{"id":8753,"date":"2019-01-24T09:10:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T14:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/music\/?post_type=cu_people&p=8753"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:52:34","slug":"ellen-waterman","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/music\/people\/ellen-waterman\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Waterman"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ellen Waterman holds the Helmut Kallmann Chair for Music in Canada and is a Professor in the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University. Her interdisciplinary research in music and sound studies engages with improvisation, performance ecologies, listening, d\/Deaf and disability-led music, community-engaged research-creation methodologies, and social change in Canada. Her early work examined the environmental music dramas of R. Murray Schafer, and she is currently editing a collection of critical essays re-examining his legacy across acoustic ecology, environmental composition, and experimental music pedagogy. Waterman is also active as a flutist\/vocalist specializing in creative improvisation, a practice that informs her research-creation. Her instructional score Bodily Listening in Place<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (2022), commissioned by New Adventures in Sound Art, explores an expanded concept of listening across different sensory modalities. In 2021, Waterman founded the Research Centre for Music, Sound, and Society in Canada<\/strong><\/a>, dedicated to exploring the complex and diverse roles that music and sonic arts play in shaping Canadian society. She is currently establishing the CFI-funded Sonic Arts Participation Lab, an inclusive and accessible audiovisual facility for cultural listening and storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waterman\u2019s books include four edited collections. Sonic Geography Imagined and Remembered <\/em>(Penumbra 2002) addresses the relationship between sound and environment in an international context. Art of Immersive Soundscapes <\/em>(with Pauline Minevich, Regina 2013) explores a fascinating range of place-based sonic arts projects and includes a multi-channel DVD. Negotiated Moments: Improvisation, Sound, and Subjectivity<\/em> (with Gillian Siddall, Duke 2016) explores embodiment and power in improvisation. She is a member of the editorial collective for Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (open access, Music and Social Justice Series, U Michigan Press 2023). In the 2000s Waterman conducted Sounds Provocative, a cross-Canada comparative ethnography on experimental music performance. Her CDs include \u2026like a ragged flock<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with James Harley for improvisational flutes\/voice, sound processing, and multichannel diffusion. Waterman has been a core member of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation<\/strong><\/a> since its inception and was a founding co-editor of the peer reviewed journal Critical Studies in Improvisation\/\u00c9tudes critiques en improvisation<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waterman\u2019s teaching includes Music in Canada, and graduate seminars in the Music and Culture MA program and the Cultural Mediations PhD program. She supervises graduate students in the Music and Culture MA and the Cultural Mediations PhD programs, and postdoctoral fellows through the Research Centre for Music, Sound, and Society in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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