The National CFMTA Essay Competition invites submissions of essays on any topic related to music teaching, pedagogy or performance practice. This competition is open to all Canadian residents. There is no fee to enter.

Le concours national de dissertation de la FCAPM accepte la soumission de textes sur tous les sujets concernant l'enseignement et la pédagogie de la musique ou l'exécution musicale. Ce concours est ouvert à tous les résidents canadiens. L'inscription est gratuite.

University Doctoral Level / Niveau universitaire doctoral

1st place / 1re place  ($1000.00)
Sponsored by CFMTA/FCAPM in honor of founder and major donor, Dr. Lorna Wanzel

Changchun Du, McGill University Schulich School of Music
Exploration of Cultivating Children's Musical Expressiveness in Piano Playing: A musical case study of Robert Schumann's Album for the Young Op. 68

 

University Graduate Level / Niveau universitaire – deuxième cycle

1st place / 1re place ($1,000.00) Co-Winners $500.00 each
Sponsored by Donors: Joanne Lougheed, Karen Turpin, Leanne Hiebert, Catherine Bartlett

Co-winner Charmaine Iormetti, University of Western Ontario
At the Beginning of Phonation: Creation of Vocal Colours through Glottal Configuration and Vocal Tract Filtering

AND

Co-winner Julia Perry, Memorial University of Newfoundland
When I’m Holding a Trumpet, I Don’t Get Misgendered: Exploring the Intersections between Instrument-Gender Associations and the Transgender Experience

                     

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire 

1st place / 1re place ($500.00)
Sponsored by Music Teachers' Association of the Northwest Territories

Sophia Kagolovskaya, Wilfrid Laurier University
Clara Schumann’s Career and Gender: The Masculine Gender Role and the Werktreue Paradigm

                    

High School / Élèves du secondaire

Not presented in 2024

 

Our adjudicators for the 2024 competition were / Nos juges pour le concours 2024 étaient :

  • Olivia Adams MA

  • Dr. Emily Logan

  • Dr. Lori Lynn Penny

  • Bronwyn Schuman, MM

  • Susan Shantora, MMus, NATS

  • Dr. Bethany Turpin

University Doctoral Level / Niveau universitaire doctoral

1st place / 1re place  ($3000.00) $1500.00 Each co winner
Sponsored by Dr. Lorna Wanzel

CO winner:    Bronwyn Schuman, McGill University - Free Musical Play and Children’s Musical Development  

And

CO winner:  Olivia Adams, Ottawa University - Playing Off Key: Gender and Race Disparity in Piano Literature

 

University Graduate Level / Niveau universitaire – deuxième cycle

1st place / 1re place ($2,000.00)
Sponsored by Dr. Lorna Wanzel

Rebekah Dennis, McGill University - Shifting the Field of Western Music from  Colonization Project to a Decolonization Project

                     

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire 

1st place / 1re place ($1000.00)
Sponsored by Joanne Lougheed, Karen Turpin, NBRMTA, and Catherine Bartlett.

Graeme Dyck, University of Saskatchewan - Continuing Cage: Ambient Music as Listener Indeterminacy

                    

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place / 1re place ($500.00)
Sponsored by Nathene Arthur, and Leanne Hiebert.

Alex Ketchum, Ecole Sir John Franklin High School, Yellowknife, NT - Out of Tune: An Exploration of the Evolution of Tuning in Western Music

 

Our adjudicators for the 2023 competition were / Nos juges pour le concours 2023 étaient :

  • Dr. David Rogosin
  • Prof. David Cote
  • Dr. Maureen Volk
  • Dr. Terence Dawson
  • Dr. Bethany Turpin
  • Dr. Lori Lynn Penny
  • Sandra DiCienzio, MA
  • Ms. Maryan Threndyle. M. Mus

University Doctoral Level / Niveau universitaire doctoral

1st place / 1re place  ($3000.00)
Sponsored by Dr. Lorna Wanzel

Bronwyn Schuman, McGill University, Quebec - Facilitating the Development of Imagined Musical Worlds in Children’s Music Lessons

University Graduate Level / Niveau universitaire – deuxième cycle

1st place / 1re place ($2,000.00)
Sponsored by Dr. Lorna Wanzel

Jonathan Hicks, Memorial University of NL - Decolonization in Canadian High School Music Education: Some Perspectives From a Settler-Teacher

                     

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire 

1st place / 1re place ($1000.00)
Sponsored by NWT Music Teachers Association and Parr Academy of the Arts.

Emma Cameron, Mount Allison University, NB - Interruption and Contra-Structural Melodic Impulses in Haydn’s Rondo Themes

                    

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place / 1re place ($500.00)
Sponsored by generous donors and supporters of the arts and education.

