicated to its study, and so few people offering to teach it. Carleton has provided me with the space, the community and reassurance I needed, and Ian Tamblyn – with his tireless admiration for songs, stories, adventure and truthfulness – has been simply the greatest teacher I could have ever asked for.”
Dylan Phillips
BMus. 2017
“Carleton University’s music program offers an eclectic range of genres and styles to study. It provides every student an even playing field and a chance to excel. I focused on the jazz and classical genres while at Carleton. The skills and values I learned have stuck with me through my musical career. On top of the support and encouragement from the faculty administration, many resources were made available to students to aid in their development. Through Carleton, I was granted access to amazing opportunities such as studying abroad in Austria and making my concerto debut with an orchestra. Music has taken me through many different programs and organizations, but Carleton will always be “the place” where I built a strong foundation towards pursuing a career as a pianist.”
John (“Kofi”) Dapaah
BMus., Carleton University, 2012
MMus., McGill University, 2015
“Carleton’s Music programs offer students a dynamic and comprehensive education in both applied and academic fields of study. It is the brainchild of exceptional Canadian scholars whose love of music and pedagogy has inspired them to realize a unique vision of excellence in post-secondary music education. While I came to these understandings during my tenure as a Carleton student, my appreciation for this institution and its excellent faculty has only increased with my exposure to the larger academic world.”
Nathanael Meneer
B.Mus., Carleton University, 2008
Lecturer and doctoral candidate, Boston University
“I am very grateful for the time that I spent at Carleton University and also for the support that I have received, and continue to receive, from the department, its faculty and its students. The support I received from Carleton at a very crucial time in my development as a musician, gave me the confidence I needed to pursue a career as a singer.”
Nadia Petrella
B.Mus., Carleton University, 2008
M. Mus. student (Classical Voice), Manhattan School of Music
“Carleton offers a cutting-edge music program with a faculty of forward thinkers who teach you how to think critically about the music of yesterday and today, and to develop your practical skills and experience in order to work in the musical world of tomorrow.”
Adam Saikaley
B.Mus., Carleton University, 2009
Host (2010-2011), CBC Radio’s “Bandwidth”
Former producer of “Tempo” on CBC Radio 2
“Carleton University is among the pioneering institutions situating the study of music within a larger cultural sphere. Carleton graduates are well-positioned for further graduate studies, and for the world beyond.”
Frank McKinlay
B.Mus., Carleton University, 2010
Graduate student, Carleton M.A. in Music and Culture
“When I think back to my undergraduate studies, and even reflect on my current interactions with Carleton faculty, I think one defining quality shines through: enthusiasm. The musicology and performance faculty at Carleton are not there to mold students into mini-versions of themselves; they accept students from a wide range of backgrounds and let their expertise guide students to discover their own conclusions in research and performance. Since graduating, the faculty has shown me nothing but enthusiasm and encouragement for all of my continued studies and musical endeavours.”
Zak Pleet
B.Mus. (Carleton University), M.Mus. (University of Ottawa)
First Canadian selected to the Universidad d’Alicante’s “Máster en Interpretación de Guitarra Clásica” program
“The ability to learn diverse genres of music in a supportive environment enables students in our program to expand their horizons and become highly skilled musicians.”
Michael Gauthier
B.Mus. Carleton University
“My time in Carleton University’s music program had a huge impact on me. The intellectual leadership, the ground-breaking musicological minds, the perfect balance of big brains and big hearts made for the most rich and connected educational experience a university student could ask for. This is what a university experience should be.”
Julie Nesrallah
Bachelor of Arts (Music), Carleton University, 1995
Mezzo-soprano & Executive Director, Carmen Bound
National Host of CBC Radio 2 “Tempo,” Canada’s flagship classical music program
“If there’s one striking thing about the Carleton Music Department that I’ve noticed over the last twenty years, it’s how many graduates are out and about working in the music business, here in Ottawa and all over the world. I run into them, and hire them, for that matter, all the time. My fondest memories include Alan Gillmor’s colourful lectures on the history of music! Great teachers, great music school!”
Alan Marsden
B.Mus., Carleton University 1995
Director, Ottawa Folklore Centre School
Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest Team
“The Master of Arts program in Music and Culture provided a stimulating mix of musicology and cultural theory that I found very engaging. Every class was different and ranged from a general introduction to critical and cultural theory of the last fifty years, to research methods, to genre theory as applied to heavy metal. All the professors were knowledgeable, committed, and approachable, which I appreciated. In my thesis research I took the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu, as well as literary and psychoanalytical theory from scholars such as Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva, and Judith Butler, and applied it to the work of the mid-20th-century Soviet composer, Galina Ustvolskaya. Research that I had did for other courses led to published book reviews, and a paper presented at the First International Conference on Russian and Soviet Music in July 2011. The many opportunities for sharing student research, for hearing about current research done by our own professors and visiting scholars, as well as being able to discuss problems of music and cultural theory on many formal and informal occasions were invaluable. I am currently the Discovery Systems Librarian at the University of Alberta, and I hope one day to become a music librarian in an academic institution.”
Sam Popowich
M.A. in Music and Culture, 2011
I arrived at Carleton in 2004 as a political science major, with no real clue what I wanted to do at university. On a whim, I chose to take a music history course as an elective: a choice which utterly transformed my life. Although I’ve always played music and listened to music, it was at Carleton that I truly learned about music. Seven years and two degrees later, I am truly grateful for the formative training and rigorous study I had there, with some of the most brilliant minds in musicology and music theory. Colleagues at conferences turned their heads when they heard I was writing a master’s thesis on musical nostalgia and the hockey organ! Where else but at Carleton could I have pursued meaningful and serious research on such a radical topic?
Even though I’ve graduated, I still come by every now and then to see old professors and peers, whom I count among my nearest and dearest friends. The great support and atmosphere of collegiality made for a fantastic undergrad and graduate experience. I tell everyone going to Carleton, regardless of their major, to take at least one course in music, in the hopes they’ll develop the same passion for the arts which I have!
Antonio Giamberardino
B.A. (Music) 2009, M.A. Music and Culture 2011, Juris Doctorate, University of Ottawa