“California opened my ears, introduced me to oriental music, and, in doing so, helped me to find my voice. If I hadn’t gone there I probably wouldn’t have become a composer.” -Alexina Louie
For my eminent person, I chose to do Alexina Louie, a composer from Canada. I decided to choose her because I was interested in her unique musical style that contrasts greatly with other composers. I also chose her because I want to learn more about composition. Something we have in common is that we both were born in Canada and born in a musician family. We both have an interest in music and composition. Some qualities we have in common include creativity, patience, independence, and determination. A quality I want to emulate from her is her bravery and her attention to detail. These qualities are important if I decide to pursue music in the future. Alexina Louie was able to push out of the boundaries of classical music, and add her own twists and elements to her music. I feel like this exemplifies my goals in TALONS because I am working on pushing my boundaries and adding my unique elements into my work. If I get stuck, I can think of how she was able to push through and pursue her goals. A barrier we have in common is our gender, and I want to address how female musicians weren’t given the credit they deserved in my project.
Alexina Louie contributed to the field of music by composing pieces for orchestra and solo piano. As I mentioned above, she also contributed by showing modern composers that they can bend the rules of music theory and add their own styles to their compositions. She left a ding in the universe by receiving the Order of Canada for her compositions. This shows that she will be remembered for affecting change in the field of music. Her compositions have also been added to the RCM curriculum, so younger musicians can play her music and pass it on to newer generations. Female musicians were not recognized and given when she started to compose. This was the major barrier she had to overcome while pursuing her goals. She was able to continue composing and push to make her music heard. Her teacher, Jean Lyons, also helped achieve her fame. She wanted the world to hear her music and show what she could do. Her major fear was failing when she had a task given to her that had a lot of limitations. Alexina Louie is worth researching and learning about since she is a big influence on the younger generation of composers and musicians. We can learn how to incorporate our own ideas into the activities we love, to make them personal and unique. I chose Alexina Louie over other composers because her music and compositions really stood out to me. They were unique and I haven’t listened to music quite like it.
For the next phase of my research, I want to focus on her musical style and how it is different and unique compared to other composers.
Rings of Saturn by Alexina Louie
Hi Claire, great work! You made it very clear why you chose Alexina for your eminent person and how you relate to her qualities. The way you wrote the wrap-up about what we can learn from Alexina was fantastic. I gave the “Rings of Saturn” composition a listen and I definitely agree that her music is unique. Some constructive feedback: the two paragraphs felt a little scattered, I think it would be better to have more paragraphs so you can make your points stand out more.
Hi Henry, thank you for your kind comments! I’ll keep your critique in mind for next time, thanks!
Great blog post! It’s cool that you found a Canadian composer with so much in common with your talents and interests. As someone who also plays piano, it’s cool to see that she has music in Royal Conservatory books, as those are what I learn from. I noticed that this post sort of comes across as feeling like a list of answers to the questions in the assignment prompt. This stops it from flowing as nicely as it’s read, so maybe in the future try to work on answering questions and prompts in a way that feels a bit more natural.
Thank you for the kind words, Ben! About the critique- I didn’t notice that the flow wasn’t as natural as it could be, so thank you for pointing it out!
Wowza Claire! This blog post is incredible! I love the detail that you described your eminent person’s personal qualities with, I found it very fascinating to read about who she is, how she exemplifies traits you admire, and how you want to emulate them because your detailed explanation was great! Something else I liked was that your goal is to explore and understand her musical style more, it seems like such a natural next step for where you’re at now. I found it hard to find something to critique, but a more concrete example of how she affected future generations would be nice. You mentioned that her pieces were added to the RCM curriculum, which is a good one, but later mentioned her impact again – did you mean stylistically? Honestly, your blog post was amazing and it was hard to find anything to criticize besides this nitpicky critique, so keep up the great work!
Hi Bana! Thank you for your comments, I’m glad that you enjoyed my blog post!
Regarding the critique, I’ll explain more about that in future posts, but thanks for pointing that out. Thank you so much!
Hi Claire! Your blog post was very neatly written, and I learned a lot. Your connections to Alexina Louie were interesting, and it was cool to see that you two share several interests! (It was also neat to learn that she was born in Vancouver) You outlined your eminent person’s achievements well – her compositions being included in the RCM curriculum is neat! One piece of critique I have is that – as Ben and Henry mentioned – I feel like you followed the question prompts a tad too closely, creating an end product that felt like it jumped from one topic to the next. Overall, an amazing blog and I learned a lot, Claire!
Hello Matthew! Thank you for the kind comments, it meant a lot to me! I’ll keep your critique in mind for next time, thanks!
Hi Claire! Your post was super interesting to read, and I loved how patient you are about Alexina Louie. You clearly are passionate about music, and it really shows, the detail is amazing! Maybe next time try to answer the questions without having to change the ‘subject’. That was the only critique that I could find.
Hi Ellie, thank you for the comments! I’ll keep your critique in mind. Thanks!