Canadian Musician November / December 2019 | Page 49

college and then you end up with both degrees. Con-
current is easier because you already have the spot in
teacher’s college whereas consecutive, you need to
have a good resume, volunteering, etc. to get in.

CM: Is there any advice you could give to people
considering pursuing their music education further?

GK: If you are truly passionate for it, if you can’t
imagine yourself doing anything besides music, then
go for it, even if you’re good at law or philosophy.
If your heart is in music, you’re going to be great at
it. I know if I continued in science I would be miser-
able and that would affect my grades but because
I’m passionate about music, my grades are great. It’s
easier because I love it.
A lot of students like Kaur have found a way to in-
corporate music with their other passions. Whether
it is teaching, music therapy, physics, history, etc.,
university is a fantastic place to launch your career
in those fields. If your focus is strictly on performing,
university-level education is still extremely beneficial.
The quality of instruction is second to none and the
connections made at university can be just as import-
ant as the course material itself.

PROTEST THE HERO’S RODY WALKER
I’ll be the first to tell you there’s a big separation
between music academia and the industry. Many
music academics are just that: academics. They can
live in the world of academia, publish meaningful
work, teach, and potentially never set foot on a stage.
While I’m sure Kaur will do her fair share of gigs, she’s
focused on teaching and there’s a lot of good she can
do in the world of music academia.
On the flip side of that coin, there are numerous
professional musicians who have never taken a lesson
in their life. Turn on the radio and I’m sure you’ll hear
more than a few artists who couldn’t tell you which
PROTEST THE HERO
chord they’re playing but still managed to compose
some influential and meaningful music. But much like
how Kaur will be a better teacher with more perform-
ing experience, I believe any professional performer
can benefit from the right lessons.
A perfect example of this would be Rody Walker,
vocalist for Canadian metal outfit Protest the Hero.
Walker and his bandmates have enjoyed plenty of
success in the music industry through nearly 20 years
of touring but he’s only recently started taking les-
sons. I had the pleasure of speaking with him about
these lessons and his overall experiences with music
education.

CM: Before we get into your current vocal lessons,
do you have any previous music education?

RW: I had very little music education. When I was
about 17, I took vocal lessons for about a year but
they weren’t very good. She was a choir teacher and
taught me some breathing and a few other things. I
showed her some of the stuff that [Protest the Hero
was] doing and she didn’t know what to do with me.
She was like, “This is nonsense.” It’s not like it is now.
Nowadays you have incredible resources for aggres-
sive vocalists like Melissa Cross. They know that it’s
not necessarily damaging to sing in an aggressive
style and that there is a proper technique to doing it
without damaging your throat.

CM: Moving towards your current lessons, who’s
your teacher?

RW: His name is Justin Stoney. He’s fantastic. He’s
not a screaming coach, necessarily. It’s not really even
lessons; it’s more emergency lessons. Let’s say you
have a performance coming up, he’s going to take
the parts that you’re struggling with and teach you
different ways you can attack them, which was super
beneficial for me. He got me thinking about singing in
a way I hadn’t thought about previously.

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