Third-year student curious about all things music
“I feel like I need three lives right now,” says third-year student Emily Walker who is realizing success by following her curiosity.
The composition/performance studies major came to Laurier because of the Penderecki String Quartet who conducted workshops she attended while still a high-school student in London, Ontario. Now, Walker, who studies violin with Jerzy Kaplanek and composition with Dr. Glenn Buhr this year, plans to take a directed studies course with Dr. Jessica Kun, building upon an interest in conducting that began with a recent course.
Walker wants to attend grad school for music following Laurier but hasn’t yet determined what area of music she will continue to explore. For now, she is content to let her curiosity dictate where she will go. This past December, it took her to Berlin for a 10-day orchestral course with the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic that included concerts in the Berlin Philharmonic with some 90 instrumentalists from around the world.
Walker says the experience was invaluable as the first three days of the workshop consisted of “solid rehearsing” in sectionals, and she was concert master for one piece. She found the frequent discussions on colour and phrasing unique as usually her focus is on technique.
In composition, Walker is working on different styles and techniques, and is currently consumed by the same in her violin playing: “I want to learn as much as I can on violin until that desire is satisfied. I love all that I’m doing, and I want to keep learning—there’s so much I still want to know.”
The composition/performance studies major came to Laurier because of the Penderecki String Quartet who conducted workshops she attended while still a high-school student in London, Ontario. Now, Walker, who studies violin with Jerzy Kaplanek and composition with Dr. Glenn Buhr this year, plans to take a directed studies course with Dr. Jessica Kun, building upon an interest in conducting that began with a recent course.
Walker wants to attend grad school for music following Laurier but hasn’t yet determined what area of music she will continue to explore. For now, she is content to let her curiosity dictate where she will go. This past December, it took her to Berlin for a 10-day orchestral course with the German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonic that included concerts in the Berlin Philharmonic with some 90 instrumentalists from around the world.
Walker says the experience was invaluable as the first three days of the workshop consisted of “solid rehearsing” in sectionals, and she was concert master for one piece. She found the frequent discussions on colour and phrasing unique as usually her focus is on technique.
In composition, Walker is working on different styles and techniques, and is currently consumed by the same in her violin playing: “I want to learn as much as I can on violin until that desire is satisfied. I love all that I’m doing, and I want to keep learning—there’s so much I still want to know.”
