狐狸视频

U of T Faculty of Music鈥檚 first woman PhD makes $1-million donation for music and health

exterior of the faculty of music
(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

A $1 million donation to the Faculty of Music by scholar and musician Elaine Keillor promises to enhance music research at the 狐狸视频 as well as the science and practice of music and health through the establishment of the Elaine Keillor Music and Health Research Innovation Fund.

 

The new fund will provide annual funding for doctoral and post-doctoral fellows, or for research projects stemming from the faculty鈥檚  (MaHRC), an interdisciplinary research centre that conducts research on music鈥檚 applications in the health sciences.

Part of the donation will be matched by the division of the vice-president and provost to support graduate and international students pursuing studies in music and health.

鈥淚 am deeply moved by Dr. Elaine Keillor鈥檚 generosity and her lifelong championing of Canadian music,鈥 said Don McLean, dean of the Faculty of Music and professor of musicology and music theory. 鈥淎s the first female PhD graduate from U of T Music, we should all be particularly proud of her pioneering achievements.

鈥淲e know that Elaine鈥檚 gift will be a model and inspiration for us all.鈥

Keillor鈥檚 knowledge of Canadian music and her skill as a performer are 鈥渓egendary,鈥 said Robin Elliott, a professor of musicology at U of T, the Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music and director of the Institute for Canadian Music.

Elliott added that 鈥渟he began her career as a remarkable child prodigy, completing the piano performance and theory requirement for the ARCT diploma at the age of 10,鈥 a record that would stand for six decades.

鈥淕lenn Gould was a late bloomer by comparison, as he did not earn his ARCT until the age of 13.鈥

Keillor became the first woman to receive a doctorate in musicology from U of T in 1976. After teaching at U of T, York, Queen鈥檚 and McMaster universities, she joined the faculty at Carleton University in Ottawa, where she is now a distinguished research professor emerita. In 2016, she was named a member of the Order of Canada for 鈥渉er contributions as a musicologist and historian of Canada's musical heritage.鈥

She is renowned for research on the music of Indigenous Peoples of North America, particularly First Nations music in Canada. 鈥淭wo signal events in Dr. Keillor鈥檚 career were the publication of her magisterial textbook, Music in Canada: Capturing Landscape and Diversity, and the release of her four-CD set of recordings, Sounds of North: Two Centuries of Canadian Piano Music,鈥 Elliott said.

Keillor is also an internationally recognized musician who has toured North America and Europe performing in recitals and as a soloist with orchestra. She is still teaching, performing and researching.

Keillor said she hopes her donation will support research at the Music and Health Research Collaboratory and foster a greater appreciation for music, particularly among youth.

Established in 2012, the Music and Health Research Collaboratory has built a large community of research collaborators and has become a leader in research and teaching around the clinical applications of music in health science.

Today, it runs about 18 research projects, with 12 collaborative units across campus and teaching hospitals, said Michael Thaut, director of the collaboratory and a professor of music and health, with a joint appointment in neuroscience. The focus of current projects ranges from Alzheimer鈥檚 and Parkinson鈥檚 to depression, post-stroke recovery and autism.

Nicole Richard, a PhD candidate in music and health sciences, is involved in several research projects at the centre, including studies of therapeutic instrumental music鈥檚 effect on stroke rehabilitation, auditory perception training in cochlear implant carriers and rhythmic cuing of oral dynamics for speech intelligibility in people with Parkinson鈥檚.

鈥淚鈥檝e had clients who went from being non-verbal to being quite loquacious with the help of music therapy, and have seen how NMT (neurologic music therapy) techniques can help organize the sensorimotor system to enable focus, concentration and calm for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD),鈥 she said.

Thaut said Keillor鈥檚 donation will have a profound and lasting impact.

鈥淒r. Keillor鈥檚 endowment will provide a tremendous foundation in perpetuity to advance research in music and health on all levels, and support outstanding work of graduate students like Nicole Richard,鈥 he said.

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