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2008-2009: Research Assistant, Archiving Graphic Scores

McGill University

Hélène Laurin is studying at the PhD level at McGill in Communication Studies, after having completed her M.Sc. at the Université de Montréal, also in Communication Studies. She is a research assistant for the Improvisation, Community and Social Practice project, specifically working on archiving graphic scores. Her research interests include cultural studies, media discourses and the dynamics constitutive of popular music. Her doctoral research concerns the legitimation processes of heavy metal taking place through, and by, rock criticism.

Improvisation implies a deep connection between the personal and the communal, self and world. A “good” improviser successfully navigates musical and institutional boundaries and the desire for self-expression, pleasing not only herself but the listener as well.

– Rob Wallace