York graduate student Colin McGuire has won two prizes for his research on music and martial arts.
The Canadian Society for Traditional Music (CSTM) awarded McGuire the Student Paper Prize at their annual meeting, for his paper titled “The Rhythm of Combat: Understanding the Role of Music in Performances of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts and Lion Dance.”
McGuire was also the recipient of the T. Temple Tuttle Prize for best student paper at the annual meeting of The Niagara Chapter, Society of Ethnomusicology, for his paper titled “Once Upon a Time in China: The Wong Fei-hung Song as a Transnational Anthem.”
A PhD candidate in music studying ethnomusicology, McGuire is also a graduate associate at the York Centre for Asian Research. His research participates in the broader discussions of embodiment, diasporic identity and interdisciplinary approaches to music. He is currently in the process of completing his dissertation that investigates the percussion music used to accompany lion dance and martial arts at a Chinese-Canadian kung fu club.
“I have to thank my supervisor Dr. Louise Wrazen for convincing me to go to those two conferences,” he notes. “I was in dissertation mode and had not been thinking about working on anything else until she prompted me. The reception to my paper presentations was very warm and encouraging, perhaps because I am researching a rarely studied area (music and martial arts), but have managed to connect my work to broader academic discussions.”