Karen Cyrus
Assistant Professor Director, Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa Faculty of Music Community Music Waterloo, Ontario kcyrus@wlu.ca
Expert In
Languages
English
Bio/Research
I completed a PhD in music (ethnomusicology) at York University as well as a Master of Arts in music, and a Master of Arts in applied linguistics. I hold an LRSM (Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music) in teaching piano, and I completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of the West Indies,...
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Bio/Research
I completed a PhD in music (ethnomusicology) at York University as well as a Master of Arts in music, and a Master of Arts in applied linguistics. I hold an LRSM (Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music) in teaching piano, and I completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of the West Indies, Mona. I also completed a Post Graduate Dip. Ed. in Music (Honors) at MICO Teachers College, and I have Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) certification for music (vocal-intermediate) and the junior division.
I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), where I worked on a project titled "Mapping Ontario's Black Archive." There, I developed a database with 5000+ entries from Ontario's institutional and community archives that mapped the presence of persons of African descent in Ontario from the 1700s to 1975.
As a lifelong learner, I have completed several certificates and diplomas that have helped me to become more proficient at the many roles and tasks that I have worked on over the years; a few of these are below:
- TA Certificate in Teaching (SEDA)—Teaching Commons, York University
- Foundations of Project Management I and II. Mitacs Inc.
- Professional grant proposal writing. The Grant Institute
- Accredited TESL Certification TESL Ontario
- Accredited TESL Methodology Teacher Trainer TESL Ontario
- Indigenous Research Paradigms, Center for Indigegogy, Wilfrid Laurier University
- Foundations Certificate: Restorative Principles, The Office of Human Rights and Conflict
Management, Wilfrid Laurier University
My research interests are Afrodiasporic community music making practices, pan-African children’s repertoires, gospel music repertoires, social justice in music education, and research collaborations.
My doctoral research explored sites of struggle and innovation among reggae musicians in Afrodiasporic communities in Jamaica, Toronto, the United States and the United Kingdom from the 1950s to 1990. I also investigated community practices in steelpan orchestras throughout Toronto in 2007, which was published in Carnival: Theory and Practice (Africa World Press, 2013).My work in community music includes curriculum development for a Caribbean community music program in Toronto and workshops on music and social justice for the YRDSB.
My research on repertoires includes an article in The Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture (2019). Research that I have undertaken over the past two decades aims to provide educators access to repertoires that will increase representation for anglophone and francophone learners of African descent in music classrooms. This includes a series of music education textbooks that feature children’s music from the Caribbean, titled Music for Big Ants and Little Ants (1998) and Caribbean Integrated Music (2002, 2004). I have also given several workshops on pan-African repertoires. My research in repertoire analysis includes an exploration of the themes of Jamaican contemporary Christian music, which will be published in a forthcoming monograph. I am also a co-founder and music director of T-Mento, a Toronto-based band that seeks to preserve the musical style of Jamaican Mento music.
I also have an interest in the principles and best practices of collaborative research and research collaborations. I was part of the team that established the Helen Carswell Chair in Community-Engaged Research in the Arts, York University, where I was the Helen Carswell research associate from 2017 to 2021. In that role, I fostered and facilitated partnerships between community music organizations and researchers to improve music programming and curriculum for racialized youth in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto in addition to conducting my own community-engaged research. I am currently the Director of the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa at Laurier.
As a musician, I worked in music ministry for decades in a variety of positions, including church pianist, playing for weddings, directing choirs, and as an accompanist. I am a board member of the Toronto Mass Choir and have been a regular clinician for their annual PowerUp Workshop from 2012 to 2024, where I teach a group keyboard class called "Beginner's Gospel Keyboard." A recent project was creating a database of 628 hymns, which was published on a website called Sing the hymns: Exploring songs of our Faith.
