As the winter semester approaches its conclusion we’d like to invite you to join us for our final general assembly of the current academic year and end-of-term party. This event is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and to reflect upon our accomplishments over the last year with free food and wine, music, and good company. The general assembly will be held on Monday, April 13th at 5:30pm in A-832. The party will follow the conclusion of the assembly. An agenda and supporting documents will be sent via e-mail on April 6th.

But, as we look toward the past so too do we, like Janus, look toward the future: we are now accepting nominations for the 2015-2016 MGSS executive committee. As a member of the executive committee you are in an excellent position to foster community at the Schulich School of Music and to positively shape the experience of its graduate students. Its also an excellent opportunity to develop leadership skills working with a variety of other groups on campus. Nominations should be sent via e-mail to mgss.pgss@mail.mcgill.ca by Friday, April 3rd at 5pm. You may nominate yourself or a colleague. The available positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Symposium Chair, Performance Representative, Research Representative, Member-at-Large, and three PGSS Representatives. More information about each position may be found in the MGSS Constitution.

Online voting for the 2015-2016 executive committee will begin on April 6th and will remain open until April 10th. The results of the election will be announced at the general assembly.

We look forward to seeing you on April 13th. Until then, best of luck with your end-of-term exams, performances, papers, and projects!

The results of our midterm area representative election results are in. I’m pleased to announce the following results:

• Amy Hillis has been elected as our strings area representative
• Kyle Andrews has been elected as our percussion area representative
• Tracy Smith Bessette has been elected as our early music area representative
• Alexander Morgan has been elected as our music theory area representative

Thanks to everyone who participated in the election and congratulations to Amy, Kyle, Tracy, and Alexander!

MGSS is currently holding a midterm election in order to fill vacant area representative positions. Voting is now open and will remain so until 5pm this Friday (11/7).

Please vote! It’s a simple process and will take you seconds to complete. All graduate and post-doctoral students at the Schulich School of Music are eligible to vote.

Please follow the link below, enter your credentials, and select the candidates you would like to vote for:

https://ovs.pgss.mcgill.ca/

Winners will be announced on our website, https://sites.music.mcgill.ca/mgss/, next Monday (11/10).

Thank you!

The Music Graduate Students’ Society will be holding an online election in order to fill vacancies for the executive council position of Vice President as well as several area representative positions for the current 2014-2015 academic year. Serving as an executive council member or area representative is a great way to hone your leadership skills while advocating for the issues facing you and your colleagues as well as contributing to the music graduate community. In addition, getting involved with MGSS is a great way to build personal connections between different areas and departments at the Schulich School of Music.

In addition to the position of Vice President, we are looking for representatives for the following areas: composition, music theory, sound recording, conducting, strings, winds, percussion, piano, organ/church music, and early music. If you are interested in nominating yourself or someone else for one of these positions, please send an e-mail to mgss.pgss@mail.mcgill.ca with the subject line “MGSS Nomination.” The names of the nominee(s), their program(s), and the position(s) they are being nominated for should be indicated in the body of the email. All nominees must be registered as graduate students or post-doctoral students at the Schulich School of Music for the current 2014–2015 academic year. Nominations are due by 10/31 at 5pm.

The election will take place via PGSS’s online voting system between 11/3 and 11/7. Results will be announced via e-mail and on the MGSS website on 11/10.

For more information on the roles and responsibilities of these positions, please see the MGSS constitution.

McGill’s Schulich School of Music will be hosting a conference this weekend entitled Music and Genre: New Directions. The event will bring together an international panel of scholars from a variety of fields to advance thinking about musical genre. Two MGSS members, Mimi Haddon and Eric Smialek, will be presenting papers. We encourage you to attend if you are able! A press release with additional information is available here.

We’ve announced the date and time of our first general assembly for the 2014-15 school year. You can find additional information on the event page. We hope to see you there!

Due to the extreme likelihood of rain tomorrow afternoon (8/31), the MGSS picnic in Parc Lafontaine will, unfortunately, not be able to take place as planned. While there is no indoor backup planned, we hope that you will join us at 7pm on 9/5 for the first Library After Hours of the semester.

On behalf of MGSS, I’d like to welcome you to a new year at McGill’s Schulich School of Music! Our executive council has organized a few events over the coming week to provide an opportunity for new and old faces to gather together and become (re)acquainted before the semester begins. Please consult the schedule on the Events Page and feel free to join us whenever you can!

We wish you success in the coming academic year and look forward to seeing you later this week!

Farley Miller (President MGSS 2014-15)

Elections for Officers of the Executive Council of the Music Graduate Students’ Society (MGSS) for the 2014–2015 academic year will be held from Monday, April 7 (starting at 9:00 a.m.) to Friday, April 11 (polls closing at 5:00 p.m.). All grad students and postdocs currently registered at the Schulich School of Music can vote, and are encouraged to do so. To vote, visit https://ovs.pgss.mcgill.ca/index.php, type in your McGill username and password, and select the candidates you would like to vote for. Winners of the elections will be announced at MGSS’s general assembly and end-of-term party on Tuesday, April 15th, at 4:30 p.m. in A-832/833.