I’m Looking for a Job
Big picture:
- I’m looking for a job.
- My aptitudes/interests include (primarily): and (secondarily):
- I'm hoping to find a position at the intersection of two or more of these.
- I'm hoping to find a job I can do while living in Montreal. It could either be remote, or at a workplace in town.
That's all you need to know, but if you're interested in further details, there's more information in the sections below.
This page is meant to be an informal summary of what I can do, what I have done, and what I'd be interested in doing. For a more formal summary of what I've done, feel free to refer to my LinkedIn profile.
Programming
(Relevant link: my GitHub profile.)
Since May 2022, I've been working as a Software Developer at the Distributed Digital Music Archives and Libraries (DDMAL) Lab at McGill University. The lab makes tools for musicologists; my work there has been to develop and maintain CANTUS Database. CantusDB is built in Python/Django/PostgreSQL. I've been lead developer on the project since September 2022.
From May to August 2021, I was a participant at The Recurse Center, a self-directed retreat where I developed my programming and Python abilities while working on projects with other program participants. While I was there, I helped to build a tool for exploring the interlocking patterns found in Balinese Gamelan music, and helped to train a neural network to generate melodies in the style of traditional Irish dance tunes.
I think of myself as a mostly self-taught programmer. I learned a bit of HTML in elementary school and took a couple of programming courses in high school, but otherwise, I learned to program in Python by doing tutorials and online courses, reading books, and working on personal projects. These personal projects include this website as well as a couple of early efforts to create Python libraries to explore topics in music and music theory.
Since December 2022, I've also done a little bit of freelance web development. Most of it has been simple HTML, but I've done a bit of work with JavaScript too.
Music
I've spent a bunch of time thinking about and making music.
- In 2022, I completed an MA in Music Theory at McGill University, where I wrote a thesis on temporal asymmetries in the music of Canadian fiddle player Oliver Schroer.
- In 2017, I completed a BA in Music at the University of Waterloo.
- Lately, I've been getting back into teaching private music lessons.
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Over the past year or so, living in Montreal, I've spent a lot of
time learning and playing trad (i.e., "fiddle") music.
- I've played at sessions (mostly Québecois and Irish), mostly on fiddle and tin whistle.
- I've played music for contradances, mostly on fiddle, mandolin and guitar.
- I've busked, mostly on fiddle, mandolin and guitar.
- During the height of the pandemic, I learned about sound recording and mixing while recording multitracked videos to post to my YouTube channel.
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Before the pandemic in Montreal, I participated in several musical groups
in addition to busking and playing at sessions:
- I sang with the Orpheus Singers.
- I rehearsed with Gamelan Giri Ketadon at the Univerity of Montreal.
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During my undergrad at the University of Waterloo, I participated in many
musical activities:
- During successive summer terms, I directed a series of pickup chamber choirs—the Ad Hoc (with the exemplary Evy Kassirer), the Post Hoc, and two iterations of the Propter Hoc Chamber Choir. We performed at the local library, local porch parties, and at our own concerts where we raised money for local charities.
- I sang with the University of Waterloo Chamber and University Choirs.
- I played in the Conrad Grebel Balinese Gamelan Ensemble.
- I played guitar and bass in the University of Waterloo Stage (i.e., Jazz) Band.
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I was involved in a couple of student-led musical theatre
productions:
- I played guitar and mandolin in the pit band for a production of Fiddler on the Roof.
- I was vocal director for a production of The Music Man.
- I served as music director at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
- I played guitar and bass in the house band for Hep Cat's Swing Dance Studio, where I also facilitated weekly open jazz jam sessions.
- I taught violin, guitar, and beginner piano at the Uptown School of Music.
Learning and Pedagogy
I've spent a bunch of time thinking about effective learning techniques, and I've applied this knowledge in my teaching as well as in my own learning.
I regularly apply the techniques I've learned (especially spaced repetition and active recall) in my own hobbies and to explore topics I'm curious about.
While at McGill University, I took several seminars in Music Theory pedagogy. I worked as a Teaching Assistant for two terms, allowing me to put into practice what I'd learned in those seminars.
Over the years, I have spent a bunch of time teaching music lessons. I have taught guitar, mandolin, violin and beginner piano. For a little over a year before moving to Montreal, I taught as part of the Uptown School of Music in Waterloo, ON.
I've also found the pedagogical techniques I've learned to be useful while directing choirs, and have regularly used the concepts while planning and conducting rehearsals.
Environment and Ecology
I've been interested in the environment and the Earth's ecosystems for a while. My family camped regularly during my childhood, and I remember being particularly interested in the interpretive materials many parks provided for their trails. In elementary school, I raised money for the Walpole Island First Nation Reserve, to protect and restore the tallgrass prairie ecosystem found there. I worked to establish a native plant garden at my middle school.
I began my undergrad at the University of Waterloo studying Geography and Environmental Management before switching into Music, and I graduated with a minor in the subject.
I spent the summer of 2012 working at Kettle Lakes Provincial Park near Timmins, ON as a Natural Heritage Educator, where I led hikes, ran interpretive programs, researched and wrote an interpretive guide for one of the park's trails, and answered guests' questions about the nature and history of the park in the Visitor Centre.
It's been a while since I've worked in the field of the environment or studied it officially, but it's remained an interest of mine. I enjoy reading about ecology, evolution and natural history, and do my best to keep up-to-date on news about the environment. I want the work I do to have a positive impact on humanity and on the Earth, and a position where I work directly to address the climate crisis or to protect the Earth's biodiversity would help me feel morally satisfied with how I'm applying my time and effort from day to day.
Languages and Linguistics
For the past several years, I have enjoyed learning about languages and linguistics. I've listened to linguistics podcasts, watched through the back catalogues of various linguistics YouTube channels, and read pop linguistics books. I've enjoyed brushing up on my French and dabbling in Irish, German, Latin and Italian on Duolingo.
Linguistics is more of an interest than an aptitude at this point. Having a linguistics-related job would allow me to feed my curiosity about languages as I worked.
Community Building
Especially around the end of my undergrad, community building was a common theme in many of my activities.
I found the communities in the ensembles at UW I participated in, especially the UW Choir and Gamelan, to be deeply nourishing, and I sought to foster a similar sense of community as I directed my summer pickup chamber choirs.
I facilitated weekly open jazz jam sessions at Hep Cats Swing Dance Studio for several years while in Waterloo. During this time, I learned a lot about making sure all participants, new and regular, felt welcomed and valued.
Since moving to Montreal, I've taken less of a leadership role in my community-building. I've focussed on contributing to the overlapping trad music scenes around the city as a participant.