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I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), where I worked on a project titled "Mapping Ontario's Black Archive." There, I developed a database with 5000+ entries from Ontario's institutional and community archives that mapped the presence of persons of African descent in Ontario from the 1700s to 1975.
As a lifelong learner, I have completed several certificates and diplomas that have helped me to become more proficient at the many roles and tasks that I have worked on over the years; a few of these are below:
- TA Certificate in Teaching (SEDA)—Teaching Commons, York University
- Foundations of Project Management I and II. Mitacs Inc.
- Professional grant proposal writing. The Grant Institute
- Accredited TESL Certification TESL Ontario
- Accredited TESL Methodology Teacher Trainer TESL Ontario
- Indigenous Research Paradigms, Center for Indigegogy, Wilfrid Laurier University
- Foundations Certificate: Restorative Principles, The Office of Human Rights and Conflict
Management, Wilfrid Laurier University
My research interests are Afrodiasporic community music making practices, pan-African children’s repertoires, gospel music repertoires, social justice in music education, and research collaborations.
My doctoral research explored sites of struggle and innovation among reggae musicians in Afrodiasporic communities in Jamaica, Toronto, the United States and the United Kingdom from the 1950s to 1990. I also investigated community practices in steelpan orchestras throughout Toronto in 2007, which was published in Carnival: Theory and Practice (Africa World Press, 2013).My work in community music includes curriculum development for a Caribbean community music program in Toronto and workshops on music and social justice for the YRDSB.
My research on repertoires includes an article in The Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture (2019). Research that I have undertaken over the past two decades aims to provide educators access to repertoires that will increase representation for anglophone and francophone learners of African descent in music classrooms. This includes a series of music education textbooks that feature children’s music from the Caribbean, titled Music for Big Ants and Little Ants (1998) and Caribbean Integrated Music (2002, 2004). I have also given several workshops on pan-African repertoires. My research in repertoire analysis includes an exploration of the themes of Jamaican contemporary Christian music, which will be published in a forthcoming monograph. I am also a co-founder and music director of T-Mento, a Toronto-based band that seeks to preserve the musical style of Jamaican Mento music.
I also have an interest in the principles and best practices of collaborative research and research collaborations. I was part of the team that established the Helen Carswell Chair in Community-Engaged Research in the Arts, York University, where I was the Helen Carswell research associate from 2017 to 2021. In that role, I fostered and facilitated partnerships between community music organizations and researchers to improve music programming and curriculum for racialized youth in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto in addition to conducting my own community-engaged research. I am currently the Director of the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa at Laurier.
As a musician, I worked in music ministry for decades in a variety of positions, including church pianist, playing for weddings, directing choirs, and as an accompanist. I am a board member of the Toronto Mass Choir and have been a regular clinician for their annual PowerUp Workshop from 2012 to 2024, where I teach a group keyboard class called "Beginner's Gospel Keyboard." A recent project was creating a database of 628 hymns, which was published on a website called Sing the hymns: Exploring songs of our Faith.
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Media Relations
Aonghus Kealy
Communications and Media Relations Officer
akealy@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4855
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Communications and Media Relations Officer
akealy@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4855
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Media Relations
Aonghus Kealy
Communications and Media Relations Officer
akealy@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4855
Lori Chalmers Morrison
Director: Integrated Communications
lchalmersmorrison@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4857
Vanessa Barrasa
Director: Communications & Issues Management
vbarrasa@wlu.ca
(548) 889-3812
Brantford Campus:
Beth Gurney
Director, Strategic Communications and Community Engagement
bgurney@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4199
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Communications and Media Relations Officer
akealy@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4855
Lori Chalmers Morrison
Director: Integrated Communications
lchalmersmorrison@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4857
Vanessa Barrasa
Director: Communications & Issues Management
vbarrasa@wlu.ca
(548) 889-3812
Brantford Campus:
Beth Gurney
Director, Strategic Communications and Community Engagement
bgurney@wlu.ca
(548) 889-4199
Click to Shrink <<