Listen to 7 Archival Recording(s)
Paul Pedersen
Paul Pedersen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957 from the University of Saskatchewan where he began his composition studies with Murray Adaskin. He continued studying composition with John Weinzweig at the University of Toronto where he receive a Master of Music degree in Composition in 1961. He taught science and mathematics for a year at Parkdale Collegiate in Toronto followed by two years as Music Director at Camrose Lutheran College in Alberta. He then returned to the University of Toronto, studying the psychology of music perception with Douglas Creelman, Myron Schaeffer, and Gustav Ciamaga, receiving a Ph.D. in Musicology in 1970.
Starting in 1966, he taught at the Faculty of Music of McGill University in Montreal for twenty-four years. While at McGill he held the positions of Chairman of the Theory Department, Director of the Electronic Music Studio, Associate Dean, Director of McGill Records, and was the Dean of the Faculty of Music for ten years. In 1990 he moved to the University of Toronto where he was the Dean of the Faculty of Music for a five year term. He then returned to full-time teaching, giving courses in Composition, Theory, Recording, and Multimedia. He retired from the University in 2001.
While at McGill University he founded the McGill Records label for which he produced some thirty recordings. He has authored a number of papers in the area of music psychology and has composed about fifty works for diverse media - instrumental, vocal, orchestral, and electroacoustic.
He has been married since 1956 to the artist Jean Stollery. They have three children and one grandchild. As hobbies he does photography, woodworking, and genealogy. Jean and Paul Pedersen currently run the Red Door Bed & Breakfast in Toronto.