Evan Yin,  Old Scona Academic High School, Edmonton, Alberta - Light and Dark – The dual nature of tritones in establishing tonal brightness

 

Our adjudicators for the 2022 competition were / Nos juges pour le concours 2022 étaient :

  • Dr. Terence E. Dawson
  • Lynn Johnson
  • Dr. Emily Logan
  • Susan Shantora
  • Dr. Bethany Turpin
  • Maryan Threndyle
  • Dr. Maureen Volk

                     

 

University Graduate Level / Niveau universitaire – deuxième cycle

1st place / 1re place ($2,000.00)

Olivia Adams - University of Ottawa  She Sounds: Leveling Piano Music by Black, Indigenous and Women of Colour 

 

University Doctoral Level / Niveau universitaire doctoral

1st place / 1re place  ($3000.00)

Anneli Loepp Thiessen - University of Ottawa  Examining Whiteness in the Royal Conservatory of Music History Curricula

2020

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Bo-rum Hammond, McGill University - Approaches to Social Justice in Community Music Settings

2nd place - Jarren Dunn, McGilll University - The Role of the Piano in Mov. 1 of Brahms’s Piano Concerto in D minor Op.15

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire

1st place - Reanne Vander Brink, University of Lethbridge - Stained Glass: Robert Schumann and the Lens of Mental Illness

2nd place - Emma Cameron, Mount Allison University - Lacking an Original Voice: Neoclassicism in Henri Dutilleaux’s Au Gre des Ondes

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place - Jessica Song, University Hill Secondary - It’s Complicated: Exploring Relationships between AI and our Music Classrooms of the Future

2nd place - Kiara Louw, Penticton Secondary - The Power of Vocalises

 

2019

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Karen Gerelus, University of Calgary - Images of Piano Teachers in Popular Culture

2nd place - Andrea Pedro, University of Alberta - Unity of Sense and Spirituality in Scriabin’s Prometheus

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire 

1st place - Olivia Adams, Western University - Introducing Contemporary Music to the Young Pianist

2nd place - Reanne Vanden Brink, University of Lethbridge - Strategizing Music Performance Anxiety: a Pedagogical Approach

2018

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Francisco Reyes Peguero, McGill University The Gatekeepers: The Culture of Higher Music institutions and its Conditioning of the Field of Music Education and the Music Teaching Profession.

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire 

1st place - Emily Leavitt, Mount Allison University Percussion, Passion, and Painting for the Piano: An Exploratory Essay Examining Claude Debussy’s use of External Influences.

2nd place - Olivia Adams, University of Western Ontario Asian Influences in Alexina Louie’s Piano Music


 

2017

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Kevin Ngo, University of Calgary Studying Mozart’s Piano Music in the 21st Century: Are we using the wrong texts?

2nd place - Gabrielle Smith, McGill University All education is political, teaching is never a neutral act

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire

1st place - Helen Geng, University of Toronto Multicultural Repertoire in Concert Band

2nd place - Sarah Klapman, Mount Allison University Mushroom Cloud Music: The postmodern supernatural in Adams’ Doctor Atomic

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place - William Lin, BC Integrating Music with STEM Education

2nd place - Gabrielle Bonifacio, BC Band Wants You!


 

2016

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Gretchen Schwarz, McGill University Authentic Transmission: Ghanaian Music Pedagogy for Westerners

2nd place - Hilary McLaughlin, University of Toronto Finding Musical Expression Through Photography and Film

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire

1st place - Chris Taeyoung Kin, University of Toronto Bridging the Gap Between Classically Trained University Music Educators and Classroom Pedagogy

2nd place - Louisa Lu, University of Alberta Music therapy as an alternative and more desired treatment for Alzheimer’s disease

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place - Zelyn Lee, BC Tennis and the Piano: Integrating Sports into Music

2nd place - Evelyn Verhoef, AB Music Therapy and the Autistic Child


 

 

2015

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Karen King, University of Ottawa Context, Analysis and Pedagogical Implications of Liszt’s “St Francois d’Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux”

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire

1st place - Anna Wang McGill University Four Solitudes

2nd place - Thomas Ingram University of Manitoba “Blow pretty strong”: Kinaesthesia, solipsism and the problem of clarinet pedagogy

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place - Luke Henderson, Nova Scotia The “Reel” Deal: Benefits of Traditional Fiddle Playing for Classical Violin Students

2nd place - Cynthia Gan, Alberta The Eccentric Prodigy: Challenges Facing Musically Gifted Children, their Parents, and their Teachers Honourable Mention Elizabeth Roberts, Manitoba The Art of Performing: how music and public speaking are similar


 

2014

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Kelvin Chan, McGill University Three significant challenges facing El Sistema organizers in the United States

2nd place - Elizabeth Skinner, McGill University Metis Fiddling: Contextual Authenticity

Honourable mention Graham Isaak, Conservatoire de musique de Montréal Widespread Mystery: Canadian Music History University

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire

1st place - Sarah Suchan, University of Saskatchewan Education of First Nations Music: Approaches to Effective Integration in the Band Classroom

2nd place - Gregory Lewis, University of Manitoba Successful Music Lessons After Divorce: How a Child can Excel with Music Lessons While Practicing in Two Different Homes

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place - Augusta Redekop, Manitoba From Britney to Berio: My Journey of Singing and Sonic Discovery

2nd place - Kyrie Robinson, Nova Scotia Music is a Form of Magic


 

2013

University Graduate / Deuxième cycle universitaire

1st place - Adam Daudrich MA. Music Education, McGill University Getting the notes in the right place: The application of Shannon's Communication Theory to jazz rhythm instruction

2nd place - Melanie Doberai M. Education, University of Alberta Social, genetic and psychological factors that influence musically gifted and talented children

University Undergraduate / Premier cycle universitaire

1st place - Michael MacMillan B. Music, Mt. Alison University Word Painting in Bartok's Improvisations: Exploration and Practical Application

2nd place - Elizabeth Clarke B. Music, University of Alberta Suffer for your art? Music physiotherapy and an interdisciplinary analysis of pianists' injuries

High School / Élèves du secondaire

1st place - Alison Griffith Nepean, ON Lessons from music

2nd place - David Cooper Fredericton, NB Trombone performance preparation and